The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

hand.
Jane assumed that perhaps this meant that they were being spoken for. A kind of slavery perhaps, or food if they were truly unlucky. Every now and then she saw a flash of pointed teeth and she shivered. To be eaten alive by something such as that… The thought was unimaginable.
Eventually it was her turn, and unlike the others Jane had been watching and observing. She knew when it was her time to step forward, she had been counting underneath her breath for the past ten minutes waiting for her future to come barreling towards her.
She stepped forward on her own, the goblin behind her catching air as he reached forward to shove. She kept her gaze on the goblins though she did sink to her knees as the others had. Foolish was something Jane had never been called before in her life. There was a reason every human so far had knelt before these creatures.
But she could not lower her eyes. The sight of the female goblin in her dress of many colors was captivating in a way that the stone she had seen in her tunnel could never be. She was so lovely in such an unearthly way that Jane didn’t want to stop looking at her. If she was going to go to her death, then she wanted to do so looking into the eyes of the creature that would order it.

CHAPTER FIVE
“VERY FORWARD THIS one.”
Their queen was aged now. Her spine was bent so firmly that she would never walk straight again. Yet her strength could not be denied. She had ruled for a very long time, and someday she would give the throne up to another. But that day would take quite a long time to come.
Ruric leaned forward slightly, his throat vibrating as he answered her. “Milia, I do not believe he recognizes me.”
Long ago Ruric had won the right to call their queen by name. He was of her bloodline, but there were quite a few that were of her bloodline by now. Countless hours had been devoted to the creature resting delicately on the crystal throne before him. It was why he was the one who had guided her onto the highest peak in their kingdom. It was why he also knew how tired she was becoming.
The queen ran a claw over her lip, eyes narrowed at the man who knelt before her. She was correct in saying that he was forward. None of the other humans had willingly dropped to their knees before her. He could not remember a human that would have done so. They all had too much pride and arrogance to feel comfortable lowering themselves before something they had long ago declared as monsters.
“This one is different.”
“It is the same.” He rumbled from his post at her right shoulder. “He was with the other that killed Shusar’s son.”
“Perhaps. But was this one responsible for it?” Her head cocked to the side, eyes wide as she watched the human. He recognized that look of interest. She was planning something.
“I do not believe so, there was no blood on it.”
“If there was no blood, why say you that it is the same?”
The question baffled him. “They are all the same, my queen. They kill. They destroy. They conquer.”
“Yes that is what we teach isn’t it.” He caught the ghost of a smile on her lips before she continued to speak. “But this one is different.”
Ruric could feel himself becoming frustrated with her. He could not show it. He would not embarrass himself in front of the rest of the court. The members before him already disliked his familiarity with the queen.
Their court system was hardly functional at best and they knew how Ruric felt about them. He had trained his entire life for strength and power. The goblins that sat before him enjoyed the beauty and value of things more than how things were made. Ruric stood out among them like a sore thumb.
Wrapped in leather, wearing his customary furred shoulder pieces and weaponry, Ruric looked far more the part of the barbarian than the creatures next to him. He disdained them for the foolish way that they forced what they wanted to occur. He disliked the way they frequently attempted to strong arm the queen into doing things she had already refused to do. Milia was a good queen, but she was aging.
Far too quickly for his liking.
“As I said before, my queen. None are different.”
This time he did see the smile, the flash of sharp teeth as she tilted her head towards him. “Ruric, you have much to learn youngling.”
There were a few hissing laughs of those on the court as she held her hand out towards him. Ruric was far from a youngling, though the queen would likely always see him as a goblin child stumbling around her.
Gritting his teeth until he nearly punctured his tongue, he held onto her hand and helped her balance herself. He was, however, shocked when she started towards the human.
Every goblin on the peak tensed as she got closer. If the human made one wrong move, it would be killed instantly. They could not afford to lose their queen, nor did they care about the small life of a human. The goblin behind the man had already drawn his blade. Ruric could smell the fear dripping out of the humans pores from where he stood.
The queen made her way slowly to the creature kneeling on the ground, the smile still on her face as she got to the man. Ruric didn’t understand the smile. Humans did not appreciate the rare facial expression upon goblins. They thought it was frightening. And to these creatures whose teeth were so dull they could hardly rip through bread, he was not surprised that they would be intimidated. The thought did not make him pity them.
One black claw hooked underneath the man’s chin, tilting