The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

She saw the glint of eyes staring back at her. He had to be sitting on the ground nearby or on some kind of stool for the reflection to be that low to the ground.
“Are you just going to watch me sleep?” She said angrily.
She didn’t expect him to understand. His language was so vastly different from hers. She did not consider that they would ever be able to communicate. Somehow she didn’t mind that fact. Jane didn’t want to speak with him.
“Sleep.” The rumble from the darkness was heavily accented and slightly lisped as though his tongue had a hard time forming the words.
Her heart stopped in her chest. Her ears strained to know whether or not she had heard him correctly. Did the beast she had assumed was nothing more than monster just respond to her in her own language?
“You speak my language?” She asked quietly. Jane found she was suddenly uncomfortable in the darkness now.
There was a long pause that gave her a moment to squint in an attempt to see him. It was too dark to make out more than just a little bit of his form. However, she was certain that she could see his lips moving as though trying to shape the correct sound through that mouth of sharp teeth.
“Small.” Was the word he finally managed.
“Small?” She was confused. Did he mean to say that she was small? She was hardly a small woman and yet compared to him, yes she likely was. But the more she thought about the word, the more she realized he was likely trying to say something else.
“Do you mean to say you speak my language a little?”
There was an affirmative grunt from the darkness, a shifting sound as he seemed to lean forward slightly towards her. The closer he got the more the blue globe cast his features into harsh shadows. He was so very different from her, so harsh and angled that Jane fancied there was nothing that could make him seem less like the stone around him.
“You certainly understand me well enough.” Questions danced through her mind. How had he learned? Why could he not speak it, but hear it just fine? There was one questions more important than the others.
“What is your name?” She did not know why it suddenly felt so important. Perhaps if she befriended the beast, she would be able to survive a little bit longer. It was as good a plan as any.
A strange warble was her response, the vibration of his throat alerting her that the sound he made was likely a word.
“I cannot say that. In my language?”
Since he had leaned forward, she could see the movement of his lips a little better. He was definitely shaping the words before he said them. The movement, though frightening around the teeth that were continually bared, was endearing in a way.
“Ruric.”
That she could say. The R seemed rolled the way he said it.Her tongue was unfamiliar with the sound, though she found it was easy enough for her to replicate it.
“Ruric. My name is Jane.”
Once again his lips stretched over sharp teeth. “Jane.”
Every now and then when he spoke, she could see one of his lips curl. She thought perhaps it was disgust or a sneer. But the more she watched him the more she thought the curl was because his teeth were catching on his lips.
“Ruric, why am I here? Why I am not with the others?”
The question made him straighten, retreating from her light until she could not see him at all. Perhaps it was something he was not supposed to answer. Maybe she had stepped across some kind of line that she would never understand.
“Man.”
Another one word answer that created more questions. “I am a human though. I’m the same as them. Are they with other goblins?”
She heard a frustrated grunt, the low sound muffled as though he was trying to suppress it. “Man.” He emphasized the word, lingering upon the sound as though trying to make a point.
Her mind worked, trying to decipher what he meant with one word responses that did not seem to be clear to her. She was so tired. Lying down had turned her brain to mush and wading through these questions was not helping.
“Female.” And after a few moments, “Safe.”
“Do you mean I’m here because I’m female?”
The affirmative grunt answered her question more than the words he said. So she was here because she was female. It didn’t make any sense to her. Most of the creatures that she had seen had been male, so she was assuming that like her society this one was also ruled by the males of the species. To be here simply because she was female didn’t make sense.
“Why? Why does it matter that I am female?”
She could see him shifting in the darkness, saw his form slowly growing smaller as he stood and started to walk away.
The globe was clenched hard in her hand as she tried to sit up, setting the hammock swinging violently until she laid back down. “Where are you going? You can’t just leave me in here!”
But his form was already long past where she could see, and Jane couldn’t tell if he was even in the room anymore. All she could hear was the trickling sound of water and the light patter as it hit the stone around her. There wasn’t even the soft sound of breathing for her to guess where he was in the room.
Once again, she found herself completely and utterly alone. Jane wasn’t used to that feeling. There had always been the sound of Willow’s light snores or the rustling of Luther as he shifted in his sleep. To hear nothing was not only terrifying but lonely.
She fell asleep clutching the globe hard to her chest. It was the only bit of light left that she could hold onto.

CHAPTER SIX
“I’D LIKE TO see