The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Sixty Eight: What Comes After

I leaned my forehead against the cool plane of the window on the top floor of the tower. As Thorns creeped higher and higher up The Hollow, ever nearer to our goal of the Summer Branches the air grew thicker with sticky heat. Only a couple of days remained before we would arrive and my head ached at the mere knowledge that we'd soon be fighting for our lives once again.

"I can go with you."

"No, you need to stay with your family." I turned from the window toward the touching scene playing out in the council chamber. A scene of teary farewells. Frit clutched Neasa's small hands. His clawed thumbs brushed her delicate skin so very carefully to avoid hurting her. "Besides," she smiled a smile of sweet longing, her cheeks blooming pink, "Uncle Herod will be with me. I'm not going alone."

Frit bent, pressing his brow to her brow. "Even still. I would have liked to fly with you. What if something happens again and I'm not there..." He squeezed his eyes shut as if doing so would block out the memory of her plummet and those moments that had followed when he was certain that he had lost her.

She squeezed his much larger hands. Her wings shifted, twitching as if she wanted to flutter them. "You won't be far behind me. I'll only have a few hours head start. I need to to clear your path if I can at all. I at least have to try."

"You are capable, I know. It's just...it is difficult to let go. I cannot help but worry."

"I worry for you too." She pecked a kiss on his lips. "But I am even more worried for my siblings. They're so little and helpless...I know that feeling, but I am not that anymore. I want to protect them as they always have me. You're not going to try to stop me are you?"

"No of course not." His hands shot up to clutch her small face between his paws. His claws wove through her pale tresses. "They're your family. I know you have to go. I only wish I could be there to see you soar."

Neasa burst into a peel of laugher interrupting Frit as he went in for a kiss. "You're so corny!"

"So are you!" Fright laughed, pinching her cheek. "You're the right queen of corn!"

"Say your goodbyes like normal people. You're about to make me puke all over my new shoes." I begged them, practically squinting through the pain in my head. I wasn't entirely sure if I was joking or not. My lunch was already trying to rebel against my stomach. Them being so lovey dovey with each other was great and all, but they were starting to annoy me to insanity. 

"Seconded." Herod chuckled, pulling at Neasa's long hair playfully as he passed her. "Neasa, we need to hurry if we are to reach home by tomorrow night. You can exchange sweet nothings with your lover later."

Neasa stuck out her tongue at him and pulled a giggling Frit out of the chamber.

Herod sat in the simple chair that had replaced Mab's moon shaped throne. "It is good to see Little Neasa so happy. She deserves some joy after the awful start she had in life." He said, resting his head against the back of the chair. "However, I do hope your boy realizes that she will not ever be like a healthy woman. I don't know if she will ever be able to give him what a wife is expected to. Even if she's able to conceive, childbirth would be really difficult for her."

"Let us not rush things. He first has to survive the end of the world before he worries about fathering children." I slipped to the floor, the window squeaking all the way down. "For now, just let them love each other...in moderation. One problem at a time."

"It will work out one way or another."

His tone made a shiver of fear move through me from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers and toes. "You've seen how this ends."