The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Seventy: One More Time

Warm sunlight on my face woke me and as my eyes opened to rays of light stabbing into them, I jolted upright and leaped from the bed. Fear strangled me. Fear that I'd slept too long, that I'd missed all the time I once had left.

"Don't worry. It's still early." Hughes said, elbowing his way into the room.

I turned from the window, silent while my mind roared. He carefully made his way to the little breakfast table and set down a couple of plates of food. Two cups of tea were already waiting, steam rising up from them. Such an easy, simple thing, having breakfast with a partner. One could almost forget the wave of pain and destruction coming towards us. 

"Eat." He said, gesturing to the meal. "God knows we'll need the energy to get through this mess today."

"Did anyone see you leave here?" I asked, pulling on some underthings and shrugging on a shirt. 

"Odd, you mean? I was careful. I went out the back." He stabbed his fork into some eggs. "I know better than to let that one catch me leaving your quarters before the break of dawn. I don't have a death wish."

I plopped into the opposite chair. "That's good. He'd likely skin you alive." I laughed weakly. It wasn't entirely a joke. I looked over the plate of food, absently scratching at my scalp through my short hair. There were eggs and smoked ham, a porridge with blueberries on top and a piece of bread with butter smeared over it. I didn't know how he expected me to eat it all, today of all days. I had little appetite. The distraction he'd provided had only lasted the night. There was nothing that could pull my mind away from my fear now.  I stirred the porridge, drowning a blueberry in muck. 

"It'll be alright." Hughes said, his hand grabbing the one that gripped my spoon, stopping it's constant stirring. His gaze was soft, his brows pinched with worries of his own.

"You don't know that." I blinked at him, trying not to bare teeth.

"I don't, but there's little else I know to say given our circumstances." His thumb brushed over my skin reassuringly then he pulled back his hand, set to eating again. "Were you able to sleep at all?" He asked without looking at me. "I didn't feel you stir through the night."

"I slept fine. No bad dreams." I picked up my spoon, watched porridge glop out of it into the bowl. Guilt pooled in my belly with each second that passed with us sitting in awkward silence. Guilt over maybe leading him on and letting him think we could be more than what we were. I didn't even know if we'd see each other again once everything was over, if I would return to The Underground or drift through the other territories a while. I hadn't given it as much thought as I should have. "I...appreciate your company, but I hope you know that I can't promise you anything. I'm not looking for romance. I don't think I ever want to be married again." I said, the words little more than a soft breath.

"That's good. Neither do I. Marriages never seem to work out for me." He sat back in his chair, wiping his smirking mouth with a napkin. "I know that last night was just...a way to relieve stress and we can leave it at that. I'm under no delusions that it was anything more. I would be happy just to be your friend...that you sleep with on occasion."

"Hughes, you think far too highly of yourself. We're merely acquaintances... that sleep with each other on the very rare occasion." He and I both laughed at that. 

"Well, maybe I can work my way up." He licked his lips, looking at mine with darkening eyes. "May I kiss you or has that ship sailed?" He asked. I nodded in answer, earning a grin. He leaned over the small table and kissed me sweetly, cradling my cheek in his large hand. As his lips parted from mine, he lingered in that position, our mouths still close and angled toward the other. "Will you ever call me by name properly?"