The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Fifteen: Invitation

Mad laughter burst from my chest, filling my mouth with the taste of sweet faerie wine and smoke. The faces of the goblin throng spun and blurred around me as Knut, and I twirled round and round the great and ancient flame. His face was the only one in focus. He smiled at me, his dark eyes bright with the reflections of the flames. I am his queen now. This is the man that will father my children. The only man I'll ever kiss. Ever know. I thought, wallowing in dread. If only I could blink my eyes and miss my wedding night and all nights to come. I'd never expected to marry a handsome man, beggars couldn't be choosers. All that mattered to me was that he was rich or at least richer than we were. Knut, however, seemed a cruel joke. He was crooked in every conceivable way. There wasn't a single thing about him that I found attractive, save for his power and what that power could give me. Yet, he was the man whose bed I'd share the rest of my long, long life. My bravado was waning fast.

A servant walked by, carrying a tray laden with wine and a large bowl full of the red fruit. My hand shot outward, reaching for that delectable sweetness, but Knut grabbed my hand before my fingertips could brush against the fruit's soft skin. "None for you. Not now, in front of everyone." Knut snickered. His crowded, sharp teeth glistened with the red colored wine. He looked like he just ripped someone's throat out with his teeth. "If the wine is this potent for you, one bite of the fruit and we'll be consummating the marriage right here on the floor." He laughed at his poor jest while I struggled not to vomit.

"It makes me feel good. Helps me forget." I moaned softly, swaying on unsteady feet. My head tilted back, my eyes searching for an end to the endless darkness above us. I'd never see the sun again, would I? "Let me get good and drunk before I must endure my wedding night."

I stumbled and stepped on his foot. "If you get as drunk as last time, you won't remember it." He grunted, holding me up after my feet went out from under me.

"I don't think I'll mind. In fact, I may get drunk every night going forward." Despite the words slurring off my tongue, I clung to him. My fingers pinched the soft fabric of his spiderweb coat.

His bony fingers drew patterns along my spine. "Oh, but even I look handsome through a veil of gold. That is what you just told Aurora. Or was that a lie? Humans tell a lot of those. I'll please you very well. You'll see." I shivered as his fingers brushed between my bare shoulder blades and slid up the nape of my neck. His eyelids lowered, darkening his eyes to warm, dark pools as he dropped his voice into a low whisper against my cheek. "Sex isn't something that should ever be endured. I do not intend to harm you or demand it. All I ever want to do for the rest of my life is make you happy, Mouse. However long that takes." A warm pulse radiated from his icy fingertips. His magic rushed into me, relaxing my muscles, and turning my skin to gooseflesh. I hated how good it felt and the thoughts that it caused to form in my mind.

My face scrunched up in disgust. "I've seen you naked. That seems unlikely."

His breath cooled the wet skin of my lips. His thin arms carrying much of my weight, he began spinning us once more. "Oh, but how you blushed. I must not have been too revolting. You couldn't stop staring at me." My face caught fire. I tried to pull away, but he held me fast against him, continuing our whirling dance among a mass of goblins that squirmed like maggots in a festering wound. "You told Aurora you were happy to marry me. I take it, you do not regret it. That you won't?" The fire threw shadows across his ugly face, deepening its hallows.

I looked down at my hands. I watched them pick at the silvery thread on his coat. "I don't," I admitted. I was nervous and frightened of what was soon to take place between us. Worried that I wouldn't enjoy it, that he'd hurt me, that I'd dread lying next to him each night. I didn't have any friends that were girls nor a mother or aunts to answer my questions about such things. However, I had overheard a lot of gossip among disappointed brides and their friends while I robbed them blind in the crowded marketplace and I'd witnessed many instances of debauchery in taverns and alleyways and dark corners. I was far from clueless. I knew what to expect from him, just not what to expect of myself. "So far, at least. It's been a perfectly good hour. I... I don't know why I'm so nervous. You've done nothing wrong...really." It was hard to call him innocent. "I suppose I'm just being silly. You have given me everything I've ever wanted. Gold. Power. A good roof over my head. A life without struggle. Without hunger. And soon...soon you'll give me my brother's head on a pike." I grit my teeth as the last image of him I'd seen flickered before my eyes. Jasper's back fading away into shadow as he ran away. As he abandoned me.