The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Twenty Seven: Mothers

"Let me be perfectly clear." Titania began. She stood by the stone, leaning against it. "Were my situation not so dire, I would not be giving you a second more of my time, Goblin Queen."

Flashing me a reassuring smile, Tova returned to her master's side. She stood with her hands behind her back, her legs parted. The stance of a soldier guarding their ruler.

I put my back to the shore and faced the two queens, stiffening my spine. "Again, I apologize," I said as sincerely as I was able. My pride stung as the words left my lips. "If I may ask," I started slowly, easing into the question. "Am I right to assume that you wish to help me in the coming war?"

"You mean the war you started?" She asked pointedly.

My voice was gravel under foot. "Mab started this the moment she disrespected us, goblins."

Titania laughed. The ground shook beneath my slippers. Her voice that of storm-driven waves crashing against stone, crumbling the hillside. "Do you think yourself one of them? Are you a she-goblin?"

"Knut calls me a goblin in human flesh. Mab's said as much herself." I shrugged. "Whatever I am, I wear the title of Goblin Queen with pride."

Tova smiled at that while the Seelie queen's laughter faded. "Oh, but it hasn't sated your appetite, has it? Humans are prone to boundless greed, and I see it, plain as day in your eyes." The wind slithered through her tightly coiled hair. It wiggled and writhed around her head like a nest of vipers. "Tell me, What is it that you wish to accomplish at this war's end? What is it that you want?"

"Everything," I answered. "I'm going to seize Mab's crown, sit in her throne and make her kingdom my own. Her people will serve me and from the castle's tallest spire, a goblin banner will fly. The Unseelie will call me Empress and Mab's head will guard my gates on a pike." I bit my own tongue, cutting off more truth from spilling out. Despite myself, I glared at the Seelie queen, my blood boiling, knowing that she was using magic on me. My fingers ached with emptiness, pining for the weight of a knife.

"I see..." Titania pondered my answer. "Funny how there wasn't a single mentioning of Knut in all that." Her fingers tapped against the carved stone rhythmically. "Mab has a son. An heir to her throne. What would you do with him?" She leaned forward, her gaze focused on my face, reading my expression like an open book.

"You already know the answer to that," I replied helplessly, unable to keep my mouth from forming the damning words. "He is small now, but one day he will be a man. A man with dreams and ambitions. Dangerous things. It is unfortunate, but it's too risky to let him live, lest he seek to overthrow me and exact his revenge."

"Unfortunate indeed." Her eyes narrowed. "And the plague, the sickness you and your goblins started. What was your reasoning for that?"

"People needed punishing. So many came to watch me die. They came to see the light go out of my eyes, to watch my legs twitch and kick. They take pleasure in it. In watching those lower than them choke. They needed to suffer for it."

"The sickness has spread like a wildfire. A great number of innocent people have died to satisfy your need for vengeance. From the old to babies in their cradles. Do you not feel remorse for their deaths?"

"No." My magicked tongue wiggled on. "I haven't given them another moment's thought." I bit my tongue again, harder, filling my mouth with blood. Mab perhaps would have been impressed by my coldness and cruelty, but I wasn't dealing with Mab. Titania possessed a far warmer heart. There was no way she'd help us now. None whatsoever. "I-I know how that makes me sound..."

"Good thing you've already proven that you can get things done. No matter how impossible." She cut in. Leaving the stone, she sauntered towards me. Her silvery gown clung to her womanly curves, draping over her as exquisitely as a goddess in a master's painting. Somehow, even with one breast out on display, she managed to appear elegant and noble. "My husband, Oberon, is a... simple man. He'd much rather be writing songs and playing with his mistresses than rule our court, let alone fight another tedious war. He truly believes that through Aurora and Kieran's union he can build a lasting peace. I, however, know that that is an impossible dream. The Seelie and Unseelie were made to constantly be at odds. We were made to kill one another, nothing less. It's just the natural order of things. Everything your husband said at the solstice was true. The wedding is a farce. She's using us to force the goblins back beneath her thumb. The minute she wins this war she'll turn on us."