The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Sixty Three: The One Who Laughs

The bell calling the revelers back to the bonfire tolled once more, its sound louder and more insistent.

"We should get back." Ib sighed. "I think it would be best if she doesn't see us together. You go first. I'll wait here a few more moments."

"You're right," I muttered. It took all I had to stand up again. I willed away the horrific images plaguing me, shoved them into the hearth that was my soul and used it as kindling for the fires of my rage. "Ib," I began, smoothing down my silky ash colored skirt. "I'd like you to do something for me."

He raised an eyebrow at me but didn't argue.

I drew closer to him. My voice softened to a whisper. "If you have the opportunity before she is whisked away to endure her wedding night, dance with Aurora."

"I won't." He snipped, flinching away from me as if I'd slapped him across a marble white cheek.

"Why not? I think it would mean the world to her." I said. It certainly would, but it would mean even more to me.

His eyes shifted away from me as he ran his fingers through his pale hair. A blush tinged his cheeks pink. "I know what it would mean to her. I'm not oblivious to her feelings for me. The girl's been planning our wedding since the day I met her."

"Then you know how painful this day is for her. Not only is she being forced to marry a cruel man she doesn't love, but the one she wants has been made to attend her wedding. Dance with her, whisper in her ear, make her heart flutter."

"You're asking me to flirt with her?" He took two steps away from me, looking at me like I was a viper he'd just stepped on. "I don't know what it is you think that'll accomplish, but I will not do it." He lowered his head, his face flushing darker. "I do not feel that way for her. To give her hope to the contrary would be cruel."

"I'm well aware of that," I said, a smirk tugging at my lips. "But hope is exactly what she needs to get through the next few hours, even if it is a lie. Give her a reason to fight, Ib." Set a fire in her. Be the rock she can cling to keep from being swept away in the floods that are coming. The voice of my mind pleaded. "Whether or not her heart shatters into ten thousand pieces, later on, makes no difference to me, so long as she defends herself tonight. She'll survive a broken heart. She will not survive him if she doesn't fight."

His violet eyes drifted from where my hand gripped his wrist up my arm to meet my gaze. "You're plotting something aren't you?" He asked in a low breath. "This has nothing to do with wanting to save Aurora. You don't help anyone unless doing so benefits you in some way."

I thought about the slave girls trapped in Kieran's camp, their dead's bodies hanging from The Hollow's branches, those that remained barely more than living corpses. I'd tried to save them. I truly had. I regretted that failure even then, but I didn't argue. "You're learning."

"Will this help Knut?" He asked.

Both my smirk and eyes fell to Ib's leather boots. "I hope so," I said quietly. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the light radiating from the bonfire, remembering another flame that burned among the roots of the world where a couple of fools had once leaped into its flames. I saw Knut's face brightened with hope and happiness. He smiled at me within my mind's eye and grief took hold of my heart and squeezed its vice-like fingers.

Perhaps my heartache showed upon my features, for Ib relented with a heavy sigh. "If it will help Knut, I will do as you ask." He agreed. "Just promise me this, Matilda. Promise me that you'll be careful. I'd never be able to face Knut again if I knew I allowed you to get hurt."