The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Fifty Three: Deliberations

Knut was heavier on my mind than he'd been since Thorns. Every time I let myself drift off to sleep in one of the cottage's other bedrooms, he was there in the dream to welcome me with a joke, a smile, a familiar, kind, warm hand. I startled awake at his kiss and the empty hole the dream filled drained all at once only to be replaced by crushing loneliness. 

Already, my recollection of his words was fading. I couldn't remember what was said or the sound of Knut's voice, his laughter, how his lips felt against my own. With the loneliness, swiftly came the hatred. It swelled, burned, and consumed, eroding me away from within. 

I was too afraid to close my eyes again. I didn't want to see Knut again if it meant feeling this way when I awoke. Grabbing my crutch from its place against the bedframe, I slipped from the bed. I moved as quietly as my crutch would allow to the door, peeking out into the hall. Magni's room was straight across from the one I was in. Hughes dozed, slouching against the wall beside the doorway with his pistol beside him, his hand on the gun. 

"Return to your room, Mrs. Pole," Hughes warned, lifting his head up to glare at me.

"Do you ever sleep?" I chided, annoyed. I was getting quite tired of him bossing me around.

"Not lately." 

"I need to piss," I growled. 

"There's a pot shoved under the bed. Use it." He growled back.

"You are very fond of that gun for a healer," I scowled at him. I didn't even know why I wanted to leave the room. I just wanted to get away, to leave my bed and the melancholic dreams that waited for me in sleep. 

He scratched at his rough, bristled jaw, looking down at his gun as he turned it in his hand. "Just because I'm a doctor, doesn't mean I'm not above shooting someone in the face if they deserve it."

"As I've learned," I hobbled out into the hall. "I'm not plotting to strangle him in his sleep. Magni's nothing to fear from me." I lied.

He looked at me then like he knew every dark thought rolling through my skull. "His brothers are a different story, it seems. I know Magni wishes to endure whatever justice his family wants to enact upon him, and Bran's not going to argue with him, but that doesn't mean I'll allow it. I hope you know that."

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Hughes?" 

"Wouldn't dream of it." He smirked. "I find you difficult to read, Mrs. Pole. At times you can be quite friendly, but I know enough about you to realize that it would be unwise to underestimate you. You are, after all, the one that taught your sons how to steal." 

"You were far more pleasant to talk to earlier."

"I'm too tired to be charming." He looked down the hallway, toward the main room. "I saw your giant son walking around earlier. I believe he's still awake if you're wanting someone more pleasant to talk to than me." 

"I believe I will. Pleasant dreams, jackass." I huffed, earning an amused chuckle from the doctor. I began to limp down the hall and around a corner. The third bedroom was across from a sitting room that overlooked the ocean. As I passed the door of the last bedroom, I could hear Floki and Cerise speaking in hushed tones.

"Are you certain you want to do this, Floki?" Cerise asked. "Your brothers might attack you and I'm not certain how your mother will react. She's already endured so much betrayal and hurt."

I stopped just outside the door, pressing myself against the wall. The door was open slightly, allowing me to peer inside through a small crack. Floki sat on the bed with his head held in his hands. Cerise stood with her back to me, wringing her hands anxiously. Their skin glowed with the golden light given off by two candles sitting atop a bedside table.