The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1)

by Emma Hamm

  He held his breath at her words. “I do not know.”

  At that, he left her alone in the cave that she had begun to consider her own.

  Time passed slowly for her. She could only think of what had happened, of what she had caused. There had been so much blood in just the small bit that she had seen.

  She did not want to take the punishment for her own kind. Those men did not think the way she did. They wanted death and destruction. She had only wanted to fix what was broken. Now she realized that there was no fixing the rift between their species.

  How could she have been so blind?

  The goblins were not free of blame. They had beheaded the humans that were no longer necessary to them. They used her people like cattle but treated her as something precious.

  But could she really say that humans wouldn’t do the same?

  She winced when she thought of the spectacle goblins would make Above. There was simply no chance that the humans wouldn’t have tried to turn them into some kind of showcase. Someone would have made a ridiculous amount of money by keeping them in a cage. She heard the City had animals like that. People would pay to see strange and outlandish things.

  In the end, goblins and humans really weren’t all that different. They would abuse each other because they didn’t understand the other. They would never admit that either species was just as intelligent. And they certainly wouldn’t be kind.

  The goblins were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to her because she was female. There were other males that had proven themselves useful but in the end they were all simply pets that were kept.

  It would have been the same if she was a goblin among humans.

  She dropped down onto a stone and put her head in her hands. This was all falling apart. Even though she had done what she would consider the right thing, it had backfired in her face. She had never wanted to hurt anyone.

  But that was exactly what she had done.

  Ruric found her slumped over like this when when he returned. It cut him to the very soul to see her like this. He did not understand why she had done this. He could not think about it too much because he could not afford to understand why she had chosen this path.

  “Come.” He held his hand out for her. He needed to offer some sort of support. What came next would not be easy on either of them.

  Her small hand slipped into his as defenseless as it always was. He forgot so easily that she was not goblin. She did not know how to protect herself as they did. Eventually that had returned to bite them. He would need to remember this day for the future.

  “Where are we going Ruric?” She asked quietly.

  “We have reached a decision.”

  “And what was the decision?”

  He shook his head. “I cannot tell you.”

  It was not their way. He had argued fiercely for her. Many of the council members wanted to make an example of her. Once a human always a human. This was a reminder to the others that humans were nothing more than animals. They needed to be kept in check.

  There were even a few arguments for war. That it was high time for the goblins to emerge from Below. Humanity was a disease that needed to be wiped from the earth.

  Ruric attempted to remain calm. His voice was the sound of reason and diplomacy. He knew very well that the Queen was watching him. She was the deciding vote no matter what the others yelled about. She would make the decision in the end.

  Until Dumar, the council man he so despised, proclaimed that Jane should be beheaded with the others. Her death needed to make a point to the humans that remained. Female or not, she should be punished with the rest. Her body would be mounted so that the other humans could continue to watch it.

  Red hazed his vision, and he had not realized he had shouted the word No until it was ringing in his ears. “She does not deserve that death. You gave her to me, as my bride. It is within my right to decide her punishment, is it not?”

  The others had looked to the Queen for her answer. She would be giving her choice to him if she agreed with him. Females did not do this as a rule. Males were too volatile, too easily angered to make choices like this. They made decisions based off of emotion. Females could remain neutral.

  The Queen had nodded. And so it had fallen onto Ruric’s shoulders to decide Jane’s punishment.

  Her hand clutched tightly onto his. He knew how nervous she was. He knew that she likely thought she was being led to her death. As much as it pained him to know that she thought so little of him, he let her continue to think dark thoughts.

  She was meant to learn that the goblin world was not like hers. That was the lesson that he had been trying to teach her for so long. Ruric had been so certain that she had listened to him. Her actions proved that she had not.

  Once more they were in the large chamber where they had feasted after the binding ceremony. This was where they had killed the humans.

  She was brought to the small outcropping of stone that lifted them above the crowd of goblins staring. They parted as the couple walked upwards, staring at her with eyes that were filled with hatred and anger.

  This time they would not touch her. He was too close. The big goblin who had been her protector for months now would not let them. Ruric hated to see the dried blood upon her skin from where they had attacked her before. It was within their right to draw blood. The families who had lost their own deserved that much at least.

  He forced her onto her knees. Jane went without complaint. As she bent, he noticed that her eyes were strangely blank. He had seen the look before on others who thought they were going to their death. It was a withdrawal from the situation. Her soul was moving somewhere else.

  “Jane.” He clacked his nails loudly in front of her eyes. “You stay with me the entire time.”

  A muscle on her jaw flexed but she nodded slowly when she looked up at him.

  He addressed the crowd and knew that she would not understand him.

  “My brothers and sisters, you have asked for retribution!” A loud cheer followed the words. “The Queen has given me the right to choose what this female’s punishment will be.”

  Even Jane noticed the strange stillness after his words. Her head lifted slightly to look out over the crowd, that furrow between her eyes deepening. She would not know that the goblins stilled because he had not called her human, but female. They would be reminded how grave this situation truly was.

  “I have chosen the chaining.”

  A ripple went through the crowd, slow murmurs as he turned to take a golden collar from a goblin that held it up towards him. Gold was useless to goblins. Too soft to put to work, too weak to be used in any way, it was merely pretty. They used it for decoration or buttons if need be, but usually it was simply thrown away when they found it.

  He turned towards the human woman who made him so weak and knelt before her.

  The collar was clasped onto her neck. The filigree made it beautiful and delicate. The yellow matched her hair. It covered her from collarbone to nearly underneath her chin. His nail traced the fine work of it before looking up at her.

  “Seventeen goblins dead. Nearly fifty humans dead.”

  “I did not let that many humans go.” She said quietly.

  “They freed others. We have lost nearly seventy lives on this day.”

  Her jaw quivered for a moment before he watched it lock into place. “What are you going to do to me Ruric?”

  His nail clinked down the fine metal work. “We call this the chaining. It is your punishment.”

  She could hear the goblins murmuring. The sound was disquieting when she realized it was not that they were disappointed with the punishment. It was that some were worried it was too much.

  “What is the chaining?”

  “When we were bound, we were equals. I was your protector and sword. You were my haven. A binding creates a bond that can never be broken. Two lives made into one.”

  “What is the chaining, Ruric?” She asked once more.


  He tapped hard against the gold. “This changes the binding. We are not equal. You have no say any more. It takes away your power as female.” He leaned in close to her. His gaze locked upon hers. “There is no where to run now, Jane. You are mine.”

  As he turned to look at the sea of green faces staring back at him, he wondered where their journey would take them. He could not dispel the sinking feeling in his gut. This was where their story ended, and also began.

  Stay tuned for Part II, The Goblin Warrior