The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Four: Honeyed Trap

Freya's small lips pulled downward. She rose from her seat. She was a good head and shoulders taller than Knut when she drew to her full height. The white silk nightgown she wore was cinched at her tiny waist and puddled about her feet. Roses were embroidered at her bust in red thread. "So, you are the human girl who stole Knut's heart and sanity." She glided towards me as silent as death. The way she moved sent chills down my spine. If Knut's movements were that of a stalking cat, hers was that of a spider.

I tilted my head back as she came to stand in front of me. My head barely reached her ribs. I set my jaw and met her creepy eyes. I refused to cower to any goblin, even ones that frightened me to my core. "My name is Matilda." I said defiantly.

Freya smiled at that. "I can see what it was that drew you to her, but are you certain about marrying a human? Your children, if you live long enough to have them, will be mutts."

"If you see what I see, then you know no goblin woman could satisfy me. She is different from you and the others. She is meant for more than your maker intended." Knut walked over to one of several golden bookcases and studied the titles printed along the spines of Freya's novel collection. "Have you seen Kai, today? I'd like to show her off to him before I have to send her home."

Freya crossed her long arms over her chest. "He's going over strategies with his advisers. As you should be. Really, Knut, if you aren't going to take the coronation seriously, you should just abdicate, fall on your sword and be done with it."

Somehow Knut's already black eyes turned darker as his smile transformed into one of its other many versions. "I've known my brother for most of his life. That is all the strategy I need. Now, I think I shall leave you two to your womanly bonding." He bid us both goodbye and kissed my hand before slithering out the door, stepping back over the still flopped servant as he went.

As soon as Knut was gone, the pudgy servant scrambled back into the chamber and shut the heavy door. "How blessed I am to have the chance to serve two brides tonight!" The servant jumped about like a joyous flea before flopping again at my feet. His lips smacked as he kissed the floor again and again.

"Enough, Mikkel. You're getting on our nerves. Fetch her a gown to sleep in." She kicked him in the side, and he rolled towards the wardrobe.

"Yes Mistress! Right away!" Jumping up onto his tiny feet, he yanked open the wardrobe and fumbled about, tossing clothing around as he hunted the perfect ensemble. "Mistress Matilda, do you have a preference for color or fabrics? I believe this blue one would go well with your coloring."

"It's fine, Mikkel. Just get her dressed and leave already. I can't take much more of you." Freya sighed again and rubbed at her forehead.

My eyes widened in horror. "Wait, he's going to dress me?" Sure someone had already bathed me and dressed me while I was unconscious, but I hadn't been aware of it. "I-I can do that myself." I was never one to get embarrassed over my body, but the idea of those little goblin hands and eyes on my skin unnerved me.

"Relax." Freya sat down on a lounge tucking her long legs up beneath her gown. A cool giggle slipped from her lips. "The only goblin you have to guard your virtue from is Knut."

This seemed to prove true when Mikkel quickly stripped me bare and re-clothed me in the blink of an eye with no more emotion than if he were plucking a chicken. As soon as his job was through, he left just as Freya requested and we two brides were left to ourselves.

I flitted about the room, admiring the walls, the furnishings and decor. I hopped onto the high stool at the vanity and admired an ivory hairbrush with foreign letters engraved along the handle. I giggled as I pulled it through my long locks, flipping my hair and admiring myself in the looking glass. I don't think I'd ever seen a smile so genuine upon my face before.

"Would you please stop using my things." Freya huffed. "I don't care to catch your lice."

"Sorry." I said, reluctantly putting down the hairbrush. I turned on the stool to face her. "I never would have guessed goblins would live so opulently. There's so much gold. Everywhere I look, the kingdom shines with it. I've always thought of goblins as green little men that live in holes and eat little children."

"That's been partly true through the years." She chuckled with amusement. "Though we come in every shape, size and shade one can imagine. You do not have gold where you come from?" She asked, cocking a high arched brow.

I shook my head. "Not like this. Only the high-born folks have a lot of gold, but even they would marvel at the sight of this place. The Goblin Kingdom puts England to shame. Here even the commoners live in homes built with stone flecked with gold."

"Well then it is good that you love the kingdom so. Soon you will be living here permanently after all if that boy has his way." She smirked at me and put her tiny nose back in her book.

I lay quietly on what would be my side of the bed that night, bored out of my mind while Freya read her book on the lounge. "How old is Knut?" I finally asked, just to break the dull silence.

"Time flows differently between our worlds, but relatively speaking, he's twenty-four."

"Really?" I asked the ceiling. I hadn't expected that answer. "He looked like an old man when he appeared to me as a human."

"The magic of a goblin king is unique to them. Princes begin to develop this power as they grow older, but they don't fully come into it until they've taken the throne. As his power is still developing, it is better not to waste too much of it maintaining too drastic of a disguise. Either he was conserving energy, or he just thought it would be funny to mess with you. Knowing him it was likely both."

"What were you talking about earlier with Knut?" I asked, trying to keep her talking, still not sleepy enough or relaxed enough to close my eyes around a goblin. I just needed to stay awake until daybreak then I was gone.

"The coronation?" Freya turned the page in her novel before she answered. "Succession doesn't work the same here as it does in your world. Being the eldest son doesn't guarantee you'll be king. You must prove your worth. At the coronation, Kai and Knut will have to duel to the death. Whoever is left alive, will then take up the King's Dagger and face Frode. If the prince is able to kill his father, he will take his place as goblin king."

I sat upright. My teeth ground together. "You mean to tell me that Knut may not even become king? What happens to me if he dies? Or his father kills the winner of the duel?"

"If he's killed by Kai, nothing. You'll be sent back to wherever you came from, I imagine. Traditionally, the bride of the loser is given to the winner as a consort. The same goes for if the King wins. If the King kills the winner of the initial duel, then he will have to father new heirs to begin the cycle anew."

I swallowed the acidic bile that had filled my mouth. The brilliant room around me had started to blur and spin around me. "You mean..."

"If the old man wins, he gets us both." She said this so without emotion it was frightening. She truly had no qualms about the horrid practice, as if it were the natural order of things. I supposed, to her, it was. "But don't worry, even if the King does manage to avoid death again, I doubt he'd keep a human consort. He'd probably just kill you."

I thought back to my initial meeting with the ancient king, when he'd praised me, and shivered. I wasn't so certain things would work out so well for me. Whatever excitement I had was suddenly and violently ripped out of me and was replaced with a terrible dread. I leaped up from the bed and darted for the door. "No! Let this city of gold burn to ashes! I'm getting out of this honeyed trap!" I snarled as I yanked open the door only to find a huge brute of a goblin awaiting me on the other side, glaring at me with fire in his eyes.