The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Thirteen: Cleansed

"It's so high." I gasped, pressing my brow against his cold as stone skin. "What if you do? What if I slip?"

"Then I'd let myself fall and I'd catch you." He said, reaching up and digging his claws into The Hollow for another hold. "My vicious, cunning girl, I am king because of you. Had I not chosen my bride so wisely, Kai would have beaten me to death, and it would be me being burning on that pier. Turning to ashes. Destined to feed my father's grave."

"I'm glad we won...but I'm scared too," I confessed. My hold on his neck tightened slightly. I rested my cheek against the nape of his neck where his mouse gray hair was matted. It smelled of a man's musk, dirt, and blood. For a moment, my mind drifted back to the shack, where I'd spent so many nights drinking with my brothers, the air thick with a similar scent. I cringed at the memory of the twins' dopey, drunk faces and shoved the memory away. The vision vanished, but Rolland and Rhys' infectious laughter still rang in my ears, turning my soul a deeper black.

A sad thought twisted my stomach painfully. I will never set foot in my childhood home again. I wouldn't miss those drafty walls, but I would miss its familiarity and the memories those walls held. My life with my family, though not at all ideal, hadn't been entirely miserable. There were good times too, though brief and far between. Even with so many depressing thoughts rolling around in my head, thousands of sweet memories that had now turned sour and putrid, it was the unknown future ahead of me that weighed heaviest on my shoulders. I'd given up my world for another and I wasn't certain if I was prepared for the price this new life required of me. "Freya deserved what she got, but she was right about some things too. I know next to nothing about goblins. I don't even know how to read or write my own language, let alone understand yours." I sighed. My eyelids drooped with fatigue. Despite the tea that morning, my struggle with Freya had nearly completely drained me of my energy. Maybe I should have drunk more than a few sips.

"Knowledge comes with time." He said, peeking back at me as he continued climbing. "You'll have the best teachers, specially made for your needs. I'll create goblins that can mold you into the queen we need, so don't worry so much. Just trust me and enjoy the ride."

After a long, long journey spent with Knut telling me dirty jokes to keep me awake, he finally pulled us up onto an alcove. Above it, The Hollow continued on, endless as the sea, but we'd mercifully reached our destination.

"I told you, you had nothing to fear." Ask, dressed only in a plain white linen gown, pulled me from Knut's back. I flopped into her arms, too tired to resist or help her move me. "Girl, you're like a wet noodle. Didn't you finish your tea this morning?" She tsked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, mumbling as I fought sleep. "How did you get up here?"

"Same as you." She chuckled, winking at me. "Except I didn't have a man to carry me. I climbed. I'll never understand why The Hollow didn't give humans claws. They're so useful. How do you get things done without them?"

The alcove was little more than another wound in the Hollow's trunk where its insides had bubbled outward. There was a deep gouge in The Hollow's side where golden sap oozed into a large basin beneath it like a waterfall emptying into a lake. Behind Ask there was the grand gown sewn entirely with golden thread that shimmered and shifted like a flame. A man's coat and jerkin that looked to be made solely from silvery spider's web stood up right beside it, each just waiting for a body to slip inside of it.

Without the slightest warning, Knut unbuckled the belt keeping his skirt of leather strips up and let it fall about his ankles. My hands shot up to shield my eyes from the horror laid bare before me, but it was far, far too late. It wasn't my first time seeing a naked man. I lived in a one room house with three of them, so staying completely ignorant of the male sex was near impossible. Still, seeing family members bathing, using the chamber pot or walking in on them fooling around with tavern wenches is one thing. Having the goblin, you're about to marry standing stark naked in front of you is quite another.