The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Twenty Eight: Test

"They were innocent then, but goodness doesn't last long in this world. In a few years, they would have become the same as the rest."

"Like you?" She snapped back. "You let yourself go so deep into darkness; you became something inhuman. Something so twisted and ugly a goblin wanted to take you to wife. Not once since you've come to our world, have I seen the slightest sign of empathy or compassion. Yet I am to believe that you can be trusted with Aurora's safety?" She scoffed. "No. I need to see some shred of proof that there is something good left in you."

Knut wrapped his arm protectively around my shoulder. "This is unneeded." He growled, glaring down his nose at her. She was tall, but he was taller still. "You've already seen it. She went into The Pit to save me. No one would do that even for their own kin. Not even you, Titania."

She flinched. Her shoulders trembled as if she were shrugging off a chill. "You're saying that she loves you?" Her mouth twitched, threatening to burst open with laughter.

Knut glanced at me out of the corners of his downcast eyes. "I honestly don't know. Matilda keeps her feelings well hidden behind many walls, but she does seem fond of me. She risked a lifetime of imprisonment to pull me from that abyss. A selfless act, if ever there was one. Shouldn't that count for something?"

She shook her head slowly. Her eyes and their whirling storm cloud irises were focused solely on me. "No, I think that was more to save her position as queen than anything else."

"You'd be wrong." I squeaked, finding it hard to speak.

"Really? Then please, enlighten me. Show me that you're not the remorseless killer I think you are." She pointed towards a golden window. "Show mercy to the person that has wronged you the most."

I cringed in my skin as if she'd dumped a bucket of icy water over me. "You...you ask too much." I clawed at my velvet skirt, fisting it in my hands. "You have no idea what's he's put me through. What pain he's caused me. Take a good long look at her and you'll see a fraction of it." I said, jabbing a finger towards my doppelganger.

She looked at the goblin me long and hard. Her eyes roamed over her flesh from her ruined hair, down the curve of her mangled back, to her bruised and bloodied feet. She looked but said nothing.

"I'm going to kill him. Right here and now. If sparing him is the cost for our allegiance, then forget it. May The Hollow bless Aurora and Kieran's union." I spat at her feet.

Titania ignored the insult. Her face softened as did her tone, becoming that of gentle scolding like, "Don't touch that. It'll burn you."

"Don't be foolish." She began to reach for me, for my hand, but Knut flashed his teeth and that reaching hand fell back to her side. "I know how badly you want him dead." She said gently. "Your whole being screams of your hate for him, but that is exactly why I chose him to be your test. I know it is hard. It should be hard. Forgiveness is rarely easy."

Tears spilled over my cheeks. They splashed against my bodice, turning the green velvet black. "I loved him. Out of all my brothers, I loved him most." My whole body shook as I sobbed, pain forcing the embarrassing and hurtful words from my mouth. I stared at the ground, shame twisting my insides. My voice was small like that of a mouse. "After our father died, he filled those shoes. He took care of us however he could. He stole and sold himself to feed and clothe us. He filled my head with such dreams of grandeur, promised me things would get better, that one day we'd live in a palace and all our troubles would be over. And I believed him with my whole heart. But it was lies. Lies." I struggled not to scream the word. Knut's hand brushed my arm, rubbing my wrist where the thread once bit into my flesh. "I know the truth now. What he did for us, he did out of obligation, not love. It was never love. The minute he saw the opportunity to be rid of us, he took it."