Silence falls between us as the Goblin King stares at me as if I’ve just said something completely inappropriate. Which, to be fair, I suppose I have. Especially since we are relative strangers.
I refuse to shrink beneath that look. “The marriage has already been consummated,” I state again, more firmly this time.
“I see.” He arches a condescending brow. “That was… more information than I required.”
I press my lips together. I will not be embarrassed.
“It doesn’t matter. The bargain still stands.”
“Itshouldmatter,” I counter. “Why are you so insistent on marrying me? Why do you want me anyway?”
“I don’t,” he grits through his fangs.
I blink. “What?”
“I do not want you,” he says, voice firm. “But that does not mean I will tolerate being defied.” He leans in, eyes narrowing. “Why did you ignore my summons?”
Despite my fear, I meet his gaze evenly. “Because, as I already told you, I’m married. I fulfilled the terms of the bargain.”
“Foolish human, the terms are not so easily settled,” he grinds out. “This was my father’s bargain; I inherited it. And I will see it through.”
I refuse to back down. “The agreement says I must be wed before my twenty-third birthday.” I place my hands on my hips. “Well, I am, so the contract should be void.”
His mouth tightens. “If only.”
That is not what I expected. He doesn’t look at me with hunger, triumph, or even interest. If anything, he looksextremely irritated… as though I’m an annoying insect he would very much like to be rid of.
“What doesthatmean?”
“It means,” he says with a low growl, “that I inherited the terms along with the throne. And those terms have not been fully met.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “No matter what, I will not be your wife.” He opens his mouth to reply, but I cut him off. “And furthermore, I assure you that you would not want me as one.”
That earns me a long measuring look before he grumbles, “Then, it seems we are both in agreement on this.”
Before I can respond, he flicks his wrist. The air shimmers and a sheet of parchment appears between us, hovering for a moment before settling neatly onto the edge of a nearby desk.
“There,” he says, stabbing at it with one claw-tipped finger. “Sign this and we are both free of this mess.”
I look from the parchment to him. “You expect me to sign this simply because you say so?”
“Yes.”
“You dragged me across kingdoms to force my hand,” I say evenly. “So you’ll forgive me if I don’t rush to obey. Besides, since when are Goblins trustworthy?”
“As King of the Goblins,” he says, his golden eyes practically burning into mine. “I resent your sweeping generalization.”
Despite everything, I nearly laugh knowing I’ve gotten under his skin. He’s angry, that much is obvious, but it’s a restrained frustration. Something tells me if I expect to get anywhere with this, I’m going to have to meet his sharp edges with my own. “Do you?” I ask sweetly. “How tragic for you that I don’t care.”
Something hard and dangerous reflects briefly behind his golden, cat-like eyes before it disappears beneath a calm façade. “Do not test the limits of my restraint, human.”
Fear spikes through me, but I push it back down. If Branneth wants to keep me trapped here, I’m going to do everything I can to make him regret it.
I step closer to the parchment, but I do not touch it in case there may be some sort of dark magic resting on the page, ready to curse me the moment I pick it up. Instead, I lean in, scanning the lines without actually reading them. “How do I know that if I sign this it will actually set me free?”
“Read it and you’ll see that it nullifies the bargain.”
I study him carefully, committing every shift in his expression to memory. Men reveal more in what they try to hide than what they say outright. “Or,” I counter, “it might bind me to you permanently the moment I sign it.”
