Another darts past with an armful of folded tapestries and hisses to the servant beside him, “The Elves are here. Finally.”
Finally?
I glance back at my warriors and see the same bewilderment in their expressions that fill me even now.
No one attacks us or sounds an alarm. No one even seems surprised that we’re here as we make our way down the hallway.
My heart stops as Vivienne’s voice echoes throughout the castle. “I said no!”
Magic erupts from my palms in a wave of blue light, reducing the thorned vines to ash as I race down the corridor.
The Goblin King is going to die for daring to take my wife.
We round a corner, and I hear her voice again. “If you ask me one more time, I shall assume you have some sort of hearing impairment.”
“For the love of the gods, just sign the bloody contract,” a male yells back.
“No!” Vivienne snaps.
I shove the doors open and rush through, Vaelen and my warriors spilling in behind me, magic arcing between my fingers like lightning, ready for blood and war… ready to kill anything that stands between me and—
I stop short.
My wife is standing in the center of the room. She isn't bound or cornered and she doesn't even appear the slightest bit afraid. Her voice echoes loudly as she directs the Goblin staff. “That doesn’t go there,” she snaps, pointing to a large rug. “It needs to go over there.” She gestures to another spot in the room, and they quickly rush to do her bidding.
My warriors are fanned out behind me in battle formation, each of us with our weapons drawn, while the wolves lower their heads, ears pinned back as they bare their sharp fangs.
We are ready for a war… but there is no war.
The Goblin King sits upon his throne, watching Vivienne order his people, looking not like a man who has taken a hostage but like a man who has been slowly, methodically defeated by one.
Around the room, several more Goblin servants are... working. They’re straightening things, carrying bolts of cloth, and moving furniture.
Vivienne turns, and her face lights up. "Auren!"
The sound of my name on her lips nearly undoes me. I was so afraid I was going to lose her the way I lost my mother.
She gathers her skirts and runs straight toward me, leaping into my arms. “I knew you’d come,” she says, peppering my facewith frantic kisses. She glances over her shoulders, narrowing her eyes at the Goblin King. “And I knew it wouldn’t take days likehesaid it would.”
Behind her, the Goblin King exhales. “Thank the gods you are here,” he says exasperatedly. “If you had taken much longer, I might have abdicated my throne just to get out of this bargain.”
One of my warriors snorts.
Another quickly turns his face sharply away.
I am too busy staring at my wife.
Vivienne levels another glare in the Goblin King’s direction before her head whips toward the far wall, and she calls out, “No, not there—higher. If you hang it crooked again, I shall assume you are doing it on purpose.”
I follow the line of her gaze and see a pair of Goblin servants adjusting a tapestry.
I came prepared to raze a kingdom to the ground… instead, I appear to have interrupted interior decorating?
My hands settle instinctively at Vivienne’s waist, crushing her to me for one savage heartbeat before I force myself to loosen my hold enough to look at her properly.
She is warm, whole, bright-eyed, with not a single bruise on her. She’s dressed in an elegant purple gown, and the top half of her hair is done in a beautiful crown of braids. She looks nothing like a captive.
My warriors stare at her with expressions ranging from shock to admiration.
