Glancing down, I took note of at least a dozen muddy ropes wrapped around my arms and chest. With my upper body bound against a large tree, and the intense pounding in my head, it appeared I wouldn’t be heading back to the Steel Palace anytime soon.
“Are you alright?”
I whipped my head towards the voice to see Lukas sitting beside me, bound just as tightly to the same tree. Apart from a few light scrapes on his face, he looked fine.Thank the Ancients.
“I’m okay,” I croaked. Leaning forward, I tried to wriggle out of the ropes.
“It’s no use,” he huffed. “I’ve been trying for the past ten minutes. They’ve tied these ropes so tight; the only way out is if they cut us free.”
A gulp bobbed in my throat.
“You’ve really gone and done it now,” he grumbled.
“What?”
“This is your fault, you know. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t been sneaking around with the fae.”
My mouth fell open. He couldn’t be serious. “Well, if you hadn’t insisted on having our conversation in the middle of the woods, then the goblins never would’ve found us. I just wanted to go home. I could be in bed right now, but instead, I’m here – probably about to get murdered by one of those little beasts.”
Lukas snorted, but then a half-smile tugged at his lips.
“What?” I growled.
“You called the Steel Palace home,” he remarked, glowing as if he’d just had a moment of revelation.
I scoffed. Did I really call it that? My tower definitely now felt more comfortable than my single bed in the shared girls’ dormever did. But still, Corlixir was my home. Or at least it will be when it’s rebuilt. Someday.
“So?” I scowled at him. There was no need to get caught up in these pointless details. “I live there, don’t I?”
“You do,” he mused playfully. “But I like to think that by saying things like that, you’re adjusting to the idea of becoming my wife. Drothmore would be your home for sure when you are Queen.”
His words were so absurd, I almost choked. Shaking my head so hard it hurt, I replied in a cutting tone, “May I just remind you of our current situation? Whether you think I am ‘adjusting’ to that idea or not, which I absolutely am not, you seem to be forgetting that we are tied up in the middle of a goblin camp – with no way of escaping! We’ll probably both die here, and all you want to do is play the blame game and make up stupid points that suggest I would ever want to marry you.”
“Relax, fiancée, I know what goblins are like.” He tipped his head back so it rested against the tree bark. “I know they’ll do anything for gold. They won’t harm us once they realise my father is the richest man in the realm.”
Despite how much I hated it when he was right, I prayed that this time he was. After an already disastrous day, getting murdered by a mob of deranged creatures was the last thing I needed.
“It’s odd though,” he said in a relaxed voice. “I’ve never known goblins to be this far from the mountains, let alone to have a camp out here. There must be something else going on. This isn’t normal.”
“No chat chat!” Out of nowhere, a goblin pounced onto Lukas’s lap, jabbing at his arm with his pointed staff.
“Back off,” Lukas growled, his calm demeanour vanishing just as quickly as the goblin had appeared.
The snarling creature launched some spit at his face.“Prisoners no chat chat! You wait for Grimlurd, then we feast!”
“Feast?” I echoed, startled by my own voice.
The beady-eyed goblin shot me a look, then cackled. Vicious laughter shook his entire tiny frame. “Yes, yes! We feast! Been much time since we had last o’oman. Tasty tasty o’omans. O’omans go in de pot!”
My stomach churned. Was that why their cauldron smelled so putrid?
“O’omans in de pot! O’omans in de pot!” The goblin chanted repeatedly, as if his next meal wasn’t still breathing right in front of him. Around us, other goblins heard his chorus and began to join in with their own scratchy voices. Together, they sang the chant, waving their staffs wildly in the air. A few adventurous ones even scampered up the sides of their tents to balance on the roof poles and perform some bizarre kind of dance.
“O’omans in de pot! O’omans in de pot!” It was a complete frenzy of unified screeching and flailing arms.
“This is mayhem,” I said breathily.
Lukas squirmed beneath the ropes. “They may be disgusting creatures, but we’ll get out of this alive. You have my word.”
