Dread and shock curdled in my stomach. I turned toward Astaroth and almost slipped off our mount. He righted me and rested his hands in the bend of my hips to keep me stable. The position was too intimate and reminded me of when he pounded into me from behind.
“Careful. It would be a waste to spend our special night nursing you back to health.”
“I didn’t agree to this,” I hissed and lowered my voice as goblins closed in around us. “A baby is one thing. The responsibility of the realm and its people is entirely different.”
Astaroth’s cheek rested against the side of my head. His voice rumbled in my ear. “Others may have used you as their whore, but I will not have you as mine outside the bedroom.” I stiffened as his anger filtered through. “You will bear my children and my responsibilities. We are one now.”
My mouth dropped open. I was never anyone’s whore. I chose my lovers for myself to meet my own needs.
“You keep saying that, yet you disappear after.”
“I will keep saying it until you accept it.” His fingers dug into my thighs and jerked me back against him. The hard outline of him burned into my bottom. “And me.”
A faint hint of copper teased my taste buds. I relaxed my jaw and released the inside of my cheek from my teeth. I would not accept this. He pushed the same responsibilities on me thathis own people had pushed on him. This was not okay, not in the slightest. He would have to force me onto that throne. How would that look to those watching?
“I can feel your rebellion brewing.” His hand cupped my mound, fingers slipping beneath me and stroking me through the fabric. “I do enjoy a challenge.”
I squinted up at him and hissed. “Don’t use sex as a weapon against me.”
His icy glare held a molten heat that warmed me in all the right and wrong ways. Where was all this sudden anger coming from? “I will use whatever means necessary.”
I faced forward and moved his hand back to my thigh. There would be no public display of his power tonight. We neared the outer walls of the goblin circle, and the group thinned out. Some headed left, some right, and some followed us into the labyrinth.
“Where are they going?” I asked.
“We’re splitting up to herd the prey.”
Prey. I would never imagine the monsters roaming these walls as prey. They were fully-fledged predators. The sky darkened the farther we traversed. Shadows danced along the walls, cast by the glow from the pixie orbs. They slithered and played with the vines. I kept attentive, eyes flicking toward every movement, ready to pull my short sword from my knee-high boot. The weight of it did not calm my nerves as much as I thought it would.
“They can smell your fear.” Astaroth buried his nose into my hair. “As can I.”
“Yeah, well, they’re scary.” And so are you, I thought, jerking my head away and seeing movement. A opossum-sized rat scurried past us and gave me the heebie jeebies. His suppressed laughter filtered through our connection and thudded against my back. Rolling my eyes, I asked, “When is this celebration to take place?”
Astaroth directed the beast around a corner. The orbs were few and far between, allowing shadows to engulf the in-between. “The feast will happen tomorrow, after the goblin games.”
“Goblin games?” I perked up. That sounded interesting. They didn’t seem to do much of anything in the labyrinth. “What’s that?”
“A demonstration of strength and agility. They will battle one another for the privilege to be your guard.”
My jaw dropped. “I don’t need a guard.”
“I beg to differ.”
Nostrils flaring with a huff, I said, “The fact they are willing to hurt one another—”
“Is not your choice.”
“I forbid it.” Shivering, I pulled my cloak together and clutched it from the inside as we approached the arctic zone.
Astaroth pulled me to his chest and wrapped his cloak around me as the winds blew stronger. “You’re not queen yet.”
“Nor will I be.”
He stiffened slightly. “Either way, you lose.”
I opened my mouth to retaliate, but I had nothing. My brain emptied, and I sat there, gulping like a fish, as Jessandra’s words played on repeat in my head.
Astaroth tilted my chin to the side and looked down at me. Resting within the shadows of his hood, I saw the tenderness he exuded at the Hall of the Unnamed, laced with the same sadness and understanding. “End of discussion.”
