The goblin’s large eyes bulged as he stuttered, “My king.”
I stiffened. “Do you deny my request?”
“Wh–what you ask is a death sentence.”
My face grew hot, and the goblin dropped to both knees, nose pressed to the stones with a swiftness. I knew my eyes were swirling and a shadow had begun to spin behind me. It happened every time I lost my composure. With Calista’s rage coursing through me, I had none left.
“I am sorry, sire.” Digras peeked up with glassy eyes. “Please do not forsake me.”
I knelt before the trembling soul and rubbed his back. “My old friend and playmate.”
Digras hesitantly relaxed and sat back on his heels the way we would do as children when we played our games on these very stones.
“It wasn’t me that forsook you.” My hand paused and grew tense. “It is you that has forsaken me.”
“No!” Digras yelled as I picked him up by the back of his linen shirt and tossed him into the swirling shadow behind me. The goblin’s screams faded as the shadow spun into a minuscule dot and dissipated into nothing.
I stormed back to the castle, anger bubbling over. I’d never felt fury quite like this. If I did encounter anyone, they quickly strayed from my path to avoid me. How could Digras tell me no? That he feared Jessandra more than his own king infuriated me. After all I had done to ensure his survival. I should have allowed the realm to absorb his essence and snuff him from existence. What a waste of my power.
Once inside the castle, I veered toward the throne room and to my awaiting entourage. All conversation stopped when my boots thudded against the marble flooring. The goblins stood at attention.
I scanned their faces as my nostrils flared. Fear and excitement lingered in the air. “Who here will deliver a message?”
Some of the goblins spoke before the others, dropping to a knee and extending a hand.
“You, Vreck.” The goblin’s gaze darted between the others before he stood on shaky legs. “Since you were the last to offer, you will deliver the message.”
“Yes, sire.” Deflated, he sunk back to a knee. “Anything for my king.”
I smiled, lips stretching menacingly over my teeth. “Bring me Jessandra.”
Vreck tensed and jerked his head up. I dared him to speak against me. Smarter than Digras, Vreck nodded and lowered his head. “I will venture out first thing in the morn.”
The clap of my palms reverberated around the room. Some of the goblins flinched. It almost vexed me more when the others didn’t.
“I knew I could depend on you.”
I didn’t and secretly wanted to make an example out of him, too, in front of the others. I wanted to strike fear into their hearts, so they never questioned me again. They had it far too easy around here while they waited for me to save them from this pit of despair.
Vreck forced a smile. I forced another, as well. “Carry on.”
They scattered, exiting in three opposite directions. There were too many entrances to this room. Not that it mattered. None of them were ignorant enough—or intelligent enough—to assassinate me.
I walked to my throne and stared at the skulls facing me. The gaping holes where eyes once rested were cold, but I remembered the life that danced in them. Every single one. I removed the one I wore and ran a finger over its long, bumpyforehead adorned with wicked, curved horns. They led to close-set, over-sized eyes resting on high cheekbones with a short, rounded beak of a nose. During its life, it had the tiniest of mouths and a satchel of skin that swayed beneath its chin, making it appear gaunt, while the rest of its tall, long-limbed body was bony and emaciated. It was anything but.
The Gobblesnatcher was a gluttonous, bipedal beast with a lust for anything that moved. Once it cornered its prey, it impaled them with their poisonous horns, stretched its mouth open, and shoved its prey inside where it remained in that sack as it sucked them dry before regurgitating the remnants on the ground. More often than not, the victim survived long enough to die from the draining and not the attack. I had heard many of my brethren crying out from inside those death sacks over my lifetime. Sometimes, it would eat several of them at once.
This wasn’t my favorite beast that roamed these lands. It was, however, my greatest victory. A quiver of fear and disgust tickled my spine as the memory of being trapped in that near impenetrable membrane played out in my mind. I killed it in my youth before I knew the power I possessed and how to yield it. It triggered a lust in me to hunt, to conquer, and to be the most feared predator in the realm. I promised myself I would never fall victim to anything ever again. But I did.
I hung it on my throne next to the others and stared into the sockets of the vacant skulls.
I became her victim. And, in return, she was now mine.
Oh, how the tables had turned.
