I laid there thinking about that, the entire time debacle confusing me until my brain started to melt, and I grew stiff. My bones ached from leeching the coolness from the stone around me. Through the crack in my lids, I watched the sky for the changing of the hour. Goblins returned tired from chasing the pixie and ran from the room as soon as they spotted me. Eventually, the sky lightened to the twilight hue I was accustomed to. As beautiful as it could be, I hated that time of day back home. It reminded me too much of here. Now I’d give anything to have it back and appreciate it because it wasn’t this dismal, grayish lavender. The color of death.
I would not shrivel and die here.
Astaroth
My brethren dispersed as we entered the Goblin Circle, trudging to their homes to find solace in their beds. We searched all night and found nothing. The newly darkening sky made it difficult to see anything with all the shadows. The pixie had evaded us.
Mergle stifled a yawn. “We will go out again after we rest.”
“No need.” I picked a burr from my sleeve and flicked it with undue force. “I do not sense it any longer.”
“I’d like to be certain.”
I glared down at him. “Do you not trust my judgment?”
“Your judgment is impeccable, Your Highness.”
“And, yet, you don’t listen.” I stopped walking and threw my arms out. “It is not here!”
“I am listening. I also see. Your focus is in another place.”
“My focus is on the coming war.” I walked away from him, but he chased after me.
“Which is upon us. They felt your magic in the human realm.”
“The stone has been returned home. They will not sense it there again.”
“No, but they saw you there and will feel the power tenfold once you reclaim it. And now a pixie has disappeared from the realm. He could come here—”
“They wouldn’t dare the risk.”
“Yet you risk her.”
I spun around and Mergle halted. “This has been the plan all along. Why question it now?”
“I don’t, Your Highness. Only stating the obvious. If someone wants something badly enough, they will accept the risks.”
I bit the inside of my lip, wondering if I should tell him or keep the information close to my chest, but it leapt off my tongue. “She used it against me.”
He remained quiet with a dumbfounded expression.
“My magic,” I whispered almost nonexistent words, as a group of droopy goblins and redcaps trudged past toward their homes and the castle. “She made a wish on the stone.”
Mergle gasped, turning some of their heads. “That is impossible.”
“Shh.” I nudged him to the side. “I thought so, as well.”
“How?”
“If I knew,” I growled, “we would be having an entirely different discussion.”
“Yes, yes. What I meant was, in what way.”
“She wanted me to put her down.” My teeth felt as though they would crack. “And I dropped her.”
Mergle winced.
“Exactly.”
