The goblins watched them go. I’m not sure they were as forgiving as Nyar, but they held their tongues. As soon as they had left the grotto, Nyar swept me into his arms again, and the goblins cheered my name as he carried me across the river. We were both soaked almost to our waists now. One of the goblins was already holding a pair of shears and cut the ropes around my feet.
“Your future queen!” Nyar declared. “At least—“ He looked at me for my reaction. “I assume.”
I laughed. “You did do that backwards, didn’t you? But yes. Of course.”
I put my arms around him for the most glorious kiss. The room broke into even more raucous cheering. I wasn’t used to so much attention but I couldn’t stop beaming. The goblins cleared the way for us to exit the room.
“We must have a feast,” Nyar said. “But let’s keep it simple. Get the fires burning and we’ll roast potatoes and—“
“We have enough cured hams to feed everyone, sir,” said a tall, skinny young goblin woman with her hair tied back with a white kerchief. “But we must go to the market immediately. We haven’t been keeping stores to feed the whole castle.”
“Don’t worry about it too much today, Prim.”
The hallways were so crowded now that we were getting jammed in the corridors. The goblins were practically falling over themselves to get the candles lit, fix the damage Mr. Vedant had done, and get the feast under way. It was wonderful to see the caverns coming to life.
“Selnay and Huldie are here!” someone shouted ahead.
“Let them through!” Nyar said.
Two young women were nudged to the forefront.
“Selnay!” Garor threw his arms around one of them.
Selnay was dressed in rather boyish garb, a plain tunic that fell mid-thigh and cut off trousers with leather boots. She looked as goblin-y as a goblin maiden could be, with a few twigs in her messy hair, and a vicious smile very much like Nyar’s. But she was beaming ear to ear, and threw her arms around me like we knew each other well.
“You!” she cried. “Thank the gods you didn’t cross that river.”
“You saved my life!” I said in breathless response. “I’m so glad I get to thank you for it properly.”
Huldie was a little rounded looking for a goblin, and clearly more shy. She wore a blue wool dress and an apron, and curtseyed to me.
Selnay elbowed her. “Don’t be bashful. I never thought this one could be so brave.”
“It was easier to be brave when I was a handkerchief and I didn’t have to talk,” Huldie said.
I gave her a hug. “We would have drowned if you hadn’t managed to get to Keely,” I said.
“You will both be rewarded, once we’ve sorted everything out,” Nyar said, giving them both a graceful bow—or as graceful as one could be, in the crowded room.
As everyone was bustling around, Nyar pulled me into my bedroom—or was it our bedroom now?—and shut the door behind us.
The moment the latch clicked, he kissed me again. His teeth grazed my lips. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I eagerly met it. His hands moved to my shoulders, thumbs hooking under the edge of my bodice, and he shoved it off me, baring my breasts. He took one last long deep taste of my mouth before he dropped to kiss and then suck at my nipples.
I groaned as I felt a gush of wetness between my legs.
“Are you still cursed?” I gasped.
“It is hard to tell the difference, where you’re concerned.” He pushed me against the door and looked down at me, his eyes glittering. My breasts were still bare, wet from his mouth, hard and sharp as the tips of arrows. His erection dug into my stomach.
“Now,” he said, “I can finally savor you slowly. So very, very slowly.”
“Not too slowly…”
“Oh, my dearest girl, I will make you weep with wanting.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Sorry to trouble you, my king, but we don’t have a single potato. We only have yams and turnips and carrots. And parsnips. But they don’t look very good. So I might advise the yams, mainly, and then perhaps—”
“Yams are fine,” Nyar called.
“I know you asked me to keep it simple, but I do think, along with the yams and the hams—oh dear, that rhymes—we might have a vegetable stew.”
“Fine.”
“And what about dessert? What do you think of rhubarb?”
“Prim, you do whatever you think is best. You don’t have to ask me.”
“All right.” She added, “You told me to keep it simple so I didn’t want to make it complicated without asking you first.”
“If you truly want to make it complicated, then go right ahead.”
She finally moved away, and I laughed.
“Maybe there was something to be said for the days when they couldn’t talk,” he growled.
His hand dropped to my breast again. He tugged on my nipples and I groaned once more, the sound barely audible over the hustle and bustle on the other side of the door. Then he rolled my nipples between his fingers. My head slumped against the door, and I leaned into his touch, thrusting my breasts forward. The sensation was shooting straight down between my legs. My clit throbbed.
Someone else pounded on the door, vibrating through my skull. “Sir? Could I get you down in wine cellar for a moment? Get your opinions? Should we open the vintage cabernet or save that for the wedding?”
Nyar stood up straight with his brows drawn into quite a glower. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
Resigned, I hoisted my bodice back up. “It looks like you might be weeping with wanting yourself.”
“Hmph.”
Chapter Fourteen
Before long, we were all gathering out under the stars. The numbers of goblins seemed to have multiplied. The goblins who had joined us in the grotto were mostly the palace guards and warriors, but there was of course, a large palace staff, scholars, smiths, carpenters, and every other sort of worker a town would have. I leaned that many of the workers and the farmers normally lived in smaller caves posted outside the goblin king’s holdings. Most of them had all ventured to the palace when the curse occurred, so they could stick together and protect each other, but Nyar assured me that the palace would not always be so crowded.
There was much to repair, lost animals to replace, gardens to plant. Everyone was overjoyed to be alive and whole, but it was not without sorrow. None of the goblins had aged except Nyar, but they said they had been able to speak to each other—just not to Nyar or any living people. Babies and small children had grown up in their strange forms, had learned to speak and work in the palace. Now they were thrust back into their old bodies, leading to the very disturbing sight of infants who could speak and knew how to make a pastry but weren’t sure how to walk on two legs.
“We will have to venture to the most powerful wizards in the land and try to find help for them, to age them as they should be,” Nyar said. “And now we have a lost generation. But it will certainly keep us busy.”
“Goblins really are very forgiving, for all your bad reputation,” I told him.
“We do live in the moment more than humans,” he said. “That’s probably why we have a bad reputation. We aren’t as likely to consider the ramifications of our actions. Although I think I’ve changed…”