54. The Goblin King #2
"Your attention seems divided. Am I boring you?" Vroc drawls menacingly and with a snap of his fingers the image of the seven and Ispahan vanishes.
"No!" I struggle anew but Vroc just grabs my face, his black claws piercing my skin and drawing blood. I flinch.
"Such a pity that I need you whole and breathing." He sighs.
"How are you even drawing power from the Grimoire?" I want to get to the bottom of his sick game.
"So curious. Just like your father." He pats my cheek patronizingly and I feel like ripping off his jaw.
"The least you can do is unravel this fuckery when you have made my life hell over the years."
"Hmm...here's a hint. Your harem has been investigating the disappearances all along." He swipes at the shallow cut on my neck and licks my blood from his fingers.
He shudders as if pleased, as fresh horror dawns on me.
Oh hell! The missing children!
"You sick fuck!" I spit at him, rage and disgust contending for supremacy. "You've been sacrificing children to the Grimoire?"
"Yes, the mighty Grimoire needs souls for its upkeep, pet.” He says as if explaining something to an imbecile.
“And I don’t appreciate all this name-calling.
I can always cut out your tongue, you know.
Besides, undue stress can’t be good for the babies.
" He coos and I have this terrifying epiphany that he plans to sacrifice my unborn kids to that dark well of magic.
Terror rampages through my mind but I try to not let it show on my face. Vroc smiles slyly, his expression changing into something darker.
“You're finally getting it. My intention was to raise you like a pet, just like Jadeth. But your bitch of a mother guarded you like a dragoness guarding treasure. I eliminated her in good time, though—relished watching the light die from her eyes.” He sighs in absolute contentment.
The memory of my loss and the helplessness of being orphaned cuts deep. Incensed, I lunge at him, but he chuckles darkly and slams me back against the wall with bone-rattling force.
"The Council intervened and we had to flee before you arrived on the scene. Quite unfortunate." Vroc carries on and I feel sick as the shackles start draining me again. My magic didn’t replenish quickly enough.
“Then an oracle crossed my path—rather, the Grimoire led me to her knowing I was destined for greatness. Her unwilling prophecy revealed that your diluted blood could unleash Grimoire’s true power. Only you weren’t ready yet. You had to ripen for the powers to fully emerge.”
With each work spoken, dread floods my heart.
"You had to be impregnated." Vroc's gaze drops to my protruding belly and I have the desperate urge to shield the tiny lives from his greedy eyes.
"Jadeth failed the mission since he fancied himself to be in love with you. Years of conditioning lost to pesky feelings. Such a waste." He grimaces and I finally get the closure I didn't realize I’d been looking for––Jadeth was Vroc's puppet. A victim of this mad goblin's evil machinations.
"I tried to keep an eye on you but you were always on the move, whoring around just like Ilzara, then hiding in the human realm for decades. I thought all my plans were for naught, but then you came back only to acquire the septet with your magic cunt.”
I hold my tongue to let him spill all the beans. Did he have a hand in my pregnancy?
"So I graciously gave you time. After all, aged brew tastes better." His thin lips curl derisively.
“The Grimoire nudged the oracle just the right way, and she sang like a canary.
Predicted your womb would be most receptive on Veilmoon's eve, but your ironclad contraception spell was derailing my plans. Waiting another decade for you to be ripe was unacceptable!” He shakes his head, and my insides curl in dismay at his vileness.
“So I took matters into my own hands.” He curls his gnarly fingers into fists, his gaze hardening with determination. “I met you up close for the first time, and the power coursing through your veins was everything I had hoped for.” His eyes grow unfocused, lost in the memory.
"Yor are deluded. We have never met before." I deny vehemently. I'd have remembered this sick fuck!
"Are you certain?" He smiles like a feral cat who's caught the canary. "Alms my dear? "
My breath freezes in my lungs as the day from the farmer's market surfaces in my mind.
"It was you? But it was a cyclops!" I gasp, stomach turning at the monstrous lengths he's gone to.
"Who else?" Amusement dances in his cold eyes but I feel nauseous. "I wore the hag's viscera. She tried to disobey me and had nothing to bargain for her life. And ended up being useful fodder for the Grimoire."
Enraged, I bark, "It was you that fucked up my contraceptive spell!"
"Mhmm. You were so gullible. You sully Asmordial's name, pet." His harsh voice drips with disdain. "All I did was chant a twisted version of the prophecy, and a doubt was planted in your mind. A single touch undid the contraception spell."
"You're a depraved fucker!" I spit at him. Just how far has the swine plotted?
His voice drops as his face turns thunderous, "Tsk. You truly want your tongue torn off?” He cants his head as if listening for something then nods. “Fine. I’ll leave her intact.”
Is he talking to that devious Grimoire?
His unfocused gaze sharpens again, “I've had my eyes on you for a long time, my sacrificial lamb. You owe me."
Compared to this twisted version of calculated malice, the wounds from the night of the Veilmoon almost seem like a dull sting.
The nagging doubt since he revealed his obsession with my pregnancy surfaces. I narrow my eyes, putting nothing past Vroc. "Did you do something to my husbands?"
"Clever pet." He pats the crown of my hair twice and I toss my head away to avoid his loathsome touch.
He chuckles, then grows thoughtful, staring at a scone on the wall. "I had leverage against you, that snooty Enithyme, but the Grimoire wanted her in exchange for a hex."
No...no...
"A powerful but subtle one."
"You're lying! She's traveling in the mortal realm." I snarl, dread pooling in my gut.
"Just something I cooked up on the fly to keep a handle on things." He shrugs and starts pacing. A horrified gasp escapes my throat as I imagine my mother's oldest friend falling prey to this bastard's greed. Tears fill my eyes at the thought that I'd never see her again.
How many lives has this monster sacrificed?
"Your mates had to be hexed in a small dose. The balance had to be perfect for it to work."
Abruptly he pivots to me, and catches the shock on my face. A deranged light gleams in his eyes as he focuses on me. "So they'd lose sight of the true you, Aleiraah."
"You fucking bastard!" I whisper, repulsed by the depth of his perversion.
"You were ripe for fucking, pet.” He gloats. “The hex amplified their vices until it consumed them." Vroc grins gleefully and my heart aches for my mates.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
He continues like he didn’t hear me. "The effect was only supposed to last for a couple of days, and it did. I was expecting the Veilmoon to enhance the effects of the hex and it worked beautifully."