15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Astaroth
G oblins scurried about my feet in the Great Hall, bustling in and out of the kitchen to create the perfect welcome dinner for Calista. I couldn’t remember the last time we utilized this space for anything significant enough to give it its title. It set me on an edge I wasn’t aware I had. Toppling from it could be catastrophic to the one who pushed me over. That was all it would take. A slight nudge, an exhalation….
A dish clattered onto the floor and berries rolled in every which direction. I rounded the table as the goblin who carried it popped onto her knees from where she tripped. She crawled about scooping them back onto the tray. When she noticed me watching, she froze and dropped her chin.
“Apologies, sire. I will get fresh berries from the kitchen.”
“See that you do.” When she didn’t move from her spot, I raised my voice. “Quickly!”
She jerked to her feet and ran for the cloaked doorway, disappearing inside the tapestry that hung from the wall. The quick departure saved her from my wrath as my next step squished a forgotten berry against the floor.
I lifted my foot. A purple splat marked the spot. The skin of the berry oozed off the sole of my boot.
“Your Highness, please sit.”
I glared down at Abe—short for some ridiculously long name that even he couldn’t remember after being here longer than I have been alive—and refused to budge.
He quivered, then bent to clean up the mess. “With the utmost respect, sire, you are making the staff fearful.”
“They should be. This is the beginning of many important events in all our lives. We can only make a first impression once. It needs to be perfect.”
“Yes, bu-but—”
“Perfect, Abe.”
“If they are tizzied, they will not be able to complete their duties before the bell tolls.”
We stared at one another. Energy rolled off me with enough force the space around me wavered. Nothing was going as I planned.
The other goblins fumbled with their items as they set up the room, their nervous eyes flicking in my direction for a reaction.
“I will sit,” I stated. Abe sighed in relief. “For now.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” He struggled to pull out the heavy chair at the head of the table before gesturing to it with his stubby little arm.
I sat and stared down the length of the table. What was once a lonely, silent view was now lively and exciting. It wasn’t always that way, but when they declared me their king, I became… unapproachable. The evenings full of fun antics, music and dance, and getting drunk with my brethren ceased. My friends, whom I considered family, became dutiful servants to a cause. It took many inches of growth to comprehend the change that had swept the realm. Had I known what would occur and where that would lead us, the younger version of myself would have refused. Alas, I became accustomed to the distance from them and from myself.
Once I settled in, the servants visibly relaxed and picked up their steady pace of hanging silks and setting the table that I would finally share with someone. My stomach felt sour amid the chaotic energy.
Calista was finally here. As exhilarating as it was, she wouldn’t have come unless I took her. She would have fought me given the chance. That rebellious spark from her youth lingered. I could sense it waking up. The devastation and realization on her face when I declared she’d have my child…. Calista’s hatred for me grew, of that I had no doubt. It flowed to me through the stone without having to tap it. At least she had finally gotten out of bed and ate something. That seemed to make her feel better.
I caught her out on the balcony again, wearing the same clothes she arrived in. They were wrinkled and her hair was tangled and oily. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she studied the happenings around the castle, probably planning an escape that I would have to save her from. I smirked.
“Sire,” a quiet voice prodded. Thadeus, one of the newborns among us, stood at my side. “The bell tolled.”
Disoriented, I sat up straighter. Kitchen staff stood around the room waiting for my critique. I’d never gotten lost so deeply in my thoughts around others and hoped I never would again.
The room was almost complete. Silks hung wrinkle-free, bunched at the bottoms with dead vines from the garden. Large platters ran down the middle of the table waiting for the food being prepared with decor in between. I frowned when I realized they set Calista’s place at the far end instead of next to me. I had to tilt my head to see around the awful candelabra in the center blocking my view.
“You must prepare.”
“Prepare,” I mumbled. On more levels than one, that was certain.
“Sire?”
I patted Thadeus’ bald head, and he beamed like the child he was when I coaxed him into this soul sucking realm. Worry and curiosity ate at me when I wondered for the millionth time what would happen to him and the others when we took back our rightful places in this world.
“Move that dreadful thing.” I indicated the candelabra. “Other than that, it’s perfect.”
“Yes, sire.” He jumped into action, climbing onto a chair and crawling across the table to slide it to the edge into the awaiting arms of another goblin.
I clasped my hands behind my back and left them to finish, but my thoughts remained lost, jumping from one concern to another as I ambled the quiet hall. Everyone was busy with something, whether cooking, cleaning, or helping with Calista’s special gift we would present her with when I deemed her ready for the ceremony.
Jessandra’s clomping down the stairs destroyed my peace. As she approached, she said, “She refused to bathe, so I held her under until she changed her mind.”
“You did what?!”
“She ranked of spoiled meat and despair,” she tossed over her shoulder as she passed. “Not a great combination.”
“Calista will not be swayed with that treatment.”
Her voice bounced off the walls back to me. “Your request was to guard her, not persuade or coddle her.”
A shadow began to spin at the foot of the stairs as I thought of Calista’s room and emerged in front of her door. I would deal with Jessandra’s deliberate disobedience later.
Calista
I gripped the blanket tighter around me to quell the violent shakes wracking my body. Jessandra was not who I remembered her to be. There was an anger raging inside her that she unleashed on me. Or maybe she was always this way, and I was just a na?ve child that couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Regardless, I didn’t want to see that side of her again, and I was certain those creepy little monsters didn’t either. They scared me, and, in turn, I scared them. Then she terrified and traumatized all of us. It was a horrifying scene all around. How was I supposed to make allies if they ran away when I looked at them now?
“Go away,” I said when a quiet knock came upon the door.
Astaroth entered anyway and stood in the doorway like he was waiting to be announced or for me to jump up and be excited about his intrusive visit.
My teeth chattered from the lingering adrenaline. “Do you plan to waterboard me into submission, too?”
“Jessandra’s tactics were purely her own. She will be disciplined accordingly.”
Great, another reason for her to hate me and punish me for later. “Please don’t. I’m going through enough as it is.”
Astaroth’s fingers curled slightly before he relaxed and looked around the room. He went to the window and pulled back the curtain. Next to him, it seemed normal sized. Everything was built to accommodate him. It made me feel so small.
“Do you like it?”
Confused, I asked, “The view?”
He dropped the curtain and turned around. “Your room.”
“Why would I like this?”
“It’s your home.”
My heart wrenched. My home was gone. I feared I’d never see it again. Grief overwhelmed me. I tried to push it down and remind myself I could find a way out if I could play the part, but he made it impossible. Everything he said and did set me off.
The smile melted off his face as I flung an arm out encompassing the room. “This isn’t real! You took me from it—” I snatched the picture of me and Kaiden off the table and held it up. “From the people who make it home!” Astaroth stood still when I charged him. “You want me to suffer, don’t you? Why? Because I beat your little puzzle once?”
His jaw ticked, but he didn’t answer me.
Frustrated, I screamed and threw the frame at the wall by his head. The glass broke, shattering the illusion along with it, but Astaroth didn’t so much as flinch. His reality came into focus around us. The stone walls stood behind him with tall arched windows interspersed across. That eerie twilight seeped back in.
“I thought,” his voice came out a touch softer than his hard exterior.
Defeated, I sat on the edge of the bed and dropped my head into my hands. “You twisted your words, yet again, and then planned to trap me in a prison of false hope.”
“Not a prison.” The bed dipped beside me. “A gift.” He lowered his chin and took a deep breath. “My assumptions were wrong.”
“You know what they say about assuming….” I bit the inside of my cheek. “Well, I guess you don’t know.”
An eyebrow arched high on his forehead. “Enlighten me.”
Faking bravado, I stated, “It makes an ass out of you and me.”
His deadpan expression threw me, but a moment later he let out a single, “Ha!”
The intensity of the moment died down and grew awkward. I didn’t know what to say to him. He was the monster in the shadows that hunted me. Yet, as he sat next to me, he was the epitome of manners and grace. I was the monster. As much as I deserved to turn the tables on him, it didn’t settle well with me.
My voice wavered, and I had to clear my throat to get the words out. “I need to be alone.”
He bowed his head and stood up. When he reached the door he said, “Jessandra will collect you for dinner.”
“Astaroth?” Speaking his name directly to him felt weird and wrong.
Something akin to hope lit his face. “Yes, Calista?”
“I don’t want any more of your gifts.”
Fingers tightening on the doorknob, he gritted out, “As you wish,” and shut the door.
Roth
“I guess it didn’t go well?” Jessandra leaned against the wall by Calista’s door and cleaned the dirt out from under her nails with a small dagger.
I ignored her and continued to my quarters next door to rage in private. What good that did. She sheathed her knife and followed me down the hall.
The words Calista spoke echoed from my mouth. “I want to be alone.”
“I told you not to do it.”
I spun around and Jessandra halted.
“Go. Away.”
“I would love to. Alas, someone has trapped me in this Roth-forsaken castle for as long as someone is here.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating Calista.
“If I didn’t need you, I would kill you now.”
“Awe.” She punched my shoulder. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me since I arrived.”
In the blink of an eye, my hand wrapped around her throat and the dagger she had tucked away rested a spider’s silk away from her eye.
“Do not antagonize me. I may need you, but you only require one eye to accomplish your tasks.”
Her throat moved against my grip, and she croaked. “As an overqualified nanny?”
“I would punish you this instance for your earlier deeds, but Calista begged me not to.”
Her eyes widened.
“If you continue to behave as a rebellious youth, I will treat you as such. Our lives hang in the balance. Will you do your part to save us, or will your actions condemn us? Choose carefully where your loyalties lie, Jessandra. Are they with us, or with yourself? Decide now.”
Jessandra gurgled. Ever so slightly, I released my hold enough for her to speak. A high-pitched wheeze was the only sign she was in distress.
“Let her go!”
Calista latched onto the arm I held Jessandra with and tried to wrench it away. Neither of us looked at her. We were trapped in a dangerous battle of will and understanding that hadn’t balanced yet. It wouldn’t until she declared her intentions.
“Go to your room,” Jessandra croaked.
Tugging desperately on the arm that held her guardian captive, Calista grated, “I’m not leaving you with this beast!”
Her words pierced me, taking my very breath with them. She thought me a beast, like the ones that roamed the kingdom. I dropped my hands to my sides, gripping the dagger. I wasn’t like those bloodthirsty savages.
She moved between us, checking Jessandra over for injuries she wouldn’t find. We healed too quickly to leave any kind of lasting marks.
Calista pushed her toward her room and looked over her shoulder with a disgusted sneer.
“I will see you at dinner,” I said and escaped toward my quarters with long strides.
“Not a chance in hell.”
Pushed beyond my limits, I found myself in front of them, blocking their entry. The shadows swirled around me as large as her blue eyes. Earth’s sky didn’t compare to their depth and hues. This was hell for me. If she wasn’t careful, it would be the same for her.
“You will be at dinner.” With a challenging glance to her keeper, I said, “Jessandra will escort you.”
Jessandra’s expression remained blank as I stared her down. She bent a single knee in acknowledgment, slightly angling at the waist but never lowering her gaze. That answered everything for me.
“Yes… Your Highness.”