38. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Calista
T he rough material of the pants irritated my thighs as I followed Jessandra. I pulled at them to keep from chaffing, but it didn’t help. I had no idea where she was taking me and for what purpose when she strolled into the dining hall after lunch and forced me to change my clothes. My face still stung from her launching them at my head and telling me to get dressed.
Goblins pranced around the castle grounds with ecstatic smiles, cloaks billowing around them. It was a huge change from their humdrum behavior. The whispered excitement worried me. I tugged at my own cloak, wondering why we were wearing them. It wasn’t cold in this particular part of the labyrinth, and I really didn’t want to go back to the section that was. We found nothing there but frigid, ice-covered terrain.
Jessandra turned down a path behind the castle I hadn’t had a chance to explore. Lined with tall, near-black, prickly bushes, I stayed to the center, afraid they’d try to eat me, too. After a few twists and turns, we exited in front of a wooden building that resembled a barn. Soft snorts and growls filtered out to us from within the open doors.
I squinted to see inside. “What are we doing here?”
Jessandra plopped down on a barrel and pulled a knife from her boot. “Tonight, we hunt.”
My brows shot up. “Come again.”
She glanced at me as she checked all her other weapons. “Hunt. As in chase and kill.”
“I know what hunt means,” I sputtered. “Why am I going? I’ve never hunted anything in my life.” Nor did I want to.
“You are going because you are the guest of honor,” Astaroth’s voice came from inside the barn. A deep chuffle startled me, and I stumbled back as he rode a massive furry beast through the doors. “And because I desire your company.”
Dreadlocks hung from the animal’s head nearly blocking its view. Its eye teeth jutted up from the corners of its mouth, looking odd in its flat face. Astaroth sat directly behind its head, leaning against the hump protruding from the middle of its back. He reminded me of the people who rode elephants at the circus.
The beast sniffed the air in front of me. Trunk-like legs with clawed feet pawed at the dirt. I remained still as it scented me. It raised its upper lip, and I flinched waiting for a snarl. What I didn’t expect was the purr that rumbled my chest.
Astaroth laughed. “She likes you.”
“At least someone does,” I mumbled, and he frowned.
Astaroth never followed me through the portal, nor did he return to our room that evening. I faintly came to in the middle of the night to him stroking my hair and whispering words in a language I didn’t understand, but he wasn’t there when I awoke. Days passed without his presence, even at the dinners he so eloquently demanded I attend. I remained alone and disconnected from him, wondering if my resistance had changed his mind about me. That, of course, made me spiral into worse-case scenarios.
“What will I ride?” I asked when smaller beasts roamed out of the barn. I recognized several of their riders as workers in the castle. They exchanged excited grins as they came to a stop behind Astaroth.
“You will ride with me.” The beast lowered itself to the ground and Astaroth extended his hand. “We must go if we are to reach our destination by dark.”
I stared at his gloved palm. Hesitantly, I took his outstretched hand, and he guided me in front of him. There wasn’t much room with Astaroth behind me, leaving me to sit on his lap.
My fingers sunk into the coarse hairs on the beast’s neck as I adjusted myself.
Astaroth tightened his hold and lifted me slightly. “You continue that, and I’ll bend you over right here.”
I stopped squirming and allowed him to seat me. “I figured you changed your mind about us.”
I could feel his eyes staring holes in the top of my head, but his only response was to kick his heels into the beast to guide her forward. I gripped the fur under my hands and squeezed my legs to keep from falling off.
“Relax.” Astaroth slid his hands to my hips and taught me how to sway with her steps. “Move with her.”
By the time we reached the side gate, I felt more at ease. However, he seemed to be enjoying it a little too much if the hardness beneath me was any indication.
Astaroth signaled to the guards, and the gates swung open. Goblins on miniature beasts filled the street. They cheered as we left the castle grounds, punching their weapons into the air.
“They are awfully excited about killing something,” I mumbled.
“On the contrary,” Astaroth said. “They are excited about the celebration.”
“What celebration?”
“Our union. You ascending the throne.”
Dread and shock curdled in my stomach. I turned toward Astaroth and almost slipped off our mount. He righted me and rested his hands in the bend of my hips to keep me stable. The position was too intimate and reminded me of when he pounded into me from behind.
“Careful. It would be a waste to spend our special night nursing you back to health.”
“I didn’t agree to this,” I hissed and lowered my voice as goblins closed in around us. “A baby is one thing. The responsibility of the realm and its people is entirely different.”
Astaroth’s cheek rested against the side of my head. His voice rumbled in my ear. “Others may have used you as their whore, but I will not have you as mine outside the bedroom.” I stiffened as his anger filtered through. “You will bear my children and my responsibilities. We are one now.”
My mouth dropped open. I was never anyone’s whore. I chose my lovers for myself to meet my own needs.
“You keep saying that, yet you disappear after.”
“I will keep saying it until you accept it.” His fingers dug into my thighs and jerked me back against him. The hard outline of him burned into my bottom. “And me.”
A faint hint of copper teased my taste buds. I relaxed my jaw and released the inside of my cheek from my teeth. I would not accept this. He pushed the same responsibilities on me that his own people had pushed on him. This was not okay, not in the slightest. He would have to force me onto that throne. How would that look to those watching?
“I can feel your rebellion brewing.” His hand cupped my mound, fingers slipping beneath me and stroking me through the fabric. “I do enjoy a challenge.”
I squinted up at him and hissed. “Don’t use sex as a weapon against me.”
His icy glare held a molten heat that warmed me in all the right and wrong ways. Where was all this sudden anger coming from? “I will use whatever means necessary.”
I faced forward and moved his hand back to my thigh. There would be no public display of his power tonight. We neared the outer walls of the goblin circle, and the group thinned out. Some headed left, some right, and some followed us into the labyrinth.
“Where are they going?” I asked.
“We’re splitting up to herd the prey.”
Prey. I would never imagine the monsters roaming these walls as prey. They were fully-fledged predators. The sky darkened the farther we traversed. Shadows danced along the walls, cast by the glow from the pixie orbs. They slithered and played with the vines. I kept attentive, eyes flicking toward every movement, ready to pull my short sword from my knee-high boot. The weight of it did not calm my nerves as much as I thought it would.
“They can smell your fear.” Astaroth buried his nose into my hair. “As can I.”
“Yeah, well, they’re scary.” And so are you, I thought, jerking my head away and seeing movement. A opossum-sized rat scurried past us and gave me the heebie jeebies. His suppressed laughter filtered through our connection and thudded against my back. Rolling my eyes, I asked, “When is this celebration to take place?”
Astaroth directed the beast around a corner. The orbs were few and far between, allowing shadows to engulf the in-between. “The feast will happen tomorrow, after the goblin games.”
“Goblin games?” I perked up. That sounded interesting. They didn’t seem to do much of anything in the labyrinth. “What’s that?”
“A demonstration of strength and agility. They will battle one another for the privilege to be your guard.”
My jaw dropped. “I don’t need a guard.”
“I beg to differ.”
Nostrils flaring with a huff, I said, “The fact they are willing to hurt one another—”
“Is not your choice.”
“I forbid it.” Shivering, I pulled my cloak together and clutched it from the inside as we approached the arctic zone.
Astaroth pulled me to his chest and wrapped his cloak around me as the winds blew stronger. “You’re not queen yet.”
“Nor will I be.”
He stiffened slightly. “Either way, you lose.”
I opened my mouth to retaliate, but I had nothing. My brain emptied, and I sat there, gulping like a fish, as Jessandra’s words played on repeat in my head.
Astaroth tilted my chin to the side and looked down at me. Resting within the shadows of his hood, I saw the tenderness he exuded at the Hall of the Unnamed, laced with the same sadness and understanding. “End of discussion.”
Our intimate moment was obliterated by seven shadows flying overhead. With a screeching squeal, they banked hard and began to chase.
“What was that?” I shouted as Astaroth kicked his heels into the beast. I hoped they weren’t what I thought they were.
She lurched forward, bounding with the strength of an elephant. I held on for dear life as I bounced around on her back. Astaroth trapped my legs beneath his and pulled a bow from out of the darkness. He pushed my chest flat to the beast’s neck and loaded an arrow. The hood of his cloak caught the wind and blew off his head as he looked up and raised the bow. I laid there in awe and shock as his arm pulled back the arrow. He followed his target, released the arrow, and a second later it struck.
I covered my ears to block the piercing shriek of pain that filled the corridor. A moment later, something careened into the brick wall in front of us. Bits of rubble exploded into the air as the wall caved in. Astaroth pulled on the beast’s hair and brought us to a stop. More squeals sounded, and I snatched the blade from my boot, terrified I would come face to face with something that wanted me for dinner instead, and cringed when I saw the pigs flying toward us. Tusks jutted from their foaming mouths full of sharp teeth. Why did all the monsters have to have sharp ass teeth? Why did they always seem to point them at me?
Arrows arched over us, striking two more. They fell to the ground, and the other pigs pulled back and circled our group before screaming and flying away. Goblins leaped off their beasts and ran to the massive hairy hogs. The two on the ground snorted and struggled to stand up and move. The one that went through the wall didn’t so much as twitch. The goblins ganged up on the remaining two, slicing their throats and their bellies.
Gagging, I covered my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut when they shoved their hands inside and dragged their entrails out over the ground. A putrid stench lingered on the wind and blew between my fingers.
Astaroth opened a portal, and the goblins got to work dragging the corpses through.
I swallowed down the bile burning my throat. “Why?” I couldn’t ask more without vomiting.
“For two reasons. One, their smell permeates everything. I don’t think it ever goes away.”
It made me think of skunks, only this was far worse. Like decaying bodies. And those goblins dove inside like serial killers playing with their victims. I would make it a point to steer clear of them.
“Two?” I asked as the goblins reappeared and made for their mounts.
A deep roar shook the labyrinth walls. My eyes flew open as Astaroth smiled. “Grizwyn.”
Astaroth caged me in his arms as he grabbed two dreadlocks on our beast’s head. It took off, building steam, and sliding into the turns of every icy corridor. The snow piled higher around us the farther we traveled until we finally met the maker of those petrifying wails.
Standing twice the height of Astaroth stood a furry monster on two legs. A mix between a grizzly bear and a wolf, this was the closest thing I’d ever seen to a werewolf. Fangs hung past its bottom lip, dripping with saliva. Irises like shattered ice on blue waters glinted our direction. It opened its mouth and roared, jowls shaking from the force of it.
A fuzzy memory flitted through my mind of running from this thing, but it wasn’t at night, and I didn’t remember snow on the ground. Goblins rushed around the corner, but it paid the smaller threat no attention. The focus was squarely on us. The bigger threat. Or maybe on our mount. The bigger meal.
My nails dug into arms. “Ast—”
“Shh.” Astaroth covered my mouth as I shoved back against him. I scratched at his arms while we slowly backed up in the corner. The Grizwyn charged. Astaroth jerked the beast toward the corridor we came from. We bolted forward as he handed me the makeshift reins. “Hold tight, and don’t stop,” he yelled over the wind.
I didn’t plan to stop. I’d run the labyrinth until I found safety without looking back.
Astaroth jumped off the rump of the beast. Shocked, I watched him land and pull his sword. The monster swiped a paw at him, claws extended, and Astaroth ducked and rolled between its legs. I pulled the mount to a stop as he jumped on the grizwyn’s back and climbed up to its shoulders. Try as it might, its short arms couldn’t reach behind it or above its head.
While Astaroth had it distracted, the goblins moved in with spears twice and even three times their size. They stabbed it and then jumped out of its way as it flung itself about. He held on as the grizwyn slammed him against the wall. And when it threw its head back and wailed, Astaroth plunged his sword into its chest. I could feel the agony in its bellow. I reminded myself it wanted to kill me, and I didn’t feel as guilty anymore.
The goblins unrolled a large drape over the ground, and Astaroth wrestled the monster’s jaw up, making it lose balance and fall backward. Jumping off its back, Astaroth landed on its stomach and drove his sword in to the hilt. The grizwyn swung one last time. Searing pain lanced my midsection, and I doubled over screaming as Astaroth hit the ground.
Instantly, the pain vanished, and I sucked in a breath checking my body for wounds. When I looked up, Astaroth was on his knees holding his stomach. I kicked the sides of the beast and rushed to him as he staggered to his feet. Blood seeped through the tears and fabric of his shirt, covering his hand and dripping to the ground. Every drop melted where it touched on the snowy canvas, ebbing out and creating a bloody portrait of tonight’s events.
“Roth!” I shouted as the beast skidded to a halt. I struggled to get down, as it lowered to the ground, and nearly fell off in my rush. I surged through the goblins crowding him and gripped his forearms.
“You don’t listen.” He sucked a breath between his teeth when I moved his hand to inspect his wound. I could see his insides. He was caging them in with his hand.
“You’re just now learning this?” I took off my cloak and gasped as the wind hit me. Wadding the fabric, I pushed it against his stomach and pressed his hands over it. My teeth chattered as I spoke. “We need to get you back to the castle.”
Astaroth staggered forward, trapping me between the warmth of the beast and him. He supported himself against it while he blocked me from the wind. His skin was paler than usual, and his face gleamed with sweat. “I’ll be fine shortly.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
A smile tugged at his lips. “You came back for me.”
I did, and I didn’t understand why. “So I wouldn’t get lost in this frozen tundra and die along with you.”
He chuckled and cringed from the movement. “You don’t have to say it, I can feel it.”
I pressed harder on his wound so he could feel that instead. He squeezed his eyes shut and kissed the top of my head.
“What happened?”
I jerked to the side and ignored all the guilt—I could feel like a shitty person later—and watched Jessandra ride up, a stack of pigs thrown over her mount’s rump. She landed next to the bloody portrait and followed it to us.
“Did you jump on its back again?”
He looked over his shoulder. “We killed it, didn’t we?”
The goblins pulled their spears from the creature and thrust them in the air with a cheer.
Jessandra shook her head and pulled ropes from her beast. Tossing one end of each rope to the goblins, she stretched the other ends to the back of our beast. “Go back to the castle. We will take care of this.”
“And if another comes?” Astaroth asked.
I wanted to be far away from here. Completely traumatized and overstimulated, I was done with tonight’s hunt.
She held his gaze. Anger simmered below the surface. I wondered if I’d ever discover what that was truly about. “I will take care of it as I always do.”