Page 27 of When the Woods Go Silent

I may agree with my mother that it’s time for the gobbelin race to return to power, but I don’t agree with her methods. She’s too desperate to take over an existing queendom. She failed at combining forces with the rogue vampires in their own cities last summer, and she’ll fail at overtaking the fae this year.

And with every failed attempt, more gobbelins die for nothing more than her greed. More gobbelins grow resigned to this pattern, believing their lives are worth nothing more than an honorable death. I may have fae blood in my veins, but what happened to Rinna will keep gobbelins in my heart.

“Long live Magriel,” I repeat, as though by speaking the name, we could speak the place into existence again. A beat of silence seems to seal the hope between us.

“I would speak freely,” Idris murmurs, stepping deeper into a corner of the room, although nobody is here to see us. I nod for her to continue. “You have been distracted these last few visits. Are there problems I need to hear?”

“No,” I say reflexively, but the scowl she flashes reminds me that we’ve agreed to trust each other with everything, in order to further our secret plans. Her eyes narrow as she leans closer, breathing in pointedly.

“I can scent the human on your clothing, and it isn’t one of my slaves.”

I glare down at her, fae pride asking me to hide and deny, but Idris knows me too well. She nods in the straightforward manner typical of full-blooded gobbelins, factual and free from judgment or manipulation.

“It’s nothing to fuck a human, to drink their blood. But do not be fooled. You are gobbelin enough to be snared by one. Like magnets, we can be drawn together.”

“Good and evil,” I mutter, all too familiar with the human view of the world.

Idris shakes her head, eyes on the door a moment before continuing. “Humans destroy what they fear, especially when it is buried in their hearts. In that way, they are more like your fae than any gobbelin could be.”

She steps away, straightening as a gobbelin miner passes the doorway and giving me a moment to soak in what she’s said. Gobbelins are indeed simple creatures. They feed, they fuck, they fight. There is almost never subterfuge or scheming among them. What you see on the surface is what they hold in their hearts, and they barely know fear, only survival.

Humans, like fae, are duplicitous.

Idris is right. It hasn’t occurred to me that while Ruby is physically no more threatening than a kitten, she could easily distract me from my true goals here. I’ve been indulging my curiosity because she reminds me of Rinna, but that is exactly why she could be so dangerous. I have to keep focused.

“I’ll think on it. Thank you,” I add, giving a nod to my commander.

“Then there is one other matter to discuss,” Idris says, her mouth stretching into a bloodthirsty smile as her tone changes. “We’ve had a death in the family.”

Adrenaline rushes through me, hot on the edges of the fresh blood I’ve consumed, and I feel my fingers itching with ice magic. I follow Idris into the common area, where many of the gobbelins who work the blood mines are already gathered. As I enter, I see half a dozen gobbelins dart out the doors in the back, trained to clear the mines and bring everyone together here any time I decide to speak to them.

I don’t need to wait long, and I smile at Idris. She’s an excellent commander, organized and precise. The gobbelinshere obey her, but even more, they respect her authority in my absence.

“Come forward,” she calls, and the crowd separates as two guards drag a struggling gobbelin forward. His beady black eyes burn into mine, and I can tell he’s ready to die for his selfish crimes. Good. We do not honor cowards with a public death.

“Charges?” I ask, meeting his stare until he looks away.

“He withheld sleeping potions from a female human, forced himself on her, and then began to drain her. When another miner tried to intervene, he killed his brother, then ripped apart the human. Blood and flesh of both were consumed.”

I take in a deep breath, relishing the task before me, knowing it will reinforce the rules I’ve set for my people here.

“You have flesh of the family in your belly?” I roar, and the watching gobbelins scream back their outrage when he nods. “We are no longer cannibals who feed on each other, and you are no longer family. Humans do not rape their cattle, and we do not rape our blood slaves. The only regret I have is that you have only one life for me to take.”

The words echo above the cheering gobbelins as I raise my fist, forming a lethal ice blade with a twist of my magic. The guards hold him fast, and I slash open the criminal’s stomach sideways with the crystalline blade, spraying his black blood and the sludge of his intestines across the floor. He falls to his knees, a wail of pain ratcheting the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“When you take from the family, the family takes from you,” I call above their noise, before bending to slice him open further, from the base of his neck all the way to the split of his balls. He dies quickly, drowning in a river of stolen blood, and I breathe in deeply of the heady scent of spilled blood and contained power.

“Well done,” Idris murmurs at my side as the watching crowd files past, each one spitting on the remains of the dead gobbelin and taking the required look at his spilled blood. Each oneresisting the temptation to taste him, both wary of sharing his fate and eager to prove they’ve evolved beyond his weaknesses.

“No need to flatter me, Id. Save your pandering for Julianna.”

She snickers. “It’s not flattery, prince. Just a bit of old-fashioned jealousy.”

“And don’t call me prince,” I add, knowing it won’t make a damn bit of difference. “Anything else to discuss before I return topside?”

“I have it all under control.”

“I would never doubt it,” I tell her, grateful that, against all odds, she’s on my side.

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