Page 67 of Goblins Don't Count
I stumbled out of the elevator, feeling like my heart would burst and my lips would burn off my face. It was probably just vestiges of infernal flames. His sharp teeth on my soft skin were so right.
I grabbed his arm and tried to not look like my breathing was malfunctioning. I probably failed.
The long table with a crisp white cloth and fancy china with a backdrop of jungle vegetation was filled with people staring at us.
“You’re late,” my mother said, sitting beside my father on the right side, leaving the head of the table empty.
“Or early, depending on whether I wanted to show up while there were still other people.” I eyed the other side of the table and stared for a moment at the fairy who sat cuddled up next to a goblin. Not a goblin, a half-goblin. Sashimi’s half-brother. Wow. They’d actually come to this ‘meet the family’ party.
The fairy stood up, giving me a smile that made the flowers and plants around us sing. “Hello, Rynne. Thank you for having us. I’m Criss and my husband is Ebon. We’re so happy that Corcarn finally found someone who makes his heart sing.”
The half-goblin stood beside her, giving her a soft smile before he gave me a raised brow. “You smell of infernal flames. Are you all right?”
I grabbed my hair and sniffed it, but I couldn’t smell anything other than Sashimi’s shampoo. It smelled better on him, but it was still delicious. “Yes, we found the demon’s host. She’s being held right now by Sashimi’s, I mean Corcarn’s, bodyguards.”
“Sashimi?” The fairy lady laughed, lovely and tinkling. She looked at her half-brother-in-law fondly. “You are a delicious morsel.”
My mother made a sound of disapproval. “Well, if everyone’s here, shall we eat? I have to get back to work.”
My dad cleared his throat and gave me a soft smile. “I heard you were promoted to lieutenant. Congratulations.”
“Only because the last lieutenant is in a coma at the Bell,” my mother snapped.
“I don’t know,” Tarn said, leaning back and trying to not act like this was weird. “I think she’d be promoted anyway. You know that she’s got a great work ethic, is as clever as a goblin, and is notoriously incorruptible.”
My mother gave him a scathing look, elbowing him with her bony joint. “I can’t believe you knew what she was up to and didn’t tell me.”
“It’s her career, not yours. If you want people to tell you their secrets, you have to respect them.”
She looked shocked. “Of course I respect secrets.”
“That’s good to hear,” Sashimi said, still standing with me at the end of the table, the tension in his arm obvious through the suit coat. “Because if you’ll allow me to introduce you to a secret, I would be most grateful.” He turned slightly and gestured to the elevator as the doors opened. Out stepped Trata and an old Asian man who looked around the roof garden curiously.
“This is Magga’s favorite cook,” Sashimi said, bowing respectfully to the old man.
The look he gave Sashimi was one of intense focus.
“What does the Goblin King want with me?” he asked in perfect English. He was less afraid than he was resigned.
“You left a book for your granddaughter to find. She wrote me a letter when she was a child, asking for help to save her brother from the wicked goblins. She wrote in Goblin,” Sashimi said, all in his language.
I gasped and grabbed Sashimi’s arm tight. “Magga had my grandfather?” I whispered, staring at the old man who was staring back, his brow clouding with concern.
Trata beamed at me. “And the Goblin King negotiated for his release. Magga is very unhappy that instead of getting a sushi cook to replace her old one, she only has…” She trailed off and looked at Sashimi. “I don’t suppose I should mention the price.”
“Not all of us can understand that infernal language,” my mother said stiffly.
“Sorry,” Trata called in English and bounced over to the table, dragging the old man by the arm. “Let me introduce you to…I don’t really know his name. Maybe he can introduce himself. He’s your father,” she said to my dad, smiling maniacally.
My dad stood slowly and walked around the table to hold out his hand. “It’s a pleasure,” he said soberly, not giving away what he thought about this turn of events, whether he believed that they were related or not. The old man slowly took that hand, they shook, and then they sat down, my grandfather at the head of the table to my dad’s right, leaving us to sit at the bottom next to Tarn on my right, Trata on Sashimi’s left. The chair on the end between us was left empty. Did we have another surprise guest? Why couldn’t I stay sitting next to Sashimi? Had he actually freed my grandfather from enslavement to the Magga? How? Why?
“I don’t understand,” my mother said, frowning at the old man and then at the table in general. That made two of us, or most of us if the confused faces were any indication.
“I told you that goblins were not to be trusted,” my father said mildly, then started serving the old man, who was still looking very troubled, and kept focusing that sharp gaze on me. It made me feel like I hadn’t escaped the demon flames yet.
“So,” Tarn said, spearing a fish and sticking it on our mom’s plate. “What do you think of this weather we’ve been having?”
“The weather has been lovely,” the fairy said, smiling beautifully while her wings fluttered magically.
