Page 29 of Goblins Don't Count
I frowned at him. “I have no idea. Why?”
He leaned back and crossed his arms, turned towards his window instead of me. “I believe that the leather part on top is made out of goblin skin.”
I looked down at the dark purple leather bits. “As in, I’m wearing goblins?”
“Yes.”
I winced. Yes, Clarinda, make me alluring to goblins. That means I want goblins all over me. Literally. Dead skinned goblins. I was going to kill her. “How delightful.”
“And the long dress, it’s made of the saramac flower.”
I smoothed down the long, flowing silk dress. “Is it?”
“Yes. Edible to goblins. Actually, one of the most delicious things a goblin could…”
I looked at him, feeling like I’d gotten dumped off a Ferris wheel. “Wait. My dress is edible?”
“Very tempting.”
“Huh.” I raised my sleeve and cautiously brought it closer to my lips. He grabbed my hand and pulled it down.
“Don’t start eating your dress in front of another goblin.”
“Why?”
He gave me a sharp smile. “He’ll want to share. Before you know it, you will have no dress.”
I gurgled a laugh. Clarinda was completely insane. “It’s okay. I have another layer underneath everything. It’s like long underwear.”
“Is it?” He shook his head slightly, crossed his arms, angled his body away from me, and studied the view outside the window.
“Isn’t it?” Now I wasn’t sure.
“It is a scent enhancing layer. It is melting into your skin, and will be completely dissolved before the night is over.”
“How do you know?”
“I smell it.”
“Yes, but why would you know the smell of scent-enhancing long underwear?”
He shot me a look. “It is common for goblins to wear such things when they’re looking for a mate.”
My stomach fell into my shoes, going right past the dissolving scent-enhancing layer. I gurgled a laugh and felt more than slightly light-headed. “Wow. Just wow. So, how is the wearing goblin leather alluring?”
He gave me a sideways look, focusing on the leather top part. “It’s not. Except that it infers that you’re the kind of person who wears goblin leather. Dangerous. Confident. Willing to cross lines most would stop at.”
I gave the leather mini dress another look. “At least it’s not edible or dissolving. If everything else is gone by the end of the night, I have goblin skin to fall back on. It must have been a lot of effort to dye it from green to purple.”
“It must have been a lot of effort to skin it off a goblin.”
I winced. “I’m sorry. I apologize for wearing the skin of your people. That’s not cool. Why don’t we go to my apartment, and I can change.”
He shook his head, still looking out the window. “I like it. I like the idea of you wearing goblin skins instead of being enslaved by the Magga.”
“Or you.”
“Or me.” Still facing away from me, he reached out with his hand, palm up, like he was waiting for me to give him something.
