Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) (34 page)

A hiss emerged
like dragon fire as he shoved me in the door yelling that the
“serves” would be there soon to bath and dress me. Great,
I
’
m
not even dressing myself while I
’
m here. And I have a bad feeling
he might just burn my jeans since I haven
’
t seen a single girl without
a long busty gown around here unless they were servants, or excuse
me, “serves”. Talk about living in the dark ages.

The door slammed shut
and I was alone.

The bed was showered with red lace
coverings from the ceiling to the floor. Red velvet walls, red
pillows with red lace. Someone has a compulsive like for the color
red.

The dresser to my left had a gold
shimmery box left open on the top of it. Inside, I found a ruby
pendant on a chain and a note.

Please accept this.

Affectionately yours,

King Joshlin

The idea of him ever being very
affectionate was a laugh.

There was a bathroom attached. I
proceeded to use the facilities when a knock came on the door
outside. I hurried my business and zoomed back into the
room.

Ten minutes or so had passed since
the illustrious leader left me to my supposed peace and
quiet.

Behind the door
were two girls way too young to be dressing me up in doll clothes.
They should be in school or something. I tried to act cordial
knowing this was not their fault and I succeeded until the long
blonde named Katelyn brought up that I was the newest slave girl
but with a royal title. She said it deliberately to get a reaction
out of me, but for the life of me, I didn
’
t know
why.

“Do you think I want to be here?”
I asked incredulously eyeing her beauty. She was very pretty with
large brown eyes and a pretty dress for a servant but who was I to
base judgments off of fairy tales.

“Not anymore than the rest of us,”
Katelyn snipped back. She was quite sassy for what looked like a
sixteen or seventeen year old, not that anyone should be a slave to
another no matter what age.

“I
didn
’
t choose this. I
’
ve been told a lie my whole life
and now this horrible man says I have to be his little queen and
love slave at the same time.”

“It sounds like
a sad story, but I
’
m not dishing out sympathy to
anyone who will end up just like him.” Katelyn was dropping rose
petals into the warm steamy bathtub meant for five. It was
huge!

“I.will.not.end.up.like.him,” I didn
’
t stop the hostility in my
voice. I hated that man. “That loathsome man can eat lead for all I
care.”

“Glad to hear it. But words around
here are like warm snowflakes and your man is like drone male ant
meant to eat and mate.”

“Thanks for the science lesson,
but I would have to agree with you. So what can we do to get him
ousted?”

Her face was priceless, but the
second she flashed surprise she turned it straight to doubt. “You
think I will help you?”

She kept to her tasks.

“I know you
still see me as the bad guy, but I
’
m not. I want Mr. Sexy but Creepy
to eat sushi and die like the rest of you, but I need help. If you
want my word I can give it, but you seem like you might doubt
anything I say. I would too if I
’
d been locked up in this prison
like everyone here. So for now, I will assume we can be secret
pals. If there is information I need to know about his weaknesses,
times in the day or night when he is out of commission, ways I can
get around him to get information about taking him down that would
be great. Anything helps. You can do that and it
won
’
t hurt you. Just information. I am going to assume Ames will
come save me soon so help is on the way. He will think
he
’
s
just here to break me out of this prison, but it will come to more
than that if we play our cards right.”

I sounded like a
true spy out of a Bourne movie. Reverse psychology and all that
jazz. I just hope the show I put own was believable and she
wasn
’t a double
agent.

I dipped into the water and dunked
my head under.

Biting her bottom lip and then her
top, Katelyn said with a head bob, “Okay. If you rat me out, I will
make sure your first night with him is pure
h-e-double-l.”

“Whoa! There
will not be a first night. Let
’
s get that clear. I—Wait a
minute. “Have...you...”

“Oh no!” Katelyn
flew her hands in the air. “Not me. He at least has the decency, if
you can call it that, to make it older girls. I just
can
’
t stand knowing my friends have no choice. He is
evil.”

She gave me a look that indicated
for me to get busy with the washing process and was so glad I at
least had that privacy, so I complied.

“I agreem
Katelyn. And the only way we are ever going to save your friends is
to take him out of the equation. I can
’
t do that being an outsider.
I need your help.” I held my breath in hope.

“Okay. I will help.”

My breath released and so did the
immediate attention.

Before she let me bathe, I had to
ask someone a burning question. “Do you have freckles?”

“What?”

“Freckles. Little moles of
sunspots on your skin.”

“Not that
I
’
m
aware of. Why would you ask?” She curled her nose
up.

“Well, I don
’
t either. Neither does Ames. I
was just curious because humans all have them. Born with them and
usually gain more from being in the sun.”

“You
’
ve seen Ames
naked?”

Oh, gawd. “Absolutely not! I asked
him.” My stuttering heart matched my words.

Katelyn giggled, reminding me she
was a girl at heart. “You might want to check on his honesty one
day. He is an honorable man no matter what he thinks of himself,
Miss Jem.”

“Emma.”

She smiled at me
once more. “Might want to give him a chance if what the rumors
I
’
m
hearing are true. Ames has never once paid this much attention to
one girl.”
I rolled my eyes and closed the door. She stood outside the
bathroom until I was dressed in my undergarments and some form of
camisole that went down to my knees. The other girl had disappeared
and I only just realized it when I walked out of the
bathroom.

Next came the dress though she
told me my hair and face would have to be made up first before
soiling the dress. Make up your mind folks.

A half hour
later I was covered in more makeup than I
’
d worn in my life, hairpins
and curls that would outdo a poodle, and heels the height of a
super model. This was not me.

Adjusting the dress several more
times, I was told not to fidget with it in front of him, sit
without crossing my legs, keep my hands in my lap, and to bow my
head at his first entrance.

I huffed at the
last order and Katelyn informed me that it would be wise to keep
him happy at the time if she was going to be snooping around. If he
was suspicious, he would watch more. I told her
he
’
d
not expect me to be completely compliant and that would raise more
suspicion. She agreed, but told me to limit it to maybe just word
fights and not in front of others. Apparently, he had habit of
punishing those who acted out in front of him. Lovely! I was going
to be Suzy Q wife in disguise. I just pray my scene one is short
and scene two never makes the cut.

It was near dusk
when we finally reached a plan that wasn
’
t instant death and might
actually work if all went according to plan. I had it in my head to
kill my brother if he
’
d hurt her in any way, but the
best case scenario was to get her out and run. I just
didn
’
t mention my side mission to them in fear they might not help
me. That wasn
’
t a good option because I needed
them to be able to get back out.

Wicker
’
s tracking abilities led us to
where he stashed her for some amount of time before he moved on. It
was midnight now and we
’
d somehow gathered all the
supplies we needed except one item.

The way in.

They convinced
me to do surveillance first and know if Joshlin had added guards or
any scouts around the hazed boundary of the realm. These mountains
are very easy to get around if you know where
you
’
re going and Joshlin knew his people could maneuver it well,
but could he? He never left. In fact, knowing he was there to get
her only made my fight harder because I knew he was aiming to
unsettle me into making a mistake. His presence was easy to detect
when he left his footprints the size of a Sasquatch. He'd done it
on purpose to rub it in our faces. Or mine at
least.

Silent like the
night air was around me, I felt Trigger
’
s energy near me telling me
he
’
d
check the entire “to the left” part of the boundaries. Wicker would
come from the right in about thirty seconds if the coast was
clear.

He
didn
’
t.

Fifteen minutes later he was there
making my disconcerted nerves ready to burst.

He
’
d tallied three new bodies just outside the boundary
including one guard hidden in the treetops and two scouts moving in
a constant pattern. Why nothing to the left?

I sent Trigger back through for a
second scan.

The guard in the
tree would be easy. The scouts would be easy as long as they
continued the same pattern. Joshlin just wasn
’
t the guardsman I was.
Without me, the men would obey him.

The whole thing was a joke! We had
this made.

The night
progressed and eager wasn
’
t the half of it. We watched the
day ritual to learn if the patterns changed. Sadly no, but good for
us. Once again, this ought to be easy.

Psyching myself
up was the making of a replay in my mind the moment I found her
safe in my arms. It was the hope I had to cling too knowing the
jerk was near her. I don
’
t believe he would hurt her in
the span we
’
ve been apart. He would have
locked her up and dressed up like his harem, but not hurt
her...yet.

He approached me
from behind with a bird whistle I didn
’
t recognize but I did know
his distinct calls without a glance back.

“What of the left side,
Trigger?”

“Same. Joshlin
’
s deficiency in protection detail
makes this a bit easier.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

We stood
together in silence watching the main entry, both keeping our
thoughts to ourselves. I wondered if he recognized Seth, the
current entry guard. Seth was only sixteen and has never once used
a weapon on another unless in the sparring ring practice square I
kept in the back of the realm. I kept that part of the
guard
’
s skills hidden from our king
’
s
clutches.

Katelyn took me to the same large
room where the table was before, a private dwelling area for the
king himself and a few chosen onlookers for show. All female. Food
was covered all over it like before. Mostly fruit and breads and
cheeses. I noted the glass being poured by none other than the man
himself as he looked up to see me pranced in like a seventeenth
century supermodel with a Lady Gaga painted on face.

Upon inspection of the room five
steps in, it was empty of people save me...and him. I turned
stiffly in the painted on dress to see if Katelyn still stood to my
right side as she had on the way here, but the doors were shut and
we were most assuredly...alone.

“A drink?”

Is it poisoned?
Measuring my steps, I clicked my heels purposefully over to the
table making sure I landed far enough from him I could retreat at
arm
’
s length. He could easily do whatever in a locked room where
no one could hear me scream and that scared me more than
anything.