Page 3 of Goblins Don't Count
Ow. My tailbone. I lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, noticing how dusty that vent was. Seriously, this was not my day. I groaned and took my time getting back to my feet, walking gingerly to the back door. I opened it a crack to see the shadowy goblin lurking outside. His eyes glimmered gold in the dark and he nodded at me- his customary greeting.
“Hold on. I’m a little slow tonight.” I closed the door and went to the fridge to get the carton of sashimi sushi. I opened it to check that it was the right carton, and there they were, the rows of extremely cute sashimi that my dad had carefully prepared.
I turned around and then jumped, dropping the carton when I was faced with the goblin, who was supposed to stay outside in the alley.
He deftly caught the box of sushi in his slender fingers and then stepped away from me, giving me the usual three feet distance. “I heard something like bone on metal. Did you hurt yourself?” he asked in goblin. He was the reason my accent was anything close to coherent.
I wrinkled my nose at him. “You heard that from outside?” I didn’t speak goblin. For some reason, I was slightly goblined out tonight.
He tilted his head slightly as he studied me with his golden eyes that glowed ever-so-slightly. “I also heard that you escorted the Magga to Song. Don’t you know that goblins are not to be trusted?”
He pulled out a chair and nodded at it.
I stared at the chair, then at him. “You want to take the chair with you? There’s already one at the alley table that you won’t use.”
He blinked at me. “Sit down. Your mother isn’t here or she would be tucking you in bed and pouring broth and potions down your throat. How much of your life force did Magga drain?” His English had no accent. It was unnatural to hear a goblin speak my language so easily.
“Can you quantify that?” I asked, feeling cross for no particular reason other than that he was a goblin and never warned me about Magga or anything else relevant. “You’re going to make me a broth and potions since my mother isn’t here? I never took you for the mothering type, Sashimi.”
He blinked again and then smiled, showing all those sharp teeth. His were in much better shape than the Magga’s had been. “I am so mothering, Rynne.”
I stared at him, then narrowed my eyes. “You never call me by my first name.”
“You named me Sashimi. Does that not put us on familiar terms?”
“No. Knowing each other for almost a decade puts us on familiar terms, or it would if you weren’t the most suspicious goblin in the world.” I sat down in the chair, cradling my throbbing elbow and wincing when I bumped my tailbone against the metal.
“You are irritated with me? And you haven’t even tasted my vile potion yet. You are in bad shape or you would have kicked me out by now.” He frowned for a moment, then reached out and brushed his fingers across my forehead.
I was too shocked to do anything other than stare at him while he stood over me, neat, clawed fingers so close to my brain. “Sweet bread? Is that brain?” I blurted out in that incredibly awkward moment. He’d never touched me before. Absolutely never. I’d started thinking he had an actual aversion to me.
“I believe so, yes, but I wasn’t going to make any for you at the moment. You’re feverish.”
Right. His hand was on my forehead to check my temperature. My dad did that whenever I felt achy. He was nothing like my dad, except his touch was surprisingly soothing. Gentle. “You need to eat your sushi before it goes bad,” I said, staring at him while his cool fingers rested so lightly on my forehead that I almost didn’t believe they were there. I’d rarely seen him so clearly, since he usually hung in the shadows, refusing to come inside even when it was pouring rain, just taking his sushi and leaving after spending a few minutes chatting in Goblin, mostly to fix my accent.
He had all the usual goblin features, golden eyes, green caste to his skin, but his hair was long and silky while most goblins kept their heads shaved or in dreadlocks. His mouth was usually in a firm line, but not when he gave me a slight smile, like now, as he studied me in return, like he’d never seen a real live human before.
He took his hand off my head and turned to put the sushi box back in the fridge, then put a pot on to boil and started rummaging around in the lower cabinet where we kept onion and garlic. He crouched there, back to me, black shirt and pants draping just the right way so the stretch of his shoulders was interesting, so much more interesting than Brannigan’s.
I blinked at him. I wasn’t finding Sashimi attractive. I wasn’t that desperate. I’d known him too long to ever think of him romantically. The Goblin Authority, on the other hand, I’d had more than a slight crush on until he broke my heart, mostly from not writing to me anymore. I should definitely like a guy who wasn’t a goblin. Like Brannigan. I smiled at the thought.
“Do you know the Goblin Authority?” I asked as he retrieved the ingredients he was hunting, garlic, onion, and ginger, apparently.
He paused, then shrugged and pulled out a knife. It was so beautifully deadly, long and curved like a wicked soul. “As well as I want to know him. Why?” He started peeling the ginger in long graceful curls.
Why indeed? I sighed heavily and leaned back in my chair. “He wears a mask.”
He started chopping the onions and garlic, mincing everything with that dangerous curve of blackened metal. “And that is all anyone should want to know.”
I snorted. “Now you sound like my mother.”
“Who is exceptionally wise. I thank you for the compliment.” He stopped his mincing to give me a slight bow.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making a noxious potion to pour down your throat. I am like your mother.” He nodded soberly, then scraped all the ingredients into a tall glass.
I tried to stand up and tell him to take his sushi and go home so I could go back to bed, but for some reason, it was too difficult to move. “She’ll be back soon.”
