Page 18

Chapter Eighteen

W e plummeted, flipping in the air until gradually we slowed, sliding down the side of the building thanks to Sashimi’s ability to grasp walls.

With an oomph, we hit the ground, or he hit the ground, still holding me, and then he was running, carrying me towards the limo.

Dozens of cars had goblins spilling out of them. These weren’t dressed like bankers, but assassins, and each and every one of them had defense runes that came to life as they ran towards the building, past us.

He climbed into the limo with me, and it took off with a lurch, gathering speed quickly while I stared dizzily at Sashimi.

He raised a brow and handed me a bag. “Feeling queasy? It wasn’t a gentle jump.”

I grabbed the hand under the bag and squeezed hard. “And to think, it was the maid the whole time.” I’d interviewed her in the beginning. She was the one who found the body. Was it possible that he’d been alive when she walked into that room? Did she actually kill him herself? That would strengthen the demon and her control over him. “But she’s only human.”

He squeezed my hand back, almost painful, but not quite. His eyes burned golden. “Humans are perfectly capable of violence and dark deeds. My closest assassination attempt was from a determined human who made a deal with a demon.”

“But raising a demon? Murdering someone in cold blood? I guess it’s possible, I mean, that circle of animals must have been used to summon the demon, but someone must have been working behind the scenes, controlling her. She couldn’t want to become that monster if she understood what she was doing. Maybe it was the lesser demon in the hotel parking lot. He approached me at the beginning of all of this. Come to think of it, she did warn me that I was in danger, that my job would get me killed.” I shuddered and leaned against him.

His heart was beating so fast. It must be adrenaline from the jump. “Even the murderer warned you? Of course she did. Everyone warns you about the dangers, but it makes no difference. You’re Lady Justice with your duty to do.” His voice was threaded with tension so thick, I could taste it.

I pulled away to frown at him. “Yes, I am. I mean, I’m not Lady Justice, but I am a police officer. If I didn’t care about the injustices around me, I never would have written you to save my brother.” I turned to look back at the burning apartment building behind us. The air was filling with a heavy cloud of smoke. She had to be stopped, but what could I do against that kind of destructive magic? I needed to call Gabby and get her friends in the Gray Society to help. Then again, the building was swarming with goblins. Maybe I didn’t need the Gray Society when I had Sashimi.

I turned back around to study my goblin, his tense shoulders and glowing golden eyes. “Where did all those goblins come from?”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards…Oh. Because you’re the king.”

He crossed his arms, studying me narrowly. “No. Your bodyguards. I hate to say this, but your mother, and everyone else, is right. Your job is too dangerous. If you are going to continue to pursue justice, you will be protected.”

I blinked at him. He’d never sounded like this before, like a king dispensing his will. “Will I? How lucky for me.”

He nodded, eyes narrowing even more. “If I am not personally with you, then you will have Trata or Uncle by your side.”

“Will I?” I crossed my arms, matching his pose. “I work at a police station. I can’t have personal bodyguards with me all the time.” Obviously.

His mouth tightened. “Of course. In that case, you can pursue your career from the vault. I’d prefer that as well.”

“What?” I stared at him, at the hard expression and those eyes that were growing brighter and brighter. “Was that a threat? Either I accept your bodyguards, or I become your prisoner?”

“No. I don’t make threats. It’s a condition, a very reasonable condition, that you do your best to remain safe while I do my best to allow you the freedom you enjoy. I am on the edge of my restraint as it is, Rynne Sato. I am your protector, and you are the target of one of the most dangerous kinds of demons. It is my nature to wrap you in safety with chains so thick that nothing can penetrate, but instead we are a moving target on the way to dinner with your family. Please accept my limitations.”

“My family?!” I took a deep breath, but the anger burned so hot and thick, it felt like infernal flames. “What do you mean dinner with my family? Also, I’m already trapped in a loveless relationship with someone who can never give me what I want! Now you want to confine me physically as well?”

He stiffened and blinked twice before he bared his teeth at me. “Yes. I very much want to confine you physically so that your safety is assured. And yet here we are, on our way to see your family, so that your life isn’t entirely loveless after all. I want to give you that freedom, but unless you accept bodyguards, your freedom is forfeit.”

My heart beat faster and faster as I glared at him, wanting to bite his face or something else uncivilized. “So good to know the conditions of my freedom,” I said, biting out the words. “And my family? I thought we were stopping for dinner on the way home at a fast food place, not going home to see the other person in my life who wants me locked in a vault.”

He took a deep breath and shrugged slightly. “Your mother called the bank, put effort into getting in touch with me. We made arrangements to get together at your suggestion.”

“I suggested it?” I groaned. “That’s just something I said to get her to stop harassing Goblin Town. And you didn’t mention it to me again until we’re on our way there because you must know that I don’t want to see her again today! It’s stressful, particularly with you acting like the oppressive captor she thought you’d be.”

He leaned back, crossing his arms. “I should not have been so honest with you. You want to think that goblins are civilized, and for years, I humored you. Today I stopped because you deserve the warning. If I feel your safety isn’t assured, I will make sure it is.” His face transformed into a calm and slightly amused mask, voice light and persuasive. “I’m willing to allow you your freedom as long as you don’t abuse it, Rynne. It could have been simple enslavement or death years ago.” He brushed my hand, and I glared at him.

“Thank you for reminding me that I’m dealing with a soulless goblin.” Who wants me around to keep himself from falling in love with someone else. Why couldn’t he be obsessed with me? Not like it was a surprise considering the fact that any time anyone started showing interest in me, they left or found someone else more interesting.

He gave me a closed-mouth smile. “You’re welcome. I’d prefer that you lived the life you wanted. Is it such a hard thing to accept a few bodyguards?”

I chewed on my bottom lip. My nostrils still burned with infernal fire. It seemed like a weird time to have our first legitimate fight. We were both probably stressed out from having wounds and injuries, and then going to dinner with my mother.

I groaned and threw myself at him, burying my face in his neck. “Why dinner though?”

He wrapped his arms around me and held me against his pounding heart. “My sister said that it will help you feel normal. Like you’re getting more family instead of losing yours, but my family has always been dysfunctional, even for goblins. Your family is so adorably happy.”

“That’s because it has a solid foundation based on sushi.” I pulled away from him, slipping through his strong hands. “Are you sure you want to meet my family like that? My mother probably won’t be polite, however hard she tries.”

His eyes softened. “Neither will my sister. And I doubt she’ll try very hard. I’m worried that she’ll start flirting with Tarn.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That would be awkward, but he’ll just flirt back. He’s apparently had experience with goblins.”

“Not my sister.”

“He’s not dangerous enough for her.”

He winced slightly. “He’s getting there.”

I grabbed his arm. “What do you mean? What is my brother involved in?”

He covered my hand with his and leaned closer until our foreheads bumped. “Shall we lock him in the vault?”

“Maybe,” I breathed back.

The next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine, and he was kissing me in a way that filled me with agonizing burning. I needed him to devour me like I was his heart and soul. I needed him, his touch, his heart, his love. I needed him to want me like I wanted him.

For a few precious minutes, I forgot about the rest of the world as I let him devour me, exactly how I needed to be tasted. Then the limo stopped, and I was left to face dinner with my parents.

He slid out of the back, then held his hand out to me, like I couldn’t possibly get out on my own with the way my heart pounded and whirled in my chest. Maybe he was right. Or maybe I just needed to hold his hand, to have some of the physical contact that had been so necessary to me a few minutes earlier. I was still angry at him for threatening me with imprisonment, but he was a goblin. He was trying to be civilized for me. Even when it went against his nature.

“Did you actually eat the bodies of the dead?” I asked, without realizing what was coming out of my mouth until it was too late.

He gave me a puzzled look as he led me down the alley to the building across from my parents, to the old metal door that had been locked for as long as I could remember. Now it was wide open with urns filled with flowers on either side.

“Yes.”

I winced at his calm and easy smile. “Did you like it?”

“Your sushi is better.”

“Oh. That’s good. So, you could actually eat me if you got dress drunk?”

“Not unless you were already dead. People who eat live people are even more uncivil than I am.”

“Good to know. And you’ve killed a lot of people?”

His voice was level, indifferent. “So many. I was born during a war that lasted a century. It was a very stupid war. Like the curse.”

“Which do you like better, killing people in war or assassination?”

“Assassinations are more interesting, particularly if they’re a challenge, such as having to make a public figure look like they died accidentally. The demon at the courthouse was very sloppy. Suicide should require more effort than that. You have to start with the living target and build a trail of…” He stopped talking when he realized the way I was staring at him. “You were just checking to see if I actually had killed people by assassination and war. Yes. They are both terrible things. Feel better? No. Because you’re Lady Justice and I am the Goblin King.” He sighed heavily and gestured me through the door. “We’re going to eat on the roof.”

“Where you ate my dress? Where we made out? That’s not going to be awkward at all.”

He showed me to the open elevator, and we got in, standing there as it slowly rose. “I’m sure it will be awkward, but probably not because of memories of…” He trailed off, like he didn’t know what to call it.

“Dress drunkenness.”

He gave me a sharp look. “We could call it that, but that wouldn’t explain all the other times I’ve tasted you without the excuse of a narcotic.”

And that wasn’t awkward at all. “Stress,” I finally said. “This whole situation is very stressful.”

“If I took your mouth now, would that give you more or less stress?”

My heart started pounding, my mouth watering, all of my pinging like an electric current was going through me. “At a dinner with my mother? More. What about you?”

He gave me a slight smile. “For me, it is always more stress to sample your mouth. You see, you’re so soft and delicate. And I am so viciously violent.” He bent down and slid his teeth over my bottom lip, excruciatingly gentle, pulling away right before the elevators opened onto the roof.

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.

“It has been very moderate for this time of year,” her husband agreed, giving her a soft smile.

The old man turned to look at the half-goblin and then past him to the fairy. “How long have you been married? Do you intend to have children?”

So much for polite conversation. Her wings fluttered extra hard for a moment while she carefully scooped up a serving of some kind of vegan oak leaf patif. “We’ve been together for twenty-five years. We haven’t yet been able to have a child, more’s the pity. Ebon would be the finest father.”

Ebon scowled at the old man, but he only hmphed. “You shouldn’t have married a goblin. Fairies are too delicate for them. He should have known better.”

The couple looked extremely uncomfortable, him angry, her embarrassed.

“And what about your granddaughter, Rynne, if you’re really my husband’s father,” my mom said, leaning forward and fixing him with her gaze. “Will she die once she has a goblin child?”

I felt my cheeks catch on fire as I sank down in my chair.

The old man studied me. “No. She may die from other things connected to being the Goblin King’s bride, but not childbirth.”

“Cheers to that,” Trata said, raising a glass with shimmering gold liquid in it.

Ah. A magical elixir. Hopefully it took the bite off of some of my humiliation. “I’m not the Goblin King’s bride, and I’m not going to have his baby,” I said for what felt like an unnecessary fiftieth time.

“You call him Sashimi?” the old man said, looking shocked.

“Sorry, Corcarn,” I corrected.

“Not at all,” Sashimi said, giving me a slight smile. “You may call me anything you like.” For some reason, that made me want to kick him under the table, but my luck, I’d kick Trata instead, and then she’d kick me back, and my leg would fall off. Maybe I wanted my leg fall off so I could leave this dinner before it got any weirder. I wanted to go to my apartment and cuddle with Sashimi on the couch. Or the window seat of his office building. Or in the limo. Who knew he’d become such an addictive cuddler?

“You call him Sashimi, but you will not have his child? What lie has he told you?” the old man asked.

My mother perked up as she studied Sashimi. “Yes, what lie has he told you?”

Tarn barked a laugh. “Here we go. Mother, eat your fish. You promised to be polite, remember? Calling someone a liar isn’t polite. Just because the old man gets to be rude doesn’t give you an excuse. It’s the only reason some people have to live in their old age.”

The ‘old man’ gave him a hard look. “You have no respect for your elders.”

Tarn drawled, “I have so much respect for my elders. You have no idea how much. I’m not quite convinced you are my elder, but I’m still being polite. I haven’t called you a liar, or asked you when you’re going to knock up some young thing, have I?”

I both wanted to put my head on my brother’s shoulder for defending me, and to stomp his foot so he’d stop talking.

Mr. Raccoon took that moment to leap on the table from one of the overhanging branches, land on a tray of fish, and send it scattering in all directions, most generously splattering our side of the table.

Everyone was silent while he sat in the middle of the tray, picked up a fish and started eating the head.

Yes, watch me demonstrate how it is done, you feeble humans. Also other weird things. What kind of insect is that? He peered at the fairy girl curiously while she stared back.

I cleared my throat. “This is my familiar, Mr. Raccoon.”

“Mr. Raccoon? You named him Mr. Raccoon?” That was Tarn.

Trata snorted. “Seriously, I mean, he’s a raccoon. You could have given him an actual name. Like Pickle.”

Tarn sniffed at her. “Pickle? You’d name a raccoon pickle? Why?”

“Why not? I have cats, and they’re always named condiments and foodstuffs. I’ve never thought of naming one Sashimi, but I’m sure I will. It’s such an excellent pet name.”

The old man inhaled sharply enough that everyone looked at him. He was studying Sashimi with the eyes of a rabbit about to be swooped by a hawk. It reminded me that Sashimi had always chosen to show me his most civilized side, the one that didn’t enslave people and eat the bodies of the dead. What was he trying to accomplish with freeing my grandfather like this? I needed to talk to him alone. But there was still the matter of the demon-summoning maid.

I grabbed Sashimi’s arm and leaned close to whisper in his ear, “Have you heard from your goblins? Is the woman secure? What about the fire? I should have called someone. No, I’m the lieutenant. I should have organized a barrier and…”

He turned and brushed my nose with his, his eyes butter soft and sweet. “I will let you know as soon as I hear something. This dinner between families is more important than work, isn’t it?”

I studied him, perplexed. I mean, family was always the priority, but protecting the city protected other families and ours. Was he really asking me if I was going to prioritize my career when he was only using me to stop the goblin king curse? Was there any way this was real to him? Could he care about me until the curse took him?

I hesitated then stood up and raised my glass. “I’d like to raise a toast to my grandfather, the sushi cook who’s been freed from the Magga.”

“Hear, hear,” Tarn said, quickly raising his glass. “Does that mean he’s going to move in with us?”

My mother gasped and looked horrified while my dad frowned and then slowly nodded. “Of course he’ll stay with us.”

“He can have my apartment,” I said, sitting down. “I’m getting a place closer to the station.” Yes. I needed my own new place with Sashimi that wasn’t his vault or my parent’s, something that was ours. Whatever we had, maybe it would work even better than the life I’d planned for myself. My plans for having a normal life and marriage hadn’t been working, anyway.

The old man studied me, probably incredibly overwhelmed from being rescued from slavery by the Goblin King and dumped on his unsuspecting family. Sashimi had meant for this to be a gift, and it was, but it was so inhuman. ‘I’m going to release a slave to you because he’s your relative.’ What about all the other slaves? He probably didn’t even think about it. Now I was thinking about it. It wasn’t my responsibility, not when I already had more than I could handle from my new job description. Lieutenant Sato? How was I going to manage all the fallout from this demon issue once it was resolved. Was she in custody?

“Is the Goblin King’s fortress closer to the station?” my father asked, sounding mildly interested, peaceful, calm.

Yes, that’s how I should be. No one was as steady and level-headed as my father. “No. It’s much further. I’m just staying there for a few days while I find a place. I mean we…” I glanced at Sashimi and felt my cheeks burn. We needed to talk about what we wanted to do going forward. I’d take the bodyguards and skip the vault. It was too long a commute, but I needed to be close to him regularly or I’d still turn into a goblin. And he needed me to stop the curse. “Tarn, do you know anyone who’s renting, who needs a roommate?” I asked. No way I was letting my mother know I was thinking about getting an apartment with Sashimi when we hadn’t discussed it yet. He probably wouldn’t want to actually live with me all the time.

Tarn shrugged. “Not in the Growl District. You know that neighborhood’s incredibly shifty. Oh, they do rent rooms at the hotel, you know, the one next to the club. The one owned by a demon where you used to park your car. Definitely not secure, though.”

My mother gasped while Sashimi tightened his grip on his fork.

She shook her finger at me. “You parked your car in a demon hotel? This is exactly what I’m talking about. Rynne, you’re not equipped to take on the darkness, not when your magic is slight and your sense is missing.”

“Her magic is strong enough,” Sashimi said, still gripping his fork and knife too tight as he cut his fish with precision. “And she has more sense than most. Still, we agree that she should not stay at the demon hotel.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, taking a glass of elixir and swirling it around while Mr. Raccoon sat in the middle of the table, eating fish heads. “Demons aren’t so bad. And I’m under the Goblin Authority’s protection. Who else is going to touch me?” I threw back the glass, draining it in one gulp, then grabbed the bottle to pour more. It was a nice elixir, softening the pain and making the world glow around the edges. No one else would ever touch me. And I was going to go slowly mad from wanting Sashimi to love me. I really had to stop kissing him. That was messing me up too much, getting my feelings involved, making everything more complicated than it needed to be. We weren’t going to get an apartment together, however hard he was trying to make this situation okay for me, what with family dinners and liberating grandfathers.

“Good point,” Sashimi said quietly, but everyone stilled, like he’d said something dangerous.

The elevator doors opened and out spilled a wide-eyed goblin, taller than most goblins, and moving with more intention and speed. This was someone high ranking. I’d bet my exploded purple hornet on it.

“The host escaped and the Coratta demon is at the courthouse, forcing the arrogant officer to kill himself.”

And that was the end of the most enchanting dinner party in my life.