To Wed The Goblin King (The Realm Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “Isn’t this cozy?” Mara asked from the side of me. “Such a nice grouping!”

  “Shut up,” I muttered. “I don’t need that from you, too.”

  She laughed, and Mom, standing at the helm, smiled at both of us. “I’m so glad you’re here, Mom, and you and Paul are behaving yourselves.”

  Thankfully, Dad and Heath were down below, puttering with the engine. Mara and I manned the sheets—or rather, I did. Mara said she didn’t do sailing.

  “I don’t hold out hope for him if he keeps this up,” Mara said.

  “What do you mean?” Mom looked alarmed.

  “I mean Iris might cast some sort of spell on him. He’s being ridiculous, Claire. The horse is out of the barn, the ship has sailed, whatever you want to call it. Iris has chosen a future for herself that we may not like or agree with, but it’s what she’s chosen.”

  She glanced from me to Mom, noting the fact my mother’s eyebrows were heading for her hairline. “I can learn, Claire! What did my stubbornness get me, other than estranged from my only child and grandchild?”

  Mom laughed, and I felt warm all over at how good it sounded. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d thought I’d never hear her laugh again.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Mom said. “I’ve missed you, Mother.”

  “And I you,” Mara reached over and put her hand on Mom’s. “More than I ever thought possible.”

  “I can’t stop this, you know,” Mom gestured towards the cabin. “He’s determined.”

  “Yeah, but he’s going to lose this battle,” I said. “I know with everything in me that my choice is the right one. All he’s doing is pissing me off. And hurting someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

  Mara nodded. “How long will this charade go on?”

  I checked the jib, listening for Mom’s answer. We’d sailed together for so long that we didn’t need to tell one another about the adjustments that were part of any sail. I met her eyes and she smiled.

  “I don’t know, Mother. I do agree that he’s taking it too far.”

  “Then say something, Mom, or I will,” I interjected.

  “This is a big change, honey, and you have to understand that,” Mom began.

  “I know that, but his actions are not right! They’re shitty, on a lot of levels.” I crossed my arms and glared at the horizon.

  Dad appeared in the hatch. “Claire, we’re going to need to bring in the mechanic. There’s a noise I can’t pinpoint.” He stepped out, Heath right behind him.

  My anger fell away for the moment. “What do you mean, Dad?”

  “We’re going to have to sail her in,” he gave me a rueful look.

  All the tension of the last days fell away. This happened to us every so often. The motor would stop working for whatever reason—Mom always said it was boat brownies—given what I knew now, maybe that was true?

  “Okay,” I said, getting up. We had a system. Mom drove the boat, Dad worked the jib, and I handled the main.

  “What can I do?” Asked Heath.

  “We’re all good,” Mom said.

  I shot her a grateful look. Anything I said might have been taken the wrong way. Then I saw Heath’s expression. He was not happy. That look vanished as he met my eyes.

  This all made me feel like shit.

  “We’ve had to do this more than once,” Mom continued, as though the cockpit wasn’t loaded with all sorts of emotional crap.

  “I thought you said this was a really good boat,” Mara muttered.

  “It is, Mara,” I got in, wanting to head off my dad’s response. I didn’t even have to look at him. The brief respite from the tension had disappeared like it had never been there. “It’s just that engines surrounded by salt water are going to have problems. It comes with the territory.”

  Mara gave a very unladylike snort.

  To my surprise, Mom laughed. “Oh, stop worrying, Mother. We know what we’re doing. How about we put in to Abby’s, that place on the water? And then we’ll do an evening sail home? Unless either of you have a schedule you need to keep?” She looked between Mara and Heath.

  “I’m totally good,” Heath grinned at me. “I’ve never been sailing at night.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I replied before I could stop myself. “It’s my favorite time to sail.”

  “Do I have a choice?” grumbled Mara.

  “We can get you a cab at the restaurant,” Dad said hopefully.

  That earned him the evil eye. I caught Mom’s attention, and I could tell she was trying not to laugh as hard as I was.

  “No, thank you, Paul, but that would be rude,” Mara said imperiously. “I am not rude, no matter what. Besides,” her icy manner dropped a bit as she turned her gaze to Mom and I. “I’d like to see what kept my daughter away for so long.”

  “Her family,” my dad shot back.

  Silence, awkward and uncomfortable, dropped like a bomb over Sorcha. I looked down at the block to avoid anyone else’s eyes. While I no longer had any designs on Heath, I felt mortified that he was witnessing all this. I could feel the heat of shame spread from my neck to the top of my head, and a line of sweat break out down my spine. I looked out over the water.

  What the—

  “Dad, starboard beam,” I said, leaning closer to the lifelines. The ocean was fairly calm today, but that patch—

  Dad stepped over to the starboard side, peering out with me.

  “Good eyes, Issy,” he said.

  At the sound of my nickname, I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. Thank god I didn’t want to be with Heath anymore. This—whatever it was—would have been the end of such aspirations.

  “Brace yourselves,” he said to Heath and Mara.

  “What does that mean?” Mara asked with some impatience.

  “It means we’re going to get a gust of wind, and given the water, it looks to be decent. The boat may heel over—”

  “And what does that mean? Speak English!” Mara probably had no patience with crises, either. I could just see it: What do you mean your leg has fallen off? Speak up, now’ I stifled a giggle at the thought.

  “It means hang on to your ass, Mara,” Dad snapped, obviously thinking along the same lines I was.

  Mom and I met each other’s eyes, and that was it.

  We burst out laughing. I caught sight of Mara glaring at all of us, and Heath struggling with a grin, his mouth partially covered with his hand. Then he gave up and laughed, although carefully, watching Mara. That made me laugh harder.

  My grandmother was a terror.

  Just then, I felt the mirror in my pocket warm. That meant Brennan was calling my name.

  Not the best time, Bren.

  I reached into my pocket and tapped on it, hoping to let him know that I couldn’t talk right now. I couldn’t even catch my breath, because the look on everyone’s face was so priceless.

  “Well, now that we have all the awkward business over, let’s deal with this, shall we? Heath, if I tell you, grab that line right there and let it go, okay?” Dad pointed at the port winch.

  Heath actually looked a little nervous. “Just let it go?”

  Dad nodded without looking at him. “Yeah, if the wind hits as hard as it looks, we may need to blow the sail.” He looked at me as he said that.

  I knew we didn’t need to do much of anything, but with two people on board who weren’t sailors, the feel of the boat heeling far over was scary, and even this boat was too small to have two of the five people on board panicking.

  Heath looked to me for confirmation, and I nodded too, putting what I hoped was a reassuring smile on my face. He looked a little less nervous, but only a little.

  “Here it comes,” Dad said. “Five, four, three, two, one…”

  I held the main sheet, ready to ease it.

  The gust hit a lot harder than even we’d expected. The boat leaned hard to port with the force of the wind.

  Mara gave a little scream, and stood up, her eyes wide.

&nb
sp; “Sit down!” Dad pushed her back onto the bench.

  “It’s fine, Mother,” Mom said, her eyes darting between the water and the sails.

  Carefully, I eased the sheet, letting the wind spill off the big main sail, and slowly, the boat eased her heel. I glanced at Mara. She clutched the edge of the cockpit seat, and I could tell her hands gripped it tightly.

  Heath didn’t look much better. I gave him a pass. The leeward—that’s the side of the boat closest to the water when she heels—is always less comfortable.

  “Are you sure?” Mara asked.

  “It’s called heeling, not tip over and fucking die,” my dad said, reaching in front of Heath to grab the port sheet and easing it up a little. The boat eased further, coming to nearly upright.

  I could feel the wind in my hair, and the late evening sun on my face, and realized how much I missed doing this every day. Our lives had changed forever when we’d gone ashore, in more ways than one. I closed my eyes, wanting to capture it.

  “More, Iris,” Dad called, pulling me from my moment.

  “This is a long one,” Mom said.

  “This is normal?” Mara asked waspishly.

  “Totally,” I grinned at her. “If you all weren’t here, we’d ride this thing like a drunken show pony, just to see if we could up the speed or up our course a little.”

  Not much stunned Mara into speechlessness, but apparently I’d done it. Her mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything.

  I laughed and tightened the main. Might as well get a little bit of a ride out of the end of the gust.

  Dad glanced at me and then Mom, and they joined me in the laughter. I could see him tighten up the jib sheet carefully, and the boat heeled more.

  “Let’s get to Abby’s,” Mom said, not looking at Dad, even though she knew full well what he was doing. “Everyone’s going to be ready to eat after this.

  The gust turned into a true shift. There were no clouds in the sky, just great wind. We sailed along in silence, Mom, Dad and I enjoying what used to be our lives. I could tell, in the way that I could just tell things since being in the Goblin Realm, that they both felt joy mixed with sadness.

  If—when—I went to the Goblin Realm with Brennan for good, once we married—there would be no more of this.

  Or would there? Was there somewhere I could sail? There had to be lakes somewhere. I could get Brennan to have one of his goblins build me a little boat. I’d sailed a little skiff called a Melonseed that one of our marina neighbors had in the Bahamas. It had been the most fun I’d ever had on a boat. I could…

  “Iris! Wake up!” Mom’s voice pierced my thoughts.

  I looked around before saying anything. We were getting close to Abby’s docks. I spotted the flags for the restaurant ahead.

  “How do you want to do this, Paul?” Mom asked.

  “Heath, you and Mara scoot forward,” Dad pointed to the front of the cockpit next to the cabin opening. They complied, and I could tell that nothing about the sail had done anything to make them more comfortable. It made me wonder what Brennan would think. There was so little that scared him. I wondered how I could get him out on the boat with me, how I could work this with my parents. Sorcha wasn’t set up as a single-hander, so they’d have to be there.

  Another awkward situation, no doubt.

  “I’m going to drop the main,” Dad said. “Iris, can you help me?”

  I got up, and we moved into action. Again, with no words needed. I wondered if I’d get to this point with Brennan. If I lived as long as he did, how could I not? I felt a pang at leaving my parents, though. The easy way our lives had been before.

  We lowered the main and secured her.

  “Okay, Claire, we’re gonna do it jib only,” Dad said.

  “Well, duh,” Mom said.

  “Smart ass,” he smiled at her. “I’ll go up and drop it and then be forward for any feet needed.”

  When you came in under sail, you needed to be ready to push off with your feet against wherever you docked. You know, to avoid collisions, broken boats, that sort of thing.

  “Iris, once I do, will you come up with me?” He asked over his shoulder as he made his way to the mast.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Paul, how about we U-turn as well?” I could tell Mom was trying to make this as easy as possible on our passengers.

  “Fine. Iris, ease a little.”

  I let the sheets out, causing the jib to luff as the wind swirled around the sail. It was noisy, but helped slow the boat momentum.

  We passed the dockside bar at Abby’s, which was of course full of diners. Nothing like an audience to what could go wrong in a heartbeat.

  “Does this happen often?” Heath asked me.

  “Only when we have to get somewhere that is full of people,” I grinned at him. “That’s the only time the motor ever wants to fail.”

  He laughed. “So you’re a pro?”

  “More than I want to be, sadly. It happens.”

  “Good thing I trust you,” he said, giving me…a look.

  What the hell? When had we moved to the point where The Look was part of anything? It made me nervous, like I was cheating on Brennan just being here, talking to Heath. I remembered the missed call from the fae mail mirror, and hoped like hell he wasn’t still there, waiting, listening.

  “We’re totally trustworthy,” I said, not meeting his eyes any longer. I didn’t know what else to say, so I stopped there.

  Mom took the boat out a little further, and then swung her wide in order to give herself plenty of turning room. As she turned the boat, Dad dropped the jib sail. Once the sail landed on the deck into a messy puddle, I pulled the sheets tight so no one would trip on them, and then joined him on the foredeck to get the jib secured and out of the way. We could do it quickly from years of practice.

  “Get on the stern with the lines, okay?”

  He was already reaching down for the dock lines of the bow. As I walked toward the stern, I tossed over the fenders that were attached to the lifelines. We’d have less chance of scuffing up the boat if we came in fast.

  The dock of Abby’s was a couple of boat lengths away. I perched on the starboard stern, ready to fend off or hop off, whatever seemed like a better idea at the time. As we came close, a dock hand came out.

  “Grab the stern line,” Dad told him, and the boy walked down towards me.

  I tossed it to him and he caught it easily. Mom eased the boat closer, and I saw Dad jump onto the dock and get the line around a cleat. The dock hand pulled in tight as well, and just like that, we were docked.

  I let out a sigh of relief I didn’t know I’d been holding.

  Mara stood immediately. “Get me off this, and get me a Bombay Sapphire and tonic immediately.”

  I held out a hand to her. “C’mon, Mara. I’ll help you out.”

  “Well, at least no one pushed me overboard.”

  “Not yet,” Dad said.

  Mara whipped around with her evil eye at the ready just as Mom said, “Paul!”

  Dad held up his hands. “I kid, I kid!”

  Both women glared.

  “Honestly, I’m kidding. You did fine, Mara. I have no further urge to push you anywhere.”

  Mom threw up her hands and stepped next to Mara. “It’s okay, Mother. Ignore him.”

  With a final glare, Mara took my hand and let me help her onto to the dock.

  “I’ll go get us a table,” she said, and stalked off.

  “Way to go, Dad.”

  He chuckled. “She really did okay. I mean it,” he protested, as Mom stepped up and gave him the you’re in so much trouble look. “She’s growing on me, like mold. It’s fine!” He held up his hands as Mom gave him a light punch in the shoulder.

  “Mr. Mattingly, I think you should stop while you’re still not in a hole,” Heath had gotten off the boat as well.

  “Probably. Sorry about this,” he said to Heath. “Not the best way to get to spend time with us,” he adde
d.

  What the hell? I glared at him, but he wasn’t or wouldn’t look at me.

  “That’s okay. I might call my buddy and see if he can pick me up, though, since I only seem to be in the way.”

  “No, no, no,” Dad protested. “You’re welcome here anytime, Heath.”

  Heath gave a lopsided grin. “Yeah, well, you guys certainly are a team. I’m on a team like that. The three of you are good. You don’t need any more people in your way. You’re going to have enough on your hands on the way home,” the grin widened as he looked behind Dad.

  “That’s if we make it home,” Mara announced, coming back into view from inside. “They can seat us now.”

  “Did you get a table on the deck?” Mom asked. “We like to sit where we can see her.”

  “I’d thought of it, so yes,” Mara smiled at Mom, and I could tell how much she liked being around Mom, in spite of the many funky moments today.

  “Well, if you’re going to leave, at least let me treat you to dinner.” Dad directed this at Heath.

  “It’s okay, Mr. Mattingly. I’ll call Tad, he can be here pretty quickly.”

  “You don’t have to go,” Dad almost sounded like he was pleading.

  Heath smiled, and stepped away pulling out his cell phone, talking quietly.

  “Way to go, Dad,” I hissed. “Don’t think I can’t tell what’s up.”

  He ignored me.

  Mara watched our interchange with a look I couldn’t decipher. “Let’s go in, shall we?”

  “Iris, why don’t you wait with Heath and walk him out?” Dad was in a hurry all of sudden. He took Mom’s arm and steered her towards Mara.

  I glared, but he shuffled them along out of sight.

  Fabulous.

  Heath came back over to me. “I don’t want you to think I’m bailing. I just have to be up early, and I wasn’t kidding. You guys are awesome together. You don’t need to be tripping over me.”

  “That’s really thoughtful of you, Heath.”

  He sighed. “Really thoughtful. Well, shit.”

  “What?”

  “That’s not quite what I was hoping for.”

  Damn my father to the pits of Hell. This should have died a simple death after that one abrupt date. I had no idea what to say. Maybe some variation of honest?

  “We only had one date, and I had to leave,” I began.