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

He tamped down the anger and the shame and looked into the trusting gaze of the woman he loved.

  “Of course you must stay with your mother. For a time.” He tried not to lay any stress to the last three words. Patience. He must be patient. Iris was not fae. Not yet. He needed to allow her to transition into their world in a way that would not leave her with regrets.

  A smile broke through the tears rolling down Iris’s face. “Really? You’re okay with this?”

  Brennan couldn’t help but smile at the eagerness in her face. He brushed at the tears on her cheek, loving the feel of her skin beneath his. “Dearest, I am not okay with anything that keeps you from me. But I have a mother also, and I understand you wanting to be with her. For a time,” he repeated.

  Iris threw her arms around him. The wave of love she brought washed over him. Surely a little sacrifice on his part would be all right.

  It would make him irritable, but he could live with that. What was a few days compared to the eternity that waited for them?

  “I love you,” she whispered into his ear. “So much. Thank you!”

  He pulled back to look at her. “Anything for you, Iris.”

  She kissed him then. Even though he could feel the weight of disapproval from her father, he kissed her back.

  This was the right thing—the unselfish, kind thing—to do. Why did he feel that he stood on the edge of losing her just when he’d found her?

  Brennan forced the negative thoughts away. Time enough for negativity when he returned home.

  Iris’s father cleared his throat, and Iris fell away from him. He felt bereft at the loss of her touch. The thought irritated him for all sorts of reasons, none of which made any sense to him at the moment.

  “Why don’t you plan to stay here for a bit?” Iris’s mother asked. Brennan could hear the hope in her voice.

  “I’ll need to ensure she’s safe,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Paul bristled.

  Brennan sighed. The man was already spoiling for a fight. Never mind that there was no fight to be had, or that Iris loved them all, Brennan had felt it the moment they’d arrived. Suggesting that Iris wouldn’t be safe with her parents made it worse, but that couldn’t be helped.

  The fae sorcerer—his brother, his mind corrected. Cian. His brother. He couldn’t get his head or his heart to accept that not only did his brother still live, but that this was the man responsible for all the havoc in his realm. In many realms. Even this one. The Human Realm remained unaware, most of the time, of the affairs of the Fae Realm thanks to him, his father, and their Watchers, but Brennan knew that choosing Iris would potentially change that fact. Cian knew of her, knew of her human origin. He couldn’t afford to assume she’d be safe merely because she’d left the Goblin Realm.

  Cian had already sewn discord within his goblins and was involved with the daughter of the former Goblin King. The Goblin King that Brennan’s father, Jharak, had removed and executed. Not the sort of history designed for future familial harmony. Add to that the fact that the last time he’d seen Cian—before he thought he’d killed him, that is—Cian had been bemoaning having a brother like Brennan. Something that he still didn’t understand, nearly seven hundred years later.

  Nevertheless, given all that his parents had told him about removing Cian from the castle, and then the fire that they thought had actually killed Cian, Brennan would wager that he ranked high on the list of people Cian felt anger towards. A strong wager, given his actions.

  And the castle! Cian had left a note in the castle, in his castle! Threatening him. Beyond the mere gall of having someone break into his property, Brennan despised those he loved being threatened. He realized that everyone else in the room had stopped talking. They were obviously waiting for him to respond. What had just been said?

  Oh, yes. Iris’s father ready to jump to his daughter’s defense. It didn’t make his life any easier, but he understood the man’s feelings.

  Brennan cleared his throat, and hoped he would find the right words, the right tone. “While I am delighted to have met Iris and am committed to our future, I will not lie to you. There is unrest in my realm, and Iris might be caught up in it.”

  He felt Iris glare at him. He wasn’t sure what that was for. It wasn’t as though he was telling them everything that had gone on. when—

  “All the more reason for her to be here. We’ve nothing to do with whatever is going on in…” Paul’s voice trailed off.

  “The Goblin Realm, Dad,” Iris said. “My future home. Brennan is right.”

  Brennan’s dismay at offering Paul more reason to argue for Iris staying tempered at the sound reasoning of his Iris. She understood.

  “I will have Taranath ward your home, and Drake or I will be in touch with you daily.”

  “I don’t want Drake,” Iris said quickly.

  He held her close to him. “It’s only if I am not available. You know he’ll keep you safe.” He had no hesitation in saying that. While admittedly, Drake had tried to kill Iris before, it had been because he thought Iris meant to harm Brennan. Drake knew differently now. There was no one else Brennan would trust with her whereabouts.

  Not with Cian out for vengeance. He would not allow Cian to hurt Iris. Not ever.

  *****

  He and Iris had walked away from her parents, into the yard, away from the deck. It made him feel better to be outside, although the sun here felt beastly hot.

  “I will not let anything happen to you, Iris. I promise.”

  She snuggled into him. “I know. I wish I didn’t feel l have to stay, but…I have to.”

  He felt her lean into him. The struggle between what she wanted and what she felt she needed to do warred within her. In spite of how it would affect him personally, he was proud of her. Perhaps he should tell her.

  “Iris?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “I know you don’t really want to stay, nor do I want you to, frankly, but I am proud of you for doing what you feel is right.”

  Her head whipped up so fast she nearly hit him with it. “Are you? You’re not mad as hell at me?”

  “No.”

  She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

  “Well, perhaps a little. When we wed, you and I will be one another’s top priority.”

  “You might have to ask first.”

  “What?” He had no idea what she referred to.

  “You know, propose? You’ve never actually asked me. Just assumed.” She sighed in what seemed a dramatic fashion.

  “What do you mean, I haven’t asked…” He stopped talking as he realized she was correct. He’d never asked her to marry him. Only assumed.

  Shame and embarrassment were not emotions he had to deal with often. He kept himself so controlled, so in command of everything he said, everything he did, that he rarely had to look back and feel regret.

  He did so now. “I am sorry, Iris,” He looked over her head into the distance. “I am not proud that my manners and breeding have completely deserted me where you are concerned.”

  She smiled, a wide, delighted grin that made him hope he might not be in as much disgrace as he feared.

  “You mean you can’t think straight, and you even lose control a little?”

  She knew of his insistence on being in control at all times. After his parents had told him the truth about Cian, he had haltingly told Iris the story of how he thought he’d killed his brother.

  “Yes,” he ground out, hating the weakness.

  She stood on her toes and kissed him with passion. Surprised, he didn’t immediately kiss her back, but she didn’t let go of him, and he wrapped his arms around her. He forgot that they probably had an audience. .

  When she finally shifted and moved from his lips, he opened his eyes to find her still smiling.

  “I’m okay if you were so blown away by me you’ve lost your head entirely and forget the habits of the past thousand years.”

  He laughed, finally getting what made her so hap
py. “It’s only six hundred years.”

  Iris waved a hand in the air. “Whatever, Gramps. Lots more years than me. And I made you lose your focus. You have totally saved yourself from the doghouse. Ask whenever you want.”

  “What does a doghouse have to do with anything?”

  “It’s—never mind. What it means is that you’re not in any trouble with me for merely assuming I’ll marry you.” She tried to look solemn, but he could see the corners of her mouth turning up.

  He let go of her, taking one step back. Bowed from the waist. His mother would be proud of such correctness. When he stood, he reached for and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. He kissed her warm skin, smelling the sunlight on it. It made him forget the parents he knew were watching and all the problems of his realm. What he wanted to was sink down into the grass and be with Iris.

  Her inhaled breath brought him back from slowly peeling off her clothes. He met her shining eyes.

  “Iris Mattingly, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” His words brushed across the skin of her hand, which he still held. He held her gaze, wanting her to see all that he felt for her.

  Her cheeks flamed red, and he could see the glisten of moisture in her eyes.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  Before she could say another word, he’d crushed her to him, wanting her as close as possible.

  She muttered something into his shoulder.

  “What, dearest?”

  “Where’s the ring?”

  “What?” His vocabulary had become rather limited in his interactions with her. It annoyed him. Sort of.

  “The ring? The engagement ring? It lets others know we are engaged, that I am…” she gave him a sly glance from under her lashes, “off the market.”

  “You mean in this world, men give women a ring to show a promise?”

  “Exactly! Tell me you have a ring, Brennan!”

  “That’s not quite how it’s done with fae, but yes, Iris. I have a ring. One very dear to me that I will be happy to have you wear. So that other will know you are definitely off the market.” He grinned at her, and had the gratification of seeing her eyes widen and her breath catch. It was nice to see that he affected her as she did him.

  “What do you do in Fae?”

  “We sign a contract, and the notice is sent to all the other realms. Everyone is then aware of a betrothal.”

  “That wouldn’t work here. I don’t know everyone.”

  “I am glad to hear it.”

  “What, afraid of a little competition? The great Goblin King?”

  He laughed with joy at how easily she teased him and how it bothered him not at all. Normally, only Drake could behave so.

  “I am afraid of nothing, other than losing you, my Iris.”

  “You won’t,” She took his face in her hands, standing on her toes again. “Not ever.”

  “I shall hold you to that, my lady.”

  “You’d better.” She kissed him. Then stepped back. “So where’s the ring?”

  He laughed. “I never figured you for a materialistic type.”

  “I’m not. But if I’m engaged, I want the ring to show off.”

  The thought of her wearing his ring, showing everyone around her that she was his, even when he couldn’t be with her—made him feel—he didn’t know exactly what it made him feel. Crazy, perhaps. He only knew no other woman had made him feel this way.. For the past several weeks as they’d both been recovering in his castle, it had been easy to keep the want at a distance. But now that they had both healed,being around her drove him mad.

  He knew it was ridiculous and possessive, but he loved that idea of her wearing something of his. He also knew that he shouldn’t share this with Iris. She’d have his head. He cleared his throat, and pulled his ring from his finger. “Will you wearthis, as a sign of our promise?”

  Her eyes softened, and she took the ring from him with fingers that trembled. “Yes. I will. Brennan, it’s beautiful!”

  The ring was a series of coils in platinum and gold. Each coil ended in a jeweled serpent’s head with the tails anchoring them together. The gold serpent had a large ruby in the center of the head, the platinum serpent a diamond.

  “This was from my father when I took the goblin throne. He said that while all things went round and round the same way, they often looked different and separate at first glance. It is a reminder to look at things closely, and that everything is connected.”

  “Like we’re connected now.”

  Brennan decided then and there that seeing the expression on Iris’s face—soft, full of happiness and love—was worth everything he had to do to put it there. That expression would be his goal always.

  “Forever, Iris. Fae do not give their hearts lightly. I have never given mine. There was never anyone I wished to have it,” he finished quietly. He hoped that she would understand how serious, how final this was.

  For a fae to pledge their heart, it meant that there would be no other. In light of the intensity involved, most fae chose not to give their entire heart. Arranged marriages worked well. People were free to love more than one, and were not tied to one mate for what essentially was eternity.

  Part of him groaned in frustration. There was no way Iris could understand the depth of the pledge he made her.

  There was no way he could do anything else. No one else would compare to Iris for him. Not ever. Even if it scared him to death. He’d never thought to love someone in this fashion.

  “This is really gorgeous, Brennan. Much better than anything we do here,” she breathed, turning the ring on her finger. She looked up to him.

  “I know what this means. I understand.”

  “How can you?” He hoped she understood. If she didn’t, if she changed her mind, nothing would change for him.

  “Taranath told me. He told me more than once, and Drake laid some heavy hints along with threats about hurting you. All with a smile, of course.”

  He opened his mouth, indignant that Drake would threaten his Iris, but she put her hand across it gently. “Stop. It’s okay. It’s kind of like my dad giving you hell now. Drake loves you. I get it.”

  He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “He does. And your father loves you.”

  “I love you, Bren.”

  Only Drake called him that. He liked the sound of it from Iris. “And I…you,” He whispered as he pulled her close.

  The sliding of the door of the house caused Iris to take a small leap back from him. Her father stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

  “I’m sure we have more to discuss.” His face looked like a thundercloud.

  Brennan sighed. He wasn’t sure what was worse—an angry father or his mad brother. Although he and Iris had been out the yard for some time. Probably why Paul was making a lot of noise, to remind them of where they were. Maybe Cian would be easier. Best to look on this as practice.

  Iris took his hand. “Don’t worry. His bark is worse than his bite.”

  “What does that mean? Humans speak in the oddest manner! Do you always compare yourselves to dogs?”

  Iris laughed. “It means he makes a lot of noise, but he probably won’t kill you.”

  He hoped she was joking.

  “Iris, wait. There’s something else.”

  “Other than this fab jewelry and your love and devotion? I don’t think I can handle more, Romeo.” She waved at hand at his inquiring look. “Never mind. What is it? You’re doing great on the gift scale so far!”

  He pulled a small mirror from a pouch on his belt. Whispering a spell, he instructed the mirror to contact him directly. Then he handed it to Iris. “If you need me, speak my name to the mirror. I will hear you and answer as soon as I am able.”

  “Fae mail! I wondered how you guys did it.” She looked delighted.

  “What is fae mail?” He couldn’t hide the annoyance now.

  “I’ll explain later. C’mon, my dad’s about to burst in there.” She pul
led him forward.

  Oh, his brother would be a lot easier. Brennan sighed and mentally prepared for battle.

  Chapter Three

  Iris

  I stared out the window, resenting the sunshine that insisted on streaming in. What did it matter? Brennan had left. He’d left with hardly any fight, no argument to speak of. Left me here, like a kitten held out by the scruff to passersby. Well, a kitten with a kick-ass engagement ring. My mom had seen it immediately, but she hadn’t said anything.

  Why had I suggested this? I wanted to be with my mom, with my family. I’d asked Brennan to allow me to stay. That’s why he hadn’t fought, hadn’t thrown down with me, or my dad. Because I’d asked him to.

  God, I was stupid.

  I should have gone with him and come to visit my mom daily, if needed. I should have—

  A knock at the door, and my dad poked his head in.

  “You up, honey?”

  I pasted a smile on my face and turned around, not wanting my dad to see my despair. Because that’s what it was, being away from Brennan. Knowing what he’d gone back to. Knowing what I let him go back to alone..

  “It’s so bright, I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Well, good. Come have breakfast with your mom and I. We’ve got plans today!”

  He disappeared as quickly as he’d come in.

  Great. Plans. I know my parents thought they were slick, and they felt good that they’d talked me into staying, but I could see right through them. This was the Let’s-entice-Iris game plan. I could feel it.

  I shook my head. I didn’t like having these kind of thoughts about my parents. They were my parents, and they loved me!

  Then why the hell couldn’t they be happy for me? Everyone who saw us could see that Brennan loved me.

  After he’d kissed me again and fended off my dad and his shitty comments, he’d left via portal. He promised to return tonight. So whatever my parents planned, I needed to be home by evening so as not to miss him.

  I went into the kitchen, trying to push away how empty I felt without him, and found my parents in full-on Julia Child mode. They’d made a waffle bar, something we’d always done together. Their faces turned to me, beaming.