The Goblin King (24 page)

“Roan?” Eliza squinted into the light. Water dripped from her hair, onto her shoulders, down her collarbone, only to be soaked up by the pale green bath towel that covered her body.

He stood trapped by the sunlight, the core of his bones boiling. The only shadow to escape into was his, stretching toward Eliza. If a goblin entered his own shadow it was said he would never emerge. Or so Roan had been warned by a man more weathered than the cave he’d inhabited. Today wasn’t the day he was going to test the old god-speaker’s word. To his left, the curtain made a weak shadow, but it was enough.

Her foot touched the envelope. She glanced down. It was all the time he needed. His beads chimed as he moved from sun to shadow, and then he was gone. What Eliza did with his gift was up to her. Maybe tonight while she slept she would think of him. If she did, he knew he would go to her. This time he didn’t care where they met as long as they were together. If she didn’t call…he would know the true heart of his queen.

Eliza looked up in time to lose Roan to the dark. Water splashed onto paper. She stepped back and picked up the amber bead, not quite a match to the one on her bangle. The carving was different, the color deeper. A yellow document envelope covered in soggy dots lay on the floor. Steve’s handwriting neatly labeled it as belonging to Chiverney Holdings. One of the many companies that used Gunn and Coulter.

A shiver chased over her bare flesh. Chiverney was different. Chiverney must be the company Steve was using to hide the fraud.

Without opening the envelope she knew what it contained. She felt the thickness and the weight of paper inside. The weight of freedom. These were the documents she had spent so long searching for. Always so careful to never raise suspicion. And now she had them.

Her hands shook. She wanted rip open the envelope, to rifle through every page and find out how much, and when and where every dollar had gone. But she couldn’t touch the papers. Her fingerprints couldn’t be on the documents.

She hugged the envelope. With a shaky breath she whispered, “Thank you.”

Roan had visited Steve. That was why Steve had been disheveled and willing to leave. What had Roan said to him? Had Steve looked the goblin in the eye and seen what he would become? No, probably not. And she didn’t care. Roan had discovered the location of the documents and retrieved them for her. She couldn’t take her eyes off the most precious gift she’d ever been given. More valuable than gold, these papers proved Steve’s guilt and bought her freedom. Roan had granted her wish.

Her home phone rang, but she ignored it. Her cell phone rang, so she checked the number. Steve was calling from the office. She let voice mail take the call—and the abuse. He knew she had the documents. There was no time for contemplating what to do or how to do it. She had to make the call she’d both dreamed of and dreaded making.

Stiff fingers dialed the numbers on Detective Griffin’s business card. But fear didn’t flood her veins and paralyze like venom the way she’d imagined. Fear fed her. It mixed with excitement, and rushed through her body like an electrical current until her skin buzzed. Her mind swam with possibilities.

She could pull the tablecloth from under Steve. One call could cost him his world. Or her, her freedom. But freedom hadn’t been hers to sacrifice in many years, and risking it was like visiting the high rollers club with a fake credit card and then winning.

Documents still in hand, she calmly told Detective Griffin everything from the first threat, to finding Steve in her house that morning, to his shock departure, and finding the papers that incriminated him. The words came easily without stumble. She’d had years to prepare them and only this one chance to use them. A grin formed as she spoke. One that made her cheeks ache. She hadn’t had a reason to smile since she’d accepted Steve’s ring and agreed to his demands.

By the time the police knocked on her door she was dressed and her hair was almost dry. Her cell phone had rung every couple of minutes until she’d turned it off.

Griffin greeted her and put the envelope in a bag, then arrested her as a suspect in the fraud investigation. His words flew around her ears but never landed. She nodded as if she understood what he was saying.

She looked guilty.

It was her name on the documents. Every fear that Steve had cultivated grew a little larger and a little closer as she sat in the back of the police car on her way to the Major Fraud Squad offices. Hands wrapped her stomach, squeezing and twisting until just breathing made her ill.

What if the documents were so well done she was convicted while Steve walked free? She rested her head on the glass and watched the streets slide past.

No.

She closed her eyes. She trusted Roan. She had to trust the police. She had to trust herself.

But without Roan, without him finding the documents, would she have had the courage to place the call? Or would she have kept silent? The knowledge of the crime chewed through each newfound happiness until her freedom was nothing more than an illusion bought with dirty money. This way she would be truly free, whatever the outcome.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. If only breaking Roan’s curse was so easy.

Chapter 14

Dusk was easing its hands around the city, choking out the sun, when the police let Eliza walk free. She leaned against the station wall for support, comfortable to be held by its shadow while she waited for Amanda to come and collect her. Only one day had passed, yet it felt like she’d relived every day of the past five years. Every date, every argument, every word she’d ever spoken to Steve. Every answer videotaped as a suspect.

When the police were done toasting one side they’d flipped her over and started again, waiting for a crack to appear in her story. Always coming back to the one question she couldn’t answer truthfully:

How did she come to have the documents?

They were in her house.

Must have been Steve?

What else could she say? Later they’d turned off the tapes and interviewed her as a witness with all the details raked through again. The evidence would determine which interview the police used.

For the moment she was free but under investigation. And so was Gunn and Coulter. If Steve had drawn the company into his scandal, the firm would go down in a blaze of corruption. Her father would be suing from the grave.

Amanda parked and Eliza slid into the brilliant blue sedan. Loud rock pumped through the speakers. Only when Brigit wasn’t in the car did Amanda put her speakers to work. The rest of the time the music was little more than background noise.

“What is going on?” Amanda turned the music off. “Why was Steve arrested this morning?”

“Steve was arrested?” She’d relive today again just to hear that news again.

“You didn’t know? It’s been all over the news. I thought that was why you were at the station.” Amanda guided the car through the city clogged with office workers heading home.

Eliza shook her head. Of course the police would bring him in. They’d brought her in. At the moment it was all paperwork. She allowed herself a grim smile. Whatever she’d gone through, he’d gone through. And he had the guilty conscience.

“What for is still a mystery.” Amanda looked at her, one eyebrow raised, her eyes momentarily off the road.

“Fraud.” It didn’t feel like a victory. More like the announcement of war with the battles yet to be fought in the courts, in the news, and in the gossip magazines.

Amanda slapped the steering wheel. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

Eliza rubbed her fingers into her temples. “Please. I don’t want to go through it again.” There would be plenty of time for that. Tonight she just wanted to sleep and dream and be with Roan. Tomorrow would come around soon enough, fists up ready to fight.

“I take it my name wasn’t mentioned in the news.”

“Only as the fiancée,” Amanda confirmed. She picked Eliza’s hand up. “Nice ring.” Her eyes darted from the black diamond to the road. “Never seen anything like it. Gift from a
friend
?”

Eliza snatched her hand back and folded them in her lap, hiding the ring that would never come off. How could she explain she was a goblin’s queen? That she’d fallen in love and was going to lose him to a two-thousand-year-old curse?

“Steve and I split this morning.” Even the timing of the breakup was suspicious. “That didn’t make the news?” she snapped, knowing Steve’s arrest had more impact with her name attached. No doubt the press had smelled blood and was moving in for the kill.

Memories of the media coverage after her mother’s death, Matt’s death, and then her father’s death came back to kick her in the guts. The news vans. The endless parade of reporters looking for the exclusive photos of the grieving family. The rumors that had circulated for months afterward about her being the most unlucky spoiled brat.
Cursed
one headline had run. They didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Amanda squeezed her hand. “I’ll help untangle the wedding preps.”

Eliza rolled her head back against the seat. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. With the wedding only days away she had to cancel. Once she did, another circus would ensue. She was sure Steve had pre-sold exclusive photos to a magazine.

The Shadowlands beckoned as an escape from the publicity that would poke and pry into every crevice of her life. Was it was too late to tell Roan she’d changed her mind and wanted to stay with him?

Amanda pulled onto her street. It was littered with vehicles, the detritus of the media industry chasing the next headline. They had the Coulter name firmly in their sights. Eliza readied herself for the onslaught. No one was taking over her life without a fight. She wouldn’t run and hide.

Amanda slowed. “Are you sure you want to stay here tonight?”

“It’s my house and I won’t be forced out of it by anyone.” Her mother had always handled the press with a smile and a thick pair of gloves. Her theatrical career had ensured the media was never far behind.

Never show fear, they can smell it,
her mother had said.

“If you need anything…” Amanda pulled into the driveway, followed by a swarm of cameras right up to the property line. They wouldn’t dare trespass.

Eliza hugged her. “Keep Brigit away. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

She fixed a smile, dug out her keys, and walked toward the house without a backward glance. Amanda revved the engine and sped backward up the driveway, hand on horn. Eliza winced. While not in her mother’s guide to press relations, it was an excellent distraction.

Eliza locked the front door behind her. The press would have some nice photos of her back for tomorrow’s paper. Unlike her mother she was under no obligation to talk to the press. She turned off the alarm and then reset it in night mode. It beeped, marking the thirty seconds she had to get upstairs. The other panel was in the main bedroom, a room she would never use again. She would have to call the security company in the morning and get a new panel set up in the guest room…and maybe while they were at it they could show her how to set a new code.

The dash was invigorating. She closed the door feeling lighter than she had in years, even though she’d opened Pandora’s Box. The truth was out and could never be put back. Silence swelled to fill the house. Deepened with each breath. One step at a time. One day at a time. One night at a time. She would survive.

Eliza stripped out of clothes that smelled like the police station. Steve’s corruption had infiltrated the fibers and tainted them. Instead, she pulled on bright yellow butterfly pajamas. The only person who had to like them was too exhausted to care. Never again would she wear a satin nightdress. Ever. For anyone.

She flopped onto the guest bed and closed her eyes. She should have showered first. Her limbs sank farther into the mattress. She should get up and eat something. She sighed. In a minute. She’d just lie down for a minute. Her eyes wouldn’t open. Exhaustion claimed her. Sleep pulled her down into its darkest depths.

Her dream suffocated her. She couldn’t pull away from the gentle grip that became clawed hands. Peace became panic. She couldn’t wake up and couldn’t break free. She fell out of the blackness and into gray.

She stood, dust clinging to her pajamas. She swiped at it and frowned. Gray. Around her the endless plains of the Shadowlands stretched.

This has to be a dream.

She pinched her arm with clammy fingers but didn’t wake. She let out a slow breath and surveyed the barren landscape. Only Roan had ever brought her here and taken her home. Without him could she get home?

In the distance, huge rocks speared the sky. Roan’s caves. It couldn’t be that far. Since she was unable to wake up or leave, there was only one thing to do—she would have to walk.

The ground was cold, like walking on gritty ice. She moved quickly just to keep her feet from freezing and sticking. The scenery didn’t change and the caves got no closer. The same twisted, blackened trees glowered from her left. Her breathing tightened and caught in her throat. She wasn’t moving. She was no closer to safety.

Then she ran.

Her bare feet kicked up puffs of dust. She panted, but the spire remained fixed in the distance. A speck in the twilight sky moved and grew larger…coming toward her. Eliza pushed harder. She had to reach the caves. The speck became a crow, circling high on a magical wind. It dropped and rushed toward her. She was in trouble.