The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Sixty Five: To Dance Again

The house the boys had taken over might've belonged to a councilman at some point. It was a rather large, opulent house, decorated in the same vibrant colors and patterns of the smaller dwellings, but larger and even more over the top. Cerise and I wandered through several cavernous rooms before finding them in one of the house's sitting rooms.

"Stop fidgeting. You look great." Frit said, reaching up to fix his twin's cravat. As ugly as the human fashions currently were for the women, the male counterpart to the loose, almost shapeless dresses was admittedly much more appealing. Frit wore the fitted trousers and tailcoats well. However, his brothers, especially Floki, with their much more distorted and goblin-like proportions looked strange and out of place in them even with the little goblin touches Eadan had included in her designs.

"Don't lie to the poor bloke. He looks like a circus ape." Odd snickered, lounging atop a beam overhead like a sleepy cat.

Floki tugged uncomfortably at his glittering coat of rising embers. "I look stupid." Floki huffed.

"Don't listen to him. I think you look dashing." I said as I entered the room. I craned my neck to find Odd overhead. "Even you, you Little Monster." Unlike his brothers in their finery, Odd had merely changed in a cleaner set of the hunting garb he wore all of the time. The only real difference was a short leather cape that hung off his shoulder and over the rafter. 

Odd swung one leg off the side as he set a pipe between his teeth. The pipe's make was similar to Dara's, which he still often stole, but rather than having a bird's skull at the end it was some sort of rodent's instead. "Did you really think I was going to be caught dead in one of those frock coats? I'm only going to the party for the food and copious amounts of wine I was promised."

"You're not the only one." I smirked. I heard the door open behind me and I saw Floki's expression shift from uncomfortable to stunned as Cerise entered the room in her faerie fruit inspired gown. Unlike myself, the current human fashion suited her with her softer features and large, more childlike eyes. The color was perfect for her. She was beautiful and judging by the look on Floki's face and color of his cheeks he thought so too.

Floki pulled the tall hat from his golden head and clasped it in his meaty hands at his chest. "Y-you look... I mean you both look pretty." His blush darkened.

"Smooth." Floki giggled, swatting Floki on his back. 

Cerise downcast her eyes, hiding them beneath a fan of long lashes. "Thank you. You all look nice as well. It's been a while since we've gotten to wear anything besides leather." She laughed, glancing up Odd's way. "Though I guess not everyone minded it, huh, Odd?"

"You all look stupid. Where is everyone's goblin dignity?"

"I don't think most goblins know what dignity means." Frit grinned devilishly as he sat his hat just so over his impeccably styled hair. "Besides, some of us make this look good." He spun around on his heels, striking several over the top poses. The light of the fire in the hearth, shone in different colors against the glossy fabric of his coat, which looked suspiciously like the carapace of the enormous black spiders he'd played with as a child. 

I laughed at the little show off. While Frit seemed very different from his father, sometimes Knut came out in him. He may not have taken after him much in looks, but they shared parts of their personality especially Knut's cockier side.

As frit played around, my gaze shifted past him to where Magni and Ari sat off to themselves. Like his brothers, he wore a lush tailed coat of living fabric and black trousers. For his Eadan had chosen a shifting, flickering green that reminded me of the green flames I'd leapt through at my coronation. In clothes that had been tailored to his too-thin form he looked less like a little kid in his father's clothes and more like the adult he was. The movement of the green fire in his coat shimmered in the silver locks of his hair and pale lashes. He was so awfully pretty to me, such a unique blend of human and goblin, Knut and I. It was hard to keep the mother in me from swelling with pride. "Magni," I said, reaching out to him without thinking. "Come here. Let me look at you."