The Goblin's Throne

Chapter Fifty Eight: Two Rings

"That one is Floki's, the other closest to it is Frit's and that one is Odd's." I pointed from one new star to the other, naming each one to Knut as we looked up at them together from Mab's old bed. My finger moved towards where the fourth star twinkled brightly. "The smallest one there is Magni's." I said softly, my smile faltering a little.

"And who does that one represent?" He asked, pointing to the last star in our constellation, that shone with a red light. The one I'd made for my fifth nameless, faceless future child. The fifth member of my brood. 

I turned my head towards him and renewed my grin, the happiness, and love he conjured in me without any effort, pushing back down my endless grief. I turned onto my side and propped my head up on my arm so I could see him better in all his grandeur. "I don't know yet. I suppose we'll have to work on finding out...in a few years." 

"No rush," Knut laughed.

I brushed my fingers through his hair, moving sweaty locks back behind his ears to lay against his pillow. "You're so pretty," I said, meaning it. 

"I think this year apart has made you sentimental, Mouse, and possibly blind or mad, or both." 

"Don't tease. I mean it." I swatted his chest playfully to make him hush. "You have pretty parts even if the whole of you is grotesque. You have surprisingly long eyelashes, for instance, and your hair looks silver sometimes when the light hits it just right."

"I think you like my hair almost as much as I like yours."

"I very much doubt that," I smirked devilishly. "I think I might cut it again. I liked it not being in my way." 

He frowned at me. "Touch it and I'll divorce you." 

"Why do you like it so much?" I asked. "Is it part of your human fetish?" 

"It's part of my you fetish." 

"I don't understand what you see in me, Knut. The other she-goblins are some of the most horrifying goblins there are. Fangs and talon-like claws, jaws that can snap through bone like they're nothing but dry twigs. I haven't seen a single one that looks even remotely like me, not even the ones you've made."

"Yes, well, your appearance isn't exactly the pinnacle of what goblins consider beautiful. Your lack of fangs and claws is less than pleasing."

"Are you saying I'm ugly?"

"You are hideously beautiful. Your rotten insides make up for it." He assured me. "You're so wonderfully arrogant about your beauty, always have been. You could be surrounded by the most beautiful of faerie women and still believe that you were their superior. Even when you were young and high born ladies glowered down their noses at you as you passed them in the streets, you would hold your head up high and think to yourself, "at least I have much better hair," even when it was dark with dirt and grime. It's adorable really."

"So it is what's on the inside that counts? Am I that hideous?"

"You have pretty parts even if the whole of you is grotesque." He snickered and gave a fake yelp when I slapped his chest a second time. Giggling, he rolled me over onto my back, switching places with me. "I've grown to love them over the course of our marriage." He kissed me once. "Your softness." He kissed me twice. "Your warmth." He kissed me thrice. "And of course that golden hair. Can't forget that." I looped my arms around his neck and drew him down for more kisses. I quickly lost count.

We spent a long while just kissing lazily and I was content to keep going until we both fell asleep. "Mouse, if I had not stolen your heart, what sort of man would you have wanted for a husband?" He interrupted us, pulling annoyingly away a little bit.