The dishes rattled a little.
“That part is easy enough to guess,” I said. “But…how to break the curse? That’s where it gets hard. It must have something to do with the man in the coffin, but I feel as if he is there to trick me, and if I’m not supposed to go to him, then what action do I take? How much time do I have?”
The butter started hopping up and down again, even more urgently than before. In fact, it managed to plant itself right in the middle of the plate of peas.
“Butter? What are you trying to tell me? …the rose? Is that it?”
The knife and fork formed the ticking clock again.
“The rose,” I repeated. “That was the first test…wasn’t it? I picked a rose from the garden when I wasn’t supposed to. And if that started the clock ticking, then I can only stay until the rose has wilted. Is that it?”
The butter hopped again. I felt like it was nodding.
I rubbed my head. “That would explain why none of the girls stay very long.”
I enjoyed the prospect of solving a puzzle, although I did wonder what it meant for me. After all, what did it take to crack a curse? Perhaps I had to sacrifice myself or something terrible, and that was why no one ever helped the goblin king. Equally possible was that most human girls didn’t have much sympathy for a goblin, especially one who made sure to get his money’s worth for that coin.
“I understand that you probably can’t help me as much as you like,” I told my animated little table spread. “You must be so frustrated. I’ll do my best to figure it all out.”
When the goblin king came to me that night, I was in bed with the lantern at my side, writing down everything I knew about the situation. He gave me a stern look. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to lift your curse,” I said. “It was the rose, wasn’t it? The first test.”
I could tell I had surprised him. For a brief moment, his gruffness lifted and I saw the faintest light of hope in his eyes. But then he walked over to me and grabbed the papers from me, throwing them aside. “Promise me you will stop this nonsense,” he said with a snarl, all his fangs bared, leaning close to my face.
“But—why? Don’t you want someone to set you free? What about your subjects?”
“You are only here for one purpose.” He grabbed me and flipped me over on the bed, pulling my legs down to the end and draping me over the footboard, the way he wanted me to be on the first night. “I never should have let you look at me,” he said.
He threw up my nightdress and thrust his cock straight into me, holding my hips so I didn’t dare think of moving. Last night, he was somewhat gentle. Tonight, he drove me so hard that I was rendered completely speechless, save a little grunting moan that came out of me with every thrust.
By the time he emptied into me and threw my legs back onto the bed, I was furious.
“Why?” I snapped. “How dare you! I’m trying to help you. I want to help you. I don’t think you’re such a bad man deep down, but you are trying your damnedest to convince me otherwise, aren’t you? To push me away?”
“Do you think you’re the first girl to try to save me?”
“No, but…” I hesitated. He was probably right. Did I think I was more clever than anyone else? Perhaps I did. “Can’t you let me try? Can’t we…can’t we at least enjoy the time we have, even if I fail?”
“It’s easy to give yourself permission to fail. You’ll return home to your family. You might be poor, but at least you have them at all. But I will still be here, waiting for the next girl to try her luck with me, and if I’m especially unlucky, she will be a girl like you. A curious girl, a clever girl, a brave girl…but never enough.”
“You,” I said, my voice quavering a little, “are a coward. Maybe the curse is hard to break, but you’ve given up. What about your subjects? Are they condemned to be forks and butter dishes?”
“My subjects…have communicated their presence you?”
Clearly, this didn’t happen often. “They did…”
“Why would they trust you?”
I hesitated. “I was talking to myself. Talking about—the test and—how I’d rather be a goblin maiden than go back to Fairhaven.”
He laughed. Well, I guess it was a laugh—it was so quick, and so dry, that it was gone almost before I knew it had happened. He sat on the bed beside me, twisting to face me, throwing one leg onto the covers. “Why would a human girl wish to be a goblin?”
“I—I don’t know if I really do,” I said hastily, because you did have to be careful with curses. “But at least, in the painting, the goblin maidens are having so much fun. And being a goblin has always sounded like fun. You assume I have a family to go back to, and strictly speaking, I do. But they don’t understand me. I’m not even sure they like me. And as soon as I return, they’ll be pressuring me to use my beauty to charm a husband.”
He leaned down on one elbow, close to me now in a more relaxed way than he had been before. While I was wearing just a thin nightdress, he was still fully dressed down to his boots and cloak. His hair, black and wild and a little coarse, much like the goblin maidens except a little shorter, fell across his brow and barely touched his shoulders.
“It was a marvelous place, once,” he said.
“What was it like?”
“We had dances on every full moon. Bonfires, and song… Even on an ordinary day, these halls were full of people and good spirits, stories and jokes around the dinner table. A lot of people don’t realize what a good sense of humor goblins have.”
“What? How could they not? You are such a wit,” I said sarcastically.
“I have learned my lessons,” he said. “Perhaps a ruler should be serious. But it’s too late. As you say, I rule over butter dishes and forks. They are trapped, and I can either blame myself, or the witch who cursed me. The latter breeds bitterness, and the former, despair. Perhaps it is as you say. I’ve given up. But I have no control over who can lift the curse. And if anyone grew to care for me enough to lift it, I would fear for her life.”
I looked down. This was the thing I feared, that lifting the curse would put me in peril. Was I brave enough for that? My bravery had never been tested until I came here.
He drew back a little. My silence revealed my fear.
“Of course I’m afraid,” I said, before he could accuse me of being another girl like all the rest. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying. Surely I can be scared and brave at the same time.”
“You do make it hard for me to not put one small shard of faith in you.” He pulled away. “I should let you sleep for a little while.”
“Wait, I…” I already missed his warmth. “What about the healing stone?”
“You shouldn’t need it after the first night.”
“I just…”
He brushed his hair back, sort of tucking it behind his horns, and scratched the back of his head as he regarded me. “Did you like it the other night when I touched you?” he asked, his voice deliciously low.
“Yes…I must admit that I did.”