provide. The key to this prison of a life didn’t exist.
Elswood bowed. “Enjoy your day, Sire.”
“Thank you.” Robin turned back to his biscuits. “Wait. What did you say her name is?”
“The girl? I mean, the woman?”
“Yes.”
“Theodora Muddlebranch or something.”
“Very good.” He gave Elswood a quick nod. “You’re dismissed.” The name meant nothing to him.
Elswood left, and Robin’s mind wandered, the woman’s name tumbling through his memories as he hoped to latch on to something. He felt like he should remember the name, but twenty years ago?
He’d practically been a boy then. Just crowned, having won the battle of First Moon against the orcs and, in doing so, earning himself the throne. It hadn’t been planned. But battles were funny things that sometimes took unexpected turns, and he’d known the Threadbare Forest in and out from his time hunting starstones there.
He’d had a hunch where the orcs’ king would be. And he’d been right. Robin had followed that hunch, found the orc king alone, and captured the old man single-handedly. He’d earned a few scars from the fight, but he’d prevailed.
And just like that, the throne of Limbo had become his. A gift from the aged and heirless sitting king.
But the name Muddlebranch eluded him. Like one of those lightning bugs in the woods surrounding his home. Not that he’d want to catch one of those.
He sighed and took a bite of biscuit. It was still warm, the jam sticky-sweet, and he made short work of the rest of it. Why couldn’t he place that name, though?
Mrs. Applestock set the big wicker basket of biscuits in front of him. They were covered with kitchen towels, as always. “I put a few crocks of jam and butter in there, as well, plus some spoons. Lolly’ll be ready to go when you are.”
“Thank you. The miners will be thrilled.” He picked up the second biscuit. “Say, I know Lolly doesn’t like making the trip since the incident with Billy.”
Mrs. Applestock rolled her eyes. “Aye, the perils of young love. But she’ll be fine.”
Robin shook his head. “No point in torturing her. She can have a break. I’ll have Theodora carry the biscuits.”
Chapter Four
Theo stood in Mrs. Baton’s office, listening to her explain the policies and procedures of working at Gallow House, which was how they all referred to the place. But as Mrs. Baton droned on, Theo’s mind wandered.
Mostly to His Lordship. And how he was nothing like what she’d imagined. How was he not a craggy old man? Stooped with age and graying?
He looked very much like a warrior capable of capturing the orc king. Tall and strong and lithe with that feral goblin grace. His braids could use redoing, but otherwise a perfect example of the male of their species.
In fact, he looked more like the king’s son than the king. The king’s hot son. So not like the monarch himself. True, goblins didn’t really show their age until their seventh or eighth decade, but how young was he?
She tried to remember her history, but there hadn’t been much about King Robin. After all, he was a traitor to his kingdom. What more did anyone need to know than that? The libraries and schools contained only officially sanctioned books, so trying to uncover more than what was taught would have meant searching out other sources. She worked far too much to spend her time researching the history of a bygone ruler.
Not even her father liked to talk about King Robin’s time on the throne. She knew because she’d pressed him before she’d left. She’d wanted to know as much as possible about the man she was about to serve for a year.
But her father had mostly just smiled and shaken his head and repeated the things she’d already learned in school.
Things like Robin Gallow was a traitor to the goblin nation. He’d won the throne, but only because he’d been in league with the orcs and had had a plan to turn the citizens of Limbo over to them as slaves. Very soon after marrying him, Queen Vesta had uncovered the plot just in time and banished him, saving her homeland of Livion and the goblin kingdom, Limbo.
Making her the savior of both.
That was the gist of everything contained in the history books. And those books were approved by Queen Vesta’s cultural minister.
So all her life, Theo had imagined King Robin to be this beady-eyed tyrant with a cruel smile and an unnatural need for power.
Not the exceedingly handsome man who’d