The Monster's Caress - S.E. Smith Page 0,14
a hint of a dare, “Go ahead.”
He gently ran his fingers down the smooth surface of her cheek. Her skin looked like marble, but it was warm to his touch. As she looked deeply into his eyes, she took a tiny, startled breath. He breathed in her exotic scent and felt the rightness of being at her side.
“Deceiving appearances, indeed,” he softly agreed.
She pulled away from him and stepped back until they were several feet apart. “There is a lot you don’t know about the Isle of the Monsters, Asahi Tanaka. If you are going to join me on my quest, you will need to learn,” she coolly stated.
“Then I am your humble student, Empress,” he replied with a slight bow.
A wry smile curved his lips when she emitted a low groan and turned away from him. “Come on—and whatever you do, don’t touch or kill anything unless I tell you to,” she snapped.
Asahi concealed his humor and followed Nali. Her muttered curse warned him that she was aware of his amusement. He adjusted the strap across his chest and decided it might be prudent to stay alert and wait for his first lesson.
The thin strand of green luminescence lit their way, and though the light was faint, it still cast shadows in the underground corridors—shadows for the alien to hide in. Frustration and worry filled Nali.
Remember how resilient humans are! she silently admonished herself. Well, in their own unique way.
She grimaced when she remembered everything that had happened since Carly first appeared. There were numerous times when she had either heard of or witnessed humans surviving dire circumstances in unexpected ways during their fight against the alien invasion. Already, Asahi had proven that he could protect himself—and her.
“You said that you had questions. What are they?” she casually demanded.
“You want to know them—now?” he asked.
“Why not?” she asked with a shrug.
He was silent for a moment before he answered. “Perhaps because we are walking through a cave where, I’m assuming from the way you are scanning the shadows, you expect the alien to jump out at any moment,” he dryly replied.
She chuckled. “True. I hope you have your magic dagger ready in case it does,” she commented.
“It talks too much,” he curtly replied.
She stopped and murmured in a distracted voice, “Yes, magical items tend to do the most unexpected things. They have a mind of their own.”
“What is it?” he inquired in a hushed voice.
“I sense something,” she replied. “Wait here.”
“Empress—Nali—” he protested in a harsh whisper.
She looked over her shoulder. “First lesson: Trust me,” she said.
Their eyes locked in the dim light. She could see his conflicting emotions. A strange, tight sensation built in her chest at his obvious concern.
“I will wait for your signal,” he finally agreed.
She gave a brief nod and turned her head back toward the passage ahead. She stepped forward with determination and continued around the bend. The narrow passage opened into an enormous cavern and revealed a long stone bridge spanning a deep ravine. Far below the bridge, the reddish-yellow glow of molten lava lit the smooth walls of the cliffs on both sides.
The heat from the lava and the rotten-egg aroma of sulfur drifted up from the molten river below. Nali studied the entrance of the goblin stronghold. It was too quiet. The moment she came into view, a horn should have sounded to alert the goblin clan of her presence. She cautiously stepped onto the bridge.
Chapter 5
The sound of water and the low rumble from the lava flow echoed through the vast hollow cavern. The bridge ahead was constructed from rough limestone slabs and thick iron plating. Two deep ruts, cut by centuries of heavy carts filled with ore as they crossed over, lay in parallel lines down the middle of the bridge.
Nali cautiously advanced toward the open gate of the goblin fortress, and carefully studied the massive walls. They had been built to withstand even powerful giants, but clearly they had not kept out this slippery alien. A movement along the wall caught her eye and she stopped.
“You won’t succeed,” she called out.
The alien in a dark liquid form roiled along the wall before it pooled near the entrance of the goblin stronghold. Nali dispassionately watched the creature contort into a humanoid shape. She flexed her fingers and whispered a spell given to her by Gem, Princess of the Elementals. In her palm, a sword appeared, enchanted with the power given to the Elementals by the Goddess herself.
“There is a