Out in the corridor, Tadwick looked uneasy. Smutisha got down on one knee and lifted his chin with her hand so that he was looking at her.

  Smutisha: “Don’t let him get to you, darling. Aggression and conflict are all he knows.”

  Tadwick sniffed.

  Tadwick: “Do you really think he can change?”

  Smutisha: “He already has… he may shout on about how “goblins take” but he is already negotiating and making deals. He sat nicely and answered your questions. If you had walked up to his nest, he would never have done that. He may be an angry little thing, but he knows that the only way to get what he wants now is to make deals. Even that concession is a big step in the right direction. Whether we will ever be able to trust him outside of a cell however… that remains to be seen.”

  Dwynfel: “What deal did you make with him exactly?”

  Smutisha kissed Tadwick on the forehead and stood up.

  Smutisha: “Well, darling. He answers Tadwick’s questions, he agrees to regular washing and he stops tearing up all of the clothes that we place in his cell…”

  Dwynfel: “What happened to his loin cloth?”

  Smutisha: “It was covered in… unsavoury stains. So, I had it removed. We have attempted to provide him with alternative clothing, but he tears them up in protest. I suspect he attempts to shock us with nudity.”

  Well… that explains the torn-up cloth all around his cell. She patted Tadwick on the back.

  Smutisha: “Good thing that you aren’t fazed by such things, darling. Quite the nudist yourself, by all accounts. Anyway, he does all of that and I will allow him to feel the touch of a woman again.”

  Dwynfel: “You can’t be serious.”

  Smutisha: “Deadly serious, darling. Just think about it for a second. What is a Grim’s top priority?”

  Dwynfel: “Survival of the nest.”

  Smutisha: “He is the only remaining adult from his nest. So, his survival is his priority. But he knows that he is safe in his cell. He knows we aren’t going to harm him and he is going to be fed. So, what is his next priority?”

  It worries me how much thought she has put into this. I know that creating a civilised Grim has been her goal for a while… but I still find all this very weird.

  Dwynfel: “Escape and propagation.”

  Smutisha: “You would think… but escape is not a good idea for him. Outside of that cell is way more dangerous for him than inside and he knows it. Now of course, I could deprive him of pleasant food and give him only gruel. But compared to what he was eating in the nest, even gruel is a luxury to him. I could go in there and threaten him with violence. Tell him that I will have done to him what he did to all those women. But you should never make a threat that you aren’t willing to follow through with. And such things would rather go against the lesson of cooperation that I am trying to teach him. Wouldn’t it, darling? Which leaves sexual favours as the only real bargaining tool left.”

  I appreciate the logical steps that she has made during her argument. But I feel like that would have been her solution regardless of the situation. She hasn’t exactly been discreet about her thing for goblins.

  Dwynfel: “My lady… you cannot allow him near women… what if he hurts them?”

  Smutisha: “He will never leave his cell, darling. Nor will the women enter it.”

  Dwynfel: “But what about the children? You know how fertile the Grim are. You can’t raise an infinite number of children yourself.”

  Smutisha: “I won’t be raising anymore children, darling. Two is enough for me. I have a group of women who are willing to parent some goblin children in exchange for a monthly stipend. This will allow us to raise a group of civilised Grim like yourself and he gets to spread his seed… as is his soul priority at the moment. Everybody wins.”

  Dwynfel: “And you intend to start this later today?”

  Smutisha: “Gods no. He needs to prove he can be trusted, darling. We will start with low level hand stuff through the hole in the wall. He can’t harm anybody if the only thing he can reach them with is his manhood. If he can engage in that without attempting anything vile, then, in time, things can escalate. He will learn to be civil if he wishes for things to progress.”

  Fucking hell. I should have seen this coming when she dragged a living adult Grim back with her. I mean… the first night that I met her she proposed that we create a race of civilised Grim… I shouldn’t be surprised that she still plans to do the same.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Dwynfel: “And do you intend to partake in these activities yourself?”

  Smutisha: “To an extent, yes. In his current state, I do not trust him not to put the other women off. But I can assure you… I shall not be touching anything until it is thoroughly cleaned. Now, darling… shall we head off to see the little ones?”

  She swanned off down the corridor, but Tadwick didn’t follow. He was looking down at the floor again… there is a sadness about him. I thought that meeting Darling would make him disgusted, scared, maybe even angry… but I wasn’t expecting him to get so… down.

  Dwynfel: “Tadwick… you, okay?”

  Tadwick: “Can I talk to you, Dad? Just us?”

  Dwynfel: “Of course you can.”

  I looked up towards Smutisha, but she had heard and was already opening a door up the corridor.

  Smutisha: “I shall wait through here. Take your time darlings.”

  She disappeared through the door… her elegant white dress flowing behind her. The last wisp of lace passed the doorframe and the door was closed. Tadwick was still looking at the ground. He seems too nervous to look at me.

  Dwynfel: “What is it, Tadwick?”

  Tadwick: “How… how long were you in your nest?”

  Dwynfel: “I was in there for two years before my dad found me.”

  Tadwick: “And… did you… did you do that stuff? That stuff that he said?”

  Gods… do I tell him? I should be honest with him. But will he be afraid of me if I do? He has always looked up to me… if I tell him this… will he look at me differently? Should I sugarcoat it? No… no. He’s my son… I owe him honesty.

  I took a deep breath before speaking as gently as possible.

  Dwynfel: “Some of it… I was too young to do… umm… that… with the women. But… but I watched. I ate human flesh… sometimes. The older goblins would bring a badly injured man back from a raid… or sometimes a child. They would tie them up so that we could practise killing. The killing lessons were the only time we received any form of encouragement from the older goblins. We soon… started to relish those moments.”

  Tadwick: “How many did you kill?”

  Dwynfel: “Seven. I killed seven humans before I was even two. One man… two girls and four boys… the girls were just babies.”

  Shit… shit… my eyes are welling up. I’ve never told anybody that before. Even when I told Kiyui about the nest, I never mentioned that… fuck… I’m being too honest… I’m opening doors that I should have kept closed. He’s never going to want to be near me again… gods… I don’t want to be near me again… I think I’m going to be sick… all I can see is those babies… oh gods… make it stop… make it stop.

  I fell to my knees and started to wretch… I covered my mouth and the tears that had been building up in my eyes started to flow. I felt Tadwick’s body press against me… I felt him wrap his arms around me.

  Tadwick: “Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry, Dad.”

  What the fuck? What is he sorry for? I’ve murdered babies and he’s sorry? I don’t understand… why is he still here? He knows what I’ve done… he knows and he’s trying to comfort me? Gods… I’m going to be sick.

  Tadwick: “I’m sorry that stuff happened.”

  I swallowed the sick that had welled up in my mouth and desperately tried to compose myself.

  Dwynfel: “I thought if you knew what I had done you would be afraid of me. Why are you comforting me?”

  Tadwick: “You’re my dad.”

  Dwynfel: “I’ve done horrible things. I’m one of the same creatures that murdered everyone at your orphanage… goblins are responsible for your life falling apart. How can you even look at me.”

  Tadwick: “You’re my dad.”

  Dwynfel: “Tadwick…”

  Tadwick: “You saved me. You made the scaredness go away. Those things, they aren’t you, they aren’t my dad.”

  Dwynfel: “My parents… they worked hard… they worked so hard to give me a good life… to help me put that past behind me. But those things… those things I did… they will always be part of me.”

  Tadwick: “But… but they aren’t you. They aren’t my dad. My dad reads to me, he cuddles me when I have nightmares, he baths me, he dresses me… he taught me how to milk a cow… how to ride a horse… when I’m in trouble, he finds me… helps me… he made the scaredness go away… he saved me.”

  I sat back on the ground. His arms were still wrapped around me. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back.

  Tadwick: “Those things, they were a long time ago. They aren’t my dad. My dad’s good. He’s good. Nothing you can say will change that!”

  Dwynfel: “You’re right, Tadwick.”

  I gently kissed his forehead and started to rub his back.

  Dwynfel: “I have changed. I’m not the same person that my dad removed from that nest all those years ago. I have changed… I have changed so much. And so many people have helped me to change along the way. And you are one of them Tadwick. Having you… it has changed my life… it has changed me so much. I love you… and… and thank you… thank you for everything.”