In the 17th Century, the ancient sprawl of Epping forest is bursting with magic and those who go unseen by human eyes: the elves who rule the summer court, and the goblins who rule the winter court. It is said that if a human catches the eye of one of the fey, they are either doomed or blessed. Contains the stories: Wulfren and the Warlock: When Wulfren wakes from a strange dream of a human captor with long silver hair, and grey eyes, his brothers tell him they rescued him from a warlock, and take Wulfren back home to the goblin king's palace. But Wulfren isn’t so sure the matter is that simple. Why was he missing so long? What are the strange dreams of the beautiful man with the silver hair? Dalliances with humans are severely frowned upon, especially by Wulfren’s father, but Wulfren is willing to risk the scorn of his family to find the human who haunts his dreams. Quiller and the Runaway Prince: After a hard winter, Quiller is sent deep into the forest on a family errand, and is surprised when a human stumbles into his path. Quiller swoops in to pester him, perhaps even eat him, but there is something special about the human: his scent is royal, though he protests that he is not, and soon Quiller finds himself agreeing to help the human with his troubles—in exchange for a kiss.

Goblins

Trailing behind us, I could hear the rest of my brothers snickering. Only Garnet dared to speak up. “I’m sure Wulf didn’t mean to get caught.”


“Pfft!” Quiller snorted in reply, as Selby laughed.


“You’re nothing but trouble, Wulf,” Vaughn said. “No thought for the rest of us, having to pick up yourduties while you were gone.”


Silently, I seethed. Thatwas all he was annoyed about, having to do mychores? Or more likely, having to delegate to the others who would do my chores. As Vaughn had been regularly harping on for years now, doing chores were far below a crown prince’s duties. He didn’t have the guts to say that to Fatherthough. I swallowed hard at the thought. My throat felt tight, constricted. Noneof us had the guts to say much to Father.


Chapter 7