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

They began to walk away, without so much as a second glance at me. I called out, “So I suppose a threesome is out of the question?” Selby threw a glare over his shoulder. I heard Elfren snicker before they disappeared through the trees.


Well, well. No wonder Selby was always so eager to visit the summer court, if he had his eye on Elfren. I wondered if anyone else knew about this. If not, then well-timed blackmail would be in order when we got home. 2


I found a pair of young foxes and bribed them to take a message home to the rotten ring. I told them their message was for Thalia only, and that delivering it would surely see them many favours and meals in return. They growled at having to travel so far, but they couldn’t refuse.


Chapter 33