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

His blue eyes snapped up. “Don’tcall me that. I live as a common man.”


“Common?” I threw my head back, crowing with laughter. “My dear prince, I don’t think you’re fooling anybody.”


Some of the anger faded from his face. “No, I suppose not. But I beg you, don’t call me by those words. If anyone should find out, I’ll be killed. They’ll chop off my head, like they’re threatening to do to the king.”


“The army,” he explained further. “The common man’s army.”


“Common man.” The words finally made sense to me. “You mean, therabble?”


“Rabble? Well, yes, one could call them a rabble. They don’t want the king to rule. It’s all because Parliament wants control, of course. We’ve already suffered through onewar, now they want to start another.”


Chapter 36