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

Except when I tried to leave his rooms, I found the door was shut. Hah. Did Cashel think a locked door would stop me? Even in daylight I had magic enough to get by this obstacle. Taking a breath, I dived under the door, squeezing myself as small as I could. It required a certain amount of skill, almost to the point of disappearing into so many dust motes, and reappearing on the other side, fully formed. I lost a few feathers in the process, but otherwise it was a perfect jump.


Shaking myself out, I spread my wings and flew, quiet as a shadow. I didn’t know where I was in the castle; perhaps central, on a high level. I suspected Cashel had either gone back to the duke and lady, or would be seeing to some business or other on the lower levels.


Chapter 43