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

“Cashel, you have noidea how wrong you are.”


“Then…” He swallowed, eyes searching mine. “Why won’t you kiss me?”


My mouth opened, but for once I was speechless. My body responded for me; holding back a growl, I tightened my grip and pushed Cashel back, away from the village square and into the dark line of trees. His breathing picked up, and he gasped as his back hit the hard trunk of a tree. Holding him in place, I reached up to gently tear his mask away, and pressed my lips to his. His face was warm from the mask, his skin and the blood beneath it smelt so divine my head swam.


Tilting his head, Cashel opened his mouth and kissed me back. I fumbled with my own mask to rip it off, letting it fall to the ground; the better to grab this delicious man and devour him. He moaned into my mouth, clinging to my clothes as we kissed harder. I sucked on his tongue, delighting in his flavour. If I didn’t stop soon, however, our first bed would be up against this tree.


Chapter 56