Kiss of the Goblin Prince Read Free Page A

happened by taking something that wasn’t offered.
    “Mom…”
    Amanda pulled back and released his hand as if she’d been stung. The magic between them snapped. The loss was as sharp as a whip, then gone almost before he could recognize the sting.
    Brigit glanced between her mother and him, and he knew he’d crossed a line that had never been drawn before. She’d never seen her mother with a man.
    “Will you dance with me, Mommy?”
    “Yes, of course, sweetie.” She took her daughter’s hand, but as she reached the archway leading to the living room, she glanced over her shoulder at him. Her lips were parted a fraction as if she wanted to say something, but she just smiled and turned away.
    Dai blinked slowly and let his vision shift so he could see the weave of magic. She might be walking away, but those tentative golden threads reached for him. This time he let his own meet hers halfway, even though he knew if she took them back it would hurt.
    But it was his choice to make. After so many years his life was his own to command. No king. No Claudius. No curse.
    He was free, and he was beginning to understand what that meant…even if he wasn’t sure what to do next.

Chapter 2
     
    After Amanda and Brigit had left, Dai had gone for a walk, not wanting to linger in the house, but also needing his own company. He wanted to unravel what was happening between him and Amanda in private, and examine the delicate bond between them without having to answer to Eliza’s raised eyebrows—she hadn’t been so wrapped in the wedding not to notice something was going on.
    The sun was starting to drop away, and the temperature was falling with it, so he began to loop back to Eliza’s street. He strolled past the big houses overlooking the river, as if each owner was a king of his own small tribe. The gardens were carefully trimmed and trained in the Roman way, as if even nature could be bent to human will.
    Instead of going straight back, he delayed a little longer and went to the park where he’d seen a dying tree. Over the past couple of days as he walked he’d tried to look beyond what everyone else saw and into the way everything was constructed. If he used the magical sight for too long, it made his head ache. But he was willing to risk it today.
    He needed to know if he could heal the tree…and then maybe himself.
    Dai took a seat on a bench covered in symbols he was unfamiliar with, then took a breath and let his vision slip. He tried to focus on the threads that wove tightly together to make up the tree, but his mind wasn’t truly on the magic. It kept drifting back to the few moments he’d held Amanda.
    He glanced at his hand, seeing more than just skin lined with faint scars. He saw the magical construct of his body and the golden strands that linked him to Amanda. He wasn’t imagining her interest. This was the proof—not that he’d be able to explain it to anyone.
    If he had his books on magic, healing the tree would’ve been easy. He ignored the doubts that rose about fixing his own scars; healing was a fine art for even in the simplest case, and his damage was far from simple. He rolled his shoulders, but the tightness remained.
    Tree first. If he killed it, it didn’t matter as it was dying anyway. If he healed it…well, he’d be one step closer. He was tired of waiting for Birch Trustees to finish examining his library. He and his brother had stashed much of their hoard there over the centuries. The secret bank was known for handling unusual requests with discretion. For the most part, Birch had been nothing but helpful since he and his brother had broken free and become human. The bank had transferred their gold and silver and gems into regular human bank accounts, then supplied fake IDs all round. They had eased what could’ve been an impossible transition.
    At first glance there was nothing to distinguish him from any other man in the Fixed Realm…except he’d outlived Rome and knew magic was