Kiss of the Goblin Prince Read Free Page B

real. With the sight he looked at the web of lines that made up his hand as he flexed his fingers. Oh yeah, he was a regular twenty-first century man.
    And he was finally able to put into practice the things he’d studied but had been unable to do as a goblin. He didn’t need to touch the tree. He could see how the fibers of the trunk were snagged and twisted, cutting off the life that pumped through the earth and eddied around its roots. From his training, he knew it was possible to heal the damage; whether he could do it was another question.
    The risk of failing held him motionless. He’d spent too much time studying instead of acting. He’d waited so long to be rid of the curse, and before that he’d been fighting to be free of the bloody Romans. He wanted a life, now.
    He forced himself to act. His fingers twitched against his leg as he imagined smoothing the strands of magic that made up the tree. He forced his will into thought. The tangles unraveled and the tree gave a shiver as the life force of the earth was again able to flow freely. If it had been that easy to break the curse and pull the gray of the Shadowlands out of Roan, they would’ve been free centuries ago.
    He paused to watch the tree and see if the magical changes would hold. The tree sighed as if touched by a breeze, but the changes did more than hold. Buds began to form, and new leaves unfurled as if it was spring and not mid-winter.
    “Too much,” Dai muttered and tried to pull back some of what he’d done, but the tree pushed him away. The throbbing in his temples began as he tried to do too much with the magic he could barely control. Then the pain spread, tightening around his skull like hands seeking to crush the bone. With a gasp he released all hold on the magic and let the tree win the fight for survival. He lacked the heart to kill anymore.
    He blinked to clear the sight, but the headache remained—a warning he was pushing too hard. Everything was easier on paper and in theory. Cautiously he looked around, his heart rate rising as if he expected his tampering to be discovered. But no one noticed that nature had gone wild. Humans didn’t see the magic happening right in front of them anymore. In his time, they would’ve. Next time he would be more careful.
    And much more practice was needed before he tried to remove even some of the small scars that marked his body. Then he could try the big one. He closed his eyes and felt the hot pulsing of the fibrous talons lodged in his chest and locked around his heart. With the sight he’d be able to see them, but not one wise man or mage had been willing to risk removing them out of fear of killing him and having to face the wrath of the Goblin King.
    Paths you have to walk alone , they’d say as they shook their heads.
    That magical grip around his heart would kill him, it was feeding off him, now he no longer had the magic of the Shadowlands and the curse to keep him alive.
    Dai opened his eyes and saw the world as any other person. There were smaller magics he could practice with—ones that didn’t involve life and death. He glanced at the tree but couldn’t contain the smile. The tree was alive.
    His stomach grumbled, but he sat a moment longer enjoying the last of the sunlight and the feeling of being hungry. It had been a long time since he’d wanted food—or needed it. In the Shadowlands they had existed more like goblins than men, fed by the dark magic that corrupted souls. Living there left a stain. He took a final look at the tree as he left. Someone might look twice and think they’d remembered wrong, but no one would suspect the truth.
    ***
     
    Eliza’s grand two-story house was silent when he got back. No doubt Roan and Eliza were still upstairs. He didn’t resent what Roan had; he’d once wanted the same, now he wasn’t sure if he was still capable. He’d lived with violence for so long, as victim and perpetrator, that he didn’t trust himself. And then there was