Kiss of the Goblin Prince Read Online Free PDF Page B

back in and tore apart his sleep. There were too many horrors waiting to wake him, and all were of his own creation. A litany of mistakes and misdeeds. He closed his eyes and hoped he’d be proven wrong and that sleep would come, and it would be peaceful. He counted the beats of his heart. Nothing. He was still awake.
    Another night wasted.
    Dai tossed back the covers and got off the air mattress. Borrowed furniture, borrowed room, borrowed life. He raked his fingers through his hair. Staying here in the hope that Amanda would come around and see Eliza was foolish. One dance and a tiny bit of magic and she was in every thought, if not dream. He doubted she was having a similar problem.
    He picked up the newspaper he’d bought the day before while out walking and flicked to the real estate section—the bit he’d skipped reading while trying to learn more about the world. He wasn’t sure what kind of house he was looking for, only that he needed something. He couldn’t roam Eliza’s house all night. But if he had his own place, there would be no one to disturb.
    He sat in the leather chair behind the large desk and spread out the paper. It almost felt like he was researching ways to break the curse again. It wasn’t homesickness that caught him unaware, as the Shadowlands had never been home, but he missed his library and his desk with the outdated map of the world inlaid on its surface. Maybe he should’ve stored that with Birch too—he doubted the goblins would value the antique.
    Hindsight was always perfect, but in the moment he did what he thought best, not expecting to ever have need for his books again. He’d never planned on being part of the world of men again. He’d expected to die or fade to goblin like his cousin Meryn.
    Meryn still linked Dai to the Shadowlands. Unlike his tentative, golden connection with Amanda, blood ties couldn’t be broken. He was bound to Meryn by a sickly, gray thread, a constant reminder of everything his cousin lost. A reminder of what Dai could have easily become. Goblin. A heartless, soulless beast blind to anything but gold and battle. Maybe Meryn didn’t even know what he was missing. No goblin he’d ever caught or killed seemed to be aware of anything being amiss. They were perfect in their own hideous ways. Like a dog after a bone, they lacked a mind to reason with. And yet they survived in the Shadowlands, a place more desolate than any desert or ice-coated land.
    Dai checked his hands again. He was still getting used to seeing himself as human in the Fixed Realm. He’d been goblin on the outside and human on the inside since being cursed. Although toward the end he was dangerously close to losing his soul and becoming totally goblin. He was sure the shock of being human would pass…he hoped the nightmares would as well. He vowed to catch up on the missed sleep during the day when his nightmares had less power.
    He glanced at the clock. Hours until daylight. Perhaps a beer would help him nod off, and he’d manage another hour or two of sleep.
    With a small effort of will and a slight tweak of the threads, a bottle of beer floated into his palm. Creating a beer out of nothing would’ve been true skill but would require a source of energy—there was a reason real magic users tended to be thin. Magic burned energy. He blinked and cleared the magical sight.
    The icy bottle chilled his palm. He shouldn’t be using magic for such petty purposes; he shouldn’t be playing with it at all. He had to fit in with modern society. His fingers made patterns in the dew on the glass. But he couldn’t give up magic any more than he could quit breathing. It was part of him…and for the first time in his life he had real power.
    Not a slave.
    Not a cursed man.
    He didn’t know what he was.
    Dai twisted the top off the beer and flicked it at the bin under the oversized desk. The lid rattled around the bottom before stilling. He propped his bare feet up on the edge of the table.