Free The Goblin King by Shona Husk Page B

preventing him from closing the gap. She shook her head. “No.”
    “No?” Eliza wasn’t agreeing to be his. He could kiss her, embrace her, but never truly have her. She would always be yearning to be somewhere else.
    Roan realized what he was doing. He’d taken a woman from the Fixed Realm, already claimed her as his to his men—and was willing to fight them for her—the only thing he hadn’t done was have her. Her fingers remained on his skin, but all he felt was the claws of the curse digging deeper as he became more goblin. And he was more than tempted to surrender his soul for a moment in her arms.
    Lying with her would only hasten his fading and he didn’t want to steal a queen who would take his soul when he claimed her. He needed a queen who would ground him and help him fight. Eliza wasn’t that woman. Lust had blinded him to the reality he didn’t want to see. She was temptation—not salvation.
    And always had been. He’d wanted to possess her from the moment she gazed at him with awe in the Summerland. A pretty trap, different but no less damaging than the need for gold that filled his heart. But the knowledge did nothing to dampen the raw lust that threatened to incinerate everything but the metal lodged in his chest.
    She gazed up at him, her eyes darkened with desire. “You haven’t even told me your name. I won’t call you king.”
    He eased away, his teeth clenched, fighting for control. He wanted her and like a greedy goblin he’d do anything, give up everything, to have her. He’d made a mistake in bringing her here. The same mistake he’d made years ago by taking her to the Summerland. He couldn’t help himself around Eliza.
    “Roan,” he said as he called the shadows to take her home. At least she would know his name this time. “If you were mine, you would call me Roan.”
    The world lurched as he landed on his feet. He released Eliza and melted into the night before she could realize what he’d done. The imprint of her body against his still warmed his skin.
    The need to grasp her and take her back to the Shadowlands gouged his metal heart.
    She couldn’t see him like this. Gray and twisted. Goblin.
    Eliza turned. “Roan?” She spun the other way, and then placed her hand on the tree for support. “Roan!”
    He bit his tongue so it wouldn’t betray him and answer. When it came to Eliza, he couldn’t be trusted. He would convince himself she was willing, that she wanted to be there, until it was too late for both of them. He looked up at the stars. So few now shone, dimmed by the city lights. He was doing the right thing. She belonged here in the Fixed Realm with the living.
    He should never have taken her. The urge to possess her rattled in every unsatisfied fiber of his being. Eliza had replaced the lust for gold. Both were fatal to his soul.
    Her breath caught like she was about to cry. One hand covered her heart as if it were breaking.
    Roan hung his head unable to feel her pain, but wishing he could share it. He could remove the ache in her heart if he took her back and replaced it with something worse. The lack of hope. He fisted his gray hand. He wouldn’t do that to the woman who’d once seen him as he’d been. A warrior, not a goblin. A man worth dreaming about. He doubted she’d dream of him now.
    “Are you all right, ma’am?” A man in uniform, police, swung his flashlight over her.
    She sniffed, then nodded and blinked as if noticing her surroundings. He’d brought her home, to where she would be safe. Back to the fiancé. Roan shook his head. Stealing another man’s promised. Eliza brought out the worst in him and raised the goblin to new, dangerous lows.
    “That’s my house.” She pointed to the house surrounded by yellow crime scene tape. A police van was parked out front.
    Time had passed in her absence. Roan wasn’t sure how long, minutes, weeks, years. To him it was all the same. He waited, not feeling the cold of the night settle on his gray