SNEAK PEEK - The Boy with the Hidden Name

Chapter Six

Everyone else seems to fall asleep immediately, but I am not tired, since I took that long nap during the journey.

I lie awake, watching the magical fire crackle and trying to keep my breaths deep and even. Because I am awake, I know when the Erlking leaves, creeping stealthily away from the circle of the fire. I sit bolt upright, straining to see past the firelight, to figure out where he went, but he is dressed in black, and he fades into the shadows all around us.

I sit by the firelight while everyone else sleeps, waiting for him to return.

When he does, I don’t even hear his approach until he speaks. “You’re awake,” he says, his voice low, and then he settles onto the ground beside me.

“Where did you go?” I ask, keeping my voice low as well. 

“Reconnaissance. Ear to the ground kind of thing. The Unseelie Court doesn’t stay in one place, you know, but they seem to know we’re coming. They’re staying quite still right now.”

The firelight flickers over his face, and I study his profile. It’s a handsome profile, but it’s creased with worry.

“How will you get us into the Unseelie Court?” I ask him. 

He doesn’t look at me when he answers a moment later. “A long time ago, the goblins were dying out. We were held prisoner by the Seelie Court, trapped in mines where humans had invaded, losing our battles for our homes. Will had started Parsymeon—now called Boston—and I wanted to come here, with as many goblins as I could. A new world, an undiscovered world, a world where we could build our defenses and become entrenched and thrive. But none of us could come to Parsymeon without the permission of the Seelie Court. We were enchanted into place, always mining to bring them jewels, to craft their coronets and forge their bells. No one can do it as well as a goblin, you know. Everyone else lacks the delicacy.”

He pauses for a long time. I hold my breath, waiting for the rest of the story.

“In those days,” he continues, “I was young, and I was daring. I would save my people, I thought. It is how youth is. You are foolish and headstrong and think you can do everything.” He sighs heavily.

“You’re a king,” I point out to him, feeling he is in need of comforting. “You were just doing what you had to do to save your people.”

“Oh,” he replies. “I wasn’t a king then. I was just a boy. I was a boy with a plan, to use my one great talent to save my people.”

“And what was your talent?” I ask, transfixed now.

He looks at me for the first time, and he sends me a smile that is simply breathtaking in its suggestiveness. “Seduction,” he answers silkily.

I swallow thickly. “Oh,” I croak.

He looks back into the fire, breaking the spell. “All goblins are natural seducers, of course, but I was the best seducer in generations. Or I had that reputation in those days. The Seelie Court doesn’t pay attention to the reputations of goblins. Why would they? So I got myself chosen to be the goblin that delivered the latest shipment of treasure, and then it was easy. They are surprisingly susceptible to seduction, Seelies.” He falls silent.

“And then?” I prompt.

“And then I stole the talisman. Broke the enchantment.” 

“What’s a talisman?”

“The physical embodiment of an enchantment. All truly strong enchantments have one.”

I look down at my sweatshirt.