The Goblin King by Shona Husk

Dai to his study. He went where he always went when he needed reminding of why he was fighting and why he couldn’t give in and fade—why the only choice was death. He went to see Gob.
    Yellow eyes wide and unblinking, Gob sat as he always did, like the lights were on, but no one was home. Roan sat on the floor unsure if Gob saw him or if he was lost in a mindless haze of unsatisfied gold-lust.
    The cell next to Gob was empty. The first time they’d caught two goblin scouts to study, both goblins had been dead within hours. Killing each other through the bars. Even jailed there had to be a pecking order. They’d been so crazy for status they’d been willing to die.
    The next time Roan was more careful. He’d caught only one scout and killed the other ones. It was too dangerous to let them live and report back, but it was no easier killing the goblins now than it had been at first. He only did it in defense. He told himself that keeping Gob here was better than killing him. Some days he wasn’t so sure.
    Gob spent his days alone unless Roan or Dai felt like facing their future.
    Roan pulled the rabbit he’d snatched from the Fixed Realm on his way down out of the bag. The animal was still warm in his hands. Scenting the meat, Gob threw himself at the bars. He lashed out and tried to grasp the out-of-reach flesh. It had been a while since Gob had eaten, yet starvation seemed to have no effect on goblins. It was as if the Shadowlands kept him alive and food was a luxury. A luxury Roan lacked the hunger for. He forced himself to eat and to act human because the alternative salivated in front of him like a mad dog.
    “Him wants meat.” Gob writhed and hissed with his face mashed against the bars.
    Roan sat back and waited. Sometimes the fit would last minutes, other times hours.
    “Who are you?”
    “Meat. Meat. Meat,” Gob whined. His voice changed from rage to wheedle. His fingers curled as he beckoned, pleading for pity.
    Disgust rose rancid and thick in the back of Roan’s throat, choking out hope that he would find something in Gob that would make fading palatable. He knew all goblins had been human once. A priest of a religion that had died unnoted by history had explained that greedy souls found a place where their dreams could be fulfilled. Gold and power. Roan forced himself to gaze into the goblin’s yellow eyes. No humanity remained in Gob.
    No humanity would remain in him. Everything he was would be stripped away like flesh off a carcass until only the bleached bones of need remained. His soul would truly be swapped for gold. Roan touched his torque. The sign of his kingship was locked around his neck until he died. The druid’s error in casting the curse had caused this aberration.
    Soul of a man. Heart of a goblin. What man desires let the gods make true.
    With those words Roan had suffocated. The dreamless dark had been replaced by endless gray and the horror of realizing they weren’t dead, or human, or goblin. He should be thankful the curse was incomplete and he’d had a chance—and a choice.
    Roan threw the rabbit through the bars, revulsion souring his blood. That would never be him. He would die first. Gob snatched the rabbit up, his eyes bright with lust. Roan walked away to the noise of breaking bones and the slurping of blood. That wasn’t living. That was a living death.
    And he wasn’t ready to die without seeing Eliza again. From the Fixed Realm her call pulled on him, drawing him to her the same way it had when she’d been younger and she’d dreamed of him. Back then he’d been able to resist. Now he couldn’t. But he also knew he couldn’t let her look upon the body he wore in her world. That of a goblin.

Chapter 7
     
    Eliza’s breathing was the only noise in her room. No, not her room. A hotel—why wasn’t she at home? Roan skimmed her thoughts as she slept. Eliza’s house was still a crime scene. At the edges of her mind, swathed in fear, lurked her fiancé. She