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Shona Husk | What’s with the wings?

May 11, 2012

Shona HuskKISS OF THE GOBLIN PRINCEI’ve been asked a few times why a Goblin prince would have wings (of course if you read the book you’ll find out:-). To clarify:

No, Dai is not an angel, far from it. He’s been a Celtic prince, a Roman slave, a mage, a monk, a scholar, a soldier—never an angel or any other winged creature.

Okay, but why does he have wings on the cover?

Well, when writing the story they kind of appeared, and once they were there they couldn’t be shaken off and they developed a life of their own—by feeding off Dai and his hatred of Rome.

So what are the wings?

Excellent question! While Dai has plenty of magical tattoos and marking, the wings are more than ink or magic, they are worse, much, much worse. The wings are a ghostly manifestation of his hate and his refusal to forgive and move on as it feels wrong. He wanted vengeance and was denied.

It takes an innocent child to point out the danger he is in and once he sees the wings he understands the full extent of the damage he’s holding onto, of course getting free is a whole other battle.

~~~

Brigit took her eyes off the screen where the girls were getting ready for the ball. “Are you an angel?” She stared at him, challenging one of the heavenly order to lie.

“No.” Those who met angels didn’t tend to live long. He’d wanted to break the curse, but not that badly. Not even Roan had wanted to try that cure.

She scrunched up her face as if trying to understand. “Then why do you have wings?”

Brigit lifted her hand and pointed to a spot just over his shoulder, the place where her eyes were drawn every time she looked at him.

Dai’s blood became iced mud in his arteries. He turned his head slowly. At first he saw nothing. He blinked and saw nothing with his magical sight either. But he knew children saw some of the other planes that made up existence—the ones where ghosts and shades existed. He hoped he had no extra shadow.

He relaxed as his heart pounded hard against his ribs, then stretched and glanced away. From the corner of his eye he saw the silhouette of wings. Eagle wings. He glanced at his chest where he knew the thick ropy talons wrapped around his bones. They were there, and they were attached to the ghostly wings like they were feeding them, feeding off him. Beads of frozen sweat rolled down his back. He didn’t need any magical training to know the wings weren’t a good sign. He had the eagle on his back. Rome was still riding him and wouldn’t let him go.

Brigit waited for an explanation. He couldn’t tell her it was his very own angel of death waiting to rip out his heart.

KISS OF THE GOBLIN PRINCE BY SHONA HUSK – IN STORES MAY 2012

The Man of Her Dreams…

He is like a prince in a fairy tale: tall, outrageously handsome, and way too dark for her own good. Amanda has been hurt before, though. And with her daughter’s illness, the last thing she needs right now is a man. But the power of Dai King is hard to resist. And when he threads his hands through her hair and pulls her in for a kiss, there is no denying it feels achingly right.

In a Land of Nightmares…

After being trapped in the Shadowlands for centuries with the goblin horde a constant threat, Dai revels in his newfound freedom back in the human realm. But even with the centuries of magic he’s accumulated, he still doesn’t know how to heal Amanda’s daughter—and it breaks his heart. Yet for the woman he loves, he’d risk anything…including a return to the Shadowlands.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A civil designer by day and an author by night, SHONA HUSK lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Drawing on history, myth and imagination, she writes about heroes who are armed and dangerous but have a heart of gold—sometimes literally. You can find out more information about Shona and her edgy romances at http://www.shonahusk.com/ or follow her on @ShonaHusk.

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