Forbidden (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (28 page)

“I am not choosing anyone,” Aein declared.

Lost in their moment, Snow White felt a trickling on her thighs. She looked down, and to her horror, a dark blood stain began to spread around the crotch of her pants.

“What’s happening?” Nevue cried.

Aein rushed to Snow White’s side as her knees buckled. “I am here for you,” he murmured as he propped her shoulders and swung her up in his strong arms.

A wave of dizziness struck Snow White. Green zigzags danced before her eyes. Otherworlder or not, she knew Aein loved her as deeply as she loved him, probably more so. The final walls of her own prejudice crumbled, buffeted by the warmth of his body.

Flustered, Nevue regained her composure while Ravanne hastily smoothened down her clothes. Together, they carried Snow White to the lake.

“Am I going to lose the child?” Snow White said weakly.

Aein shook his head, uncertain.

Suddenly, every doubt she ever had about this babe leached away as Aein immersed her in the waters. She pictured the poor child – possibly a hybrid of its father and mother – crying out restlessly for her as she turned her back on it. A deep burst of shame swept through her. The water was cold but alive, as though charged with bubbles that weren’t discernable to the naked eye. How could she ever have contemplated murdering her own flesh and blood?

She clung to Aein.

“I am not going to let you go.” His voice vibrated comfortingly in his chest.

“Is there anything we can do for her?” Ravanne asked Aein.

How odd, Snow White thought. The tribal elder, who must have seen more than a hundred births, asking the male Otherworlder about womanly matters.

“I do not know,” Aein said soberly. “I can only hope that the blood in her will heal her faster than normal humans.”

They were interrupted by the flapping of massive wings. Her vision of the sky partially blocked by Aein’s head, Snow White scrambled out of his arms in sudden terror. Water splashed into her eyes and mouth, causing her to swallow it the wrong way. The ravens were back, she wildly thought, until she blinked to see a strange bird angling in from the other side of the lake. When it came closer, Snow White saw that it was not a bird at all but a flying contraption made from wood. It resembled a ship but for its cream-colored cloth wings that beat up and down.

“Nothing can shock me anymore,” Ravanne muttered, “so color me dead.”

Snow White was inclined to agree.

As the contraption descended, she noted in amazement that it was rather small, the size of a covered barge. It landed gently on the shore a short distance away from them, and skidded a few feet across the soft grass.

“Are you all right?” Nevue asked Snow White. She unwrapped her own head scarf. It unraveled into long yellow and black garment.

“I’ll live,” Snow White said. The trickling of blood had indeed stopped, though she couldn’t be sure because she was still in the water.

Nevue handed her the scarf. “Wrap this around your waist.”

Snow White hastily did as she was told.

Aein cautioned, “Wait here.”

He waded out of the water as a figure alighted from the vessel. Snow White and the others watched from the lake, the wind chilling her through her wet clothes. Aein tentatively approached the figure. Words were exchanged, carried over in spurts.

“Where are your spears?” Snow White said in a low voice.

“We left them back in the Pass,” Ravanne said.

“When we were trying to kill each other,” Nevue added.

Snow White strained her eyes. The newcomer was an old man with a bald pate fringed by long white hair. He wore a white cotton garb in two pieces that draped around his body like a dress. His arms were bare and as brown as a walnut. Surely such a benign-looking creature couldn’t harm Aein?

She treaded carefully out of the water, followed by the others. She clutched at her sodden shirt, unconsciously wringing the water out in drops. Her body shivered in the wind. When she came closer, she saw that the old man’s arms were covered in sores. His hands were missing fingers and he wore the disfiguring lumps of leprosy.

“Aein!” she called. “Be careful.”

The old man raised his rheumy eyes to regard Snow White. He was watchful in the way of a stranger in a strange land, and Snow White was suddenly struck with the knowledge that she –
they
– were being tested.

“Snow White,” Aein said, his face shining. “This is my brother, Awl.”

Yes, she suspected as much. It also meant the endgame was here.

The brown old man cackled and said something in a foreign tongue, all high-pitched chittering and vowels. Aein replied in kind. The brothers then embraced each other with genuine affection. Snow White’s skin prickled despite herself. Prejudices ran deep, she knew. How would her fellow men ever be able to accept Aein and his kind when they couldn’t even accept their own?

Aein turned to her and the Bambenga. Tears sparkled in his eyes, something that shocked Snow White, who had never seen Aein cry.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I know you do not understand what is going on, but I have not seen my brother in many moons. He was telling me his story. I will try to translate as he does not speak your tongue. He was tutored in the Eastern languages, as was fitting for his mission.”

Snow White locked eyes with Awl. An understanding passed between them.
We both love Aein. He loves us both.

We don’t have to be rivals.

“He arrived in the eastern part of your world,” Aein continued, “wearing the disease you call leprosy.”

“Why did he do that?” Snow White said.

“Awl is my oldest brother. In Spora, he is considered the most beautiful of all the princes. So he chose a body the reverse of what he is – to see how your people would react to him. In his state, he walked the streets of the eastern city. Mothers turned away from him in disgust. Children laughed and threw stones.”

Awl’s gaze flitted from Snow White to Nevue and Ravanne. With her heightened senses, Snow White felt no malice from Awl, merely a scientific curiosity.

“He was driven to a leper colony and accepted as one of them. He learned to find beauty within them. Many who were whole aided them, bringing baskets of bread and fruit left over from the market each day, and tended to their wounds with poultices.”

“Does your brother have a verdict?” Snow White asked, afraid to hear the answer.

“Even though there is cruelty and barbarism in your world, there is also kindness and compassion in equal measure. For every evil deed, there is a good one to counter it. My brother intends to vote against colonization.”

Snow White released the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“So you didn’t have to convince him?” she asked Aein.

Aein smiled. “Awl was always the best among us. He too was approached by Thulrika to vote otherwise. But Awl has very much been his own person.”

The sound of galloping hooves made them all turn to the Pass. A red-faced Kalle tumbled into the clearing astride his horse, rushing as though all the monsters in the world were behind him. He brandished his sword above his head.

“Demon!” he screamed.

His thundering, wild-eyed horse made a course for Aein.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Get out of the way!” Snow White flew to push Aein and Awl from the rampaging warhorse’s path.

She stumbled. The clop-clop-clop of hooves filled her ears. She turned to see the horse with its wild ringed eyes bearing down on her. The air was slick with the smell of horse sweat and deep, pungent earth. Her terror surfaced again, along with the bell-like clanging of Kalle’s words:
I will not cut out her heart! For the last time, father, she is not a demon!

Had he changed his mind?

Two whirlwinds of color bolted towards the horse. Nevue and Ravanne, protective as always, were trying to veer the animal off course. Kalle’s sword arm was raised, poised above the Bambengas’ heads. He doesn’t know who they are, Snow White thought frantically. He probably thinks they are demon spawn.

“Don't hurt them,” she cried. “They’re my friends!”

From out of seemingly nowhere, a flash of steel somersaulted in the air. It struck Kalle’s sword with a sharp clink. Kalle gave a cry and the sword fell onto the ground. Snow White shrieked and threw up her arms as the horse vaulted over her. Clods of earth spattered onto her face and clothes.

From the mouth of the Pass, Ghost came running up with Gustav beside her, looking no worse for the wear. Ghost’s hand clasped another dagger. She had clearly thrown the first one. Kalle’s horse staggered to a halt as he reined it in. His sword arm was now bare. His face was contorted with rage.

“You dare commit treason against your King?” he roared.

“I’m merely preventing you from making a rash mistake, Your Majesty,” Ghost called. “It was barely a nick.”

Kalle whirled on Snow White. “You,” he gasped, pointing at Aein, “lay with that . . . that thing? It is a demon, an abomination from the fire pits of hell!”

Aein rushed to her side. He helped her up. “Are you all right?” His gaze dipped down to her still flat belly.

“Let me handle this,” Snow White said. She spat out bits of soil and turned to Kalle. The King dismounted and swiftly strode towards her. When she saw the fury on his face, her courage melted, but she straightened her back.

“He is not a demon,” Snow White heard her voice ring out without any trace of the fear she clearly felt. “He is not an abomination.”

“He raped you!” Kalle said, shaking with anger.

“No one made me do anything I didn’t want to.”

“He tricked you then. Deceived you into lying with him.”

“No one deceived me. He is the man I fell in love with.” Somewhere out there, the universe shifted. Stars collided and smashed themselves to dust. “Who saved me when I needed saving. Who loved me because of
me
.”

“I don’t think he’s an abomination either,” Gustav remarked, “if my opinion counts.”

“Ssssh,” Nevue warned.

Kalle was very close to Snow White now. At her side, Aein tensed, ready to pounce. She could see Ghost getting ready to throw the dagger. She would betray her King for me, Snow White thought in amazement. Then she understood. Ghost was a representative of Chiva, and Chiva took no sides. Everything they did was beholden to what they believed was right.

A kernel of deep insight began to spark within her.

What I believe is right.

“Why is it so hard for you, Kalle,” Snow White said, “to understand that I love this man?”

“Demon!” Kalle spat. But he halted nevertheless. His stance was that of a cobra, ready to strike. A look of raw pain crossed his features, and suddenly, Snow White understood. It wasn’t so much that he abhorred demons or aliens on a visceral sense. It was the fact that she had chosen Aein over an eligible, very human King who desired to take her as his wife.

“Kalle,” she began.

“Don’t speak to me.” The Lapp King raised his head, which seemed to have taken on the burden of the world. He pointed at Aein. “This will be settled. Right here, right now. Choose your weapon.”

“No,” Snow White said, stepping in front of Aein.

Aein gently nudged her aside. “Let me handle this,” he said, echoing her words.

If Snow White’s world wasn’t already spinning, she would have smiled.

Kalle strode to the spot where his sword had fallen. He picked it up as Aein stepped away from Snow White. Bonebreaker slid out of its scabbard with a hiss.

“I can’t believe you’re really going to fight,” Nevue remarked, looking from one adversary to the other.

Gustav took several steps back. “Whoa.”

Ravanne shook her head. She turned to Ghost as if to say, ‘Do something’.

“You can’t be serious,” Snow White said hotly. “Look at the both of you. The enemy is out there!” She indicated the sky, though she had no idea where the enemy would come from, or indeed if they would come at all. “And here you are, squabbling over your maimed pride like wounded children.”

Kalle brandished his sword expertly before him. “This is not about you, Princess, much as your own
pride
likes to think it is. The enemy we face is right here. He is responsible for all this.” He pointed his sword tip at Awl. “As is his conspirator. If you side with them, you’re a betrayer to your own human race.”

Aein raised Bonebreaker with both hands. The blade, which had seen so much bloodshed, caught the low rays of the setting sun like some sort of coda to the day. His feet dug into the earth, tense and waiting.

“I’m not betraying anyone or anything!” Snow White said. It was not a fair match. Kalle had been honed in sword-fighting since childhood. Aein had merely picked it up a couple of moons ago. Then again, Aein was faster than anyone she knew and that conferred an otherworldly advantage.

Someone was bound to die here.