Forbidden (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) Read Online Free Page B

counts .
    The Blue Planet awaited his condemnation.
    “Aein.”
    Her voice stirred his heart. Gnomica! He turned swiftly.
    “Cousin,” he said, faltering at the sight of her at the door. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her wings ran with purple veins, and were of the softest gossamer. Her supple red carapace gleamed in the artificial golden light. Her eyes were kind as they gazed upon him.
    His spirits sank, as they always did when she gave him that look. Kindness was not a sentiment he wanted Gnomica to bestow upon him. Admiration, perhaps. Lust. Definitely love. But she would never gaze upon him with anything but kindness or pity. His very hideousness prevented that. Perhaps it would not be wise to tell her that he dreamed nightly of running his limbs down her wings, clicking his mandibles gently against her beautiful, slender neck.
    “I have come,” Gnomica said, “to wish you a good journey.”
    “Thank you,” he said awkwardly.
    “Try not to get into too much trouble, cousin.”
    “I’ll try very hard not to.”
    They stared at each other, silence expanding the gap between them.
    “When I come home, you’ll be married,” Aein remarked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
    Gnomica sighed. “We were betrothed since birth.”
    “Ah yes. The endless betrothal. I wish you a happy wedding, and try not to miss me too much when you’re lying with His Incredible and Brave Handsomeness.
    “He isn’t the monster you make him out to be, Aein. I’ll admit he hasn’t exactly been the nicest of people to you – ”
    Aein snorted.
    “ – but Dimynedon is a brave warrior and a true patriot. If you knew him as I know him – ”
    “Gnomica,” Aein interrupted, “this is my last hour on Spora. I don’t want to spend it talking about Dimynedon.”
    “OK.”
    They eyed each other uncomfortably again, she from her perch at the doorway, and he at the window that framed the golden landscape of Spora.
    “Oh cousin!” Gnomica flapped her wings twice and she was by his side. She wrapped her four upper limbs around his body, holding him tightly against her warmth. “Please, please be safe. I know how headstrong you can be, and foolhardy. Don’t plunge into any situations that will endanger yourself!”
    Aein was floored. No, more than floored – he was in that realm between seventh heaven and absolute despair, because he knew that this was too fleeting and wrought out of pity, not romantic love. His limbs crept up to her wings, those very wings he longed to stroke. Her skin was almost too hot to touch, and as the pain swelled within his chest, he –
    “Your royal highness.”
    Aein turned, all his senses stopped like an hourglass in mid-rotation. A foot soldier stood at the doorway.
    “Your highness,” she repeated, “it’s time.”
     
    #
     
    It was well into post-dawn when the Queen and Wolfsbane finally left the bedchamber. Snow White spent the entire night in the cramped closet, finally sliding into a heap when she heard snores coming from the bed. Desperation clawed at her.
    She had no choice. She would run for it. She had no allies, no friends in high places. For the first time in her life, she rued her lack of people skills. Running out to the city square and declaring “Help me, I’m a princess and they want to kill me!” simply wasn’t going to cut it with most folks, especially if the Queen had the soldiers behind her.
    When the bedchamber door finally clicked shut, Snow White counted to a hundred and made a dash for the secret door at the grate. Tom Cherry was waiting for her, the strain showing on his tired face. Like her, he’d spent a sleepless night.
    “ So what are you going to do?” He panted as they anxiously sprinted down the secret passage.
    “ If I tell you and they catch you, they might torture it out of you. So it’s best I don’t tell.”
    “ Snow White.” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “You mean you’re not going to make me come with