Parallel Heat Read Online Free Page A

you serve them. I suggest you remember that fact.’’
    She sank onto the side of her small bed, and the tears she’d been fighting all day finally flowed freely. ‘‘Scott, please. I know my place. No one can accuse me otherwise.’’ She wiped at the tears. ‘‘It’s just . . .’’
    Scott dropped onto his haunches, his large, dark eyes becoming even with hers, his momentary irritation quickly replaced by compassion. Scott was, in many ways, like a brother to her. They’d fought side by side for a long time now, from the time Thea entered the military at the age of sixteen, and they’d been outposted together here on Earth for the past six years. ‘‘Go on,’’ he encouraged with a nod. ‘‘What were you going to say?’’
    ‘‘He was going to be my husband, not hers,’’ she blurted, the tears starting in earnest. ‘‘From the time I was an infant we were always promised to one another. Always. Scott, you of all people know how it was supposed to be.’’
    ‘‘That was before the war escalated, Thea,’’ he reminded her gently. ‘‘Everything changed after that . . . for all of us.’’
    Oh, and it had changed all right. Jared’s parents had been murdered when he was still only a boy, placing him on the throne at barely ten years of age. He had been exiled at seventeen; become a fierce rebel leader by eighteen. Somewhere in all that fighting and bloodshed and loss, they’d all lost their innocence too, but more than that, they’d lost who they were truly meant to be.
    ‘‘So we blame yet one more thing on this war!’’ She brushed at the tears angrily.
    ‘‘It isn’t blame, Thea.’’ Scott shook his head, gazing hard into her eyes. ‘‘It’s the facts.’’
    She rubbed her eyes. ‘‘Jared deserves to be happy. I told him so. I want him to be happy! But he’s forsaken his throne in marrying that, that . . .’’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘‘Th-that human !’’
    ‘‘A human who is now our queen,’’ he rebuked gently.
    ‘‘So you’ve already pointed out.’’
    ‘‘And Jared’s throne, well, I don’t think the old ways should apply while he’s in exile,’’ he continued.
    She threw up her hands in anger. ‘‘All the more reason that he should have married me and not her!’’
    ‘‘But he didn’t, Thea,’’ Scott pressed carefully. ‘‘He chose Kelsey Wells, who is now his bonded lifemate and wife. And she is, therefore, your queen. Your queen, Thea . . . think about that. You’ve got to stay here, in the main compound, and work past these emotions.’’
    Thea leapt to her feet and spun from him, pacing the length of her small quarters in agitation. ‘‘Have you not heard the rumors?’’ she blurted, feeling angry and hurt that Scott wasn’t more on her side.
    ‘‘The rumors will settle in time,’’ he answered simply. So he, too, had caught the gossip that she’d sensed buzzing all about them like agitated bees.
    She paused before her small closet mirror, staring at her reflection. Pale blue eyes stared back, eyes she’d once heard described as ‘‘holding no emotion.’’ Maybe all her fellow soldiers thought she was cold and without feeling. Maybe that’s why they could be so cruel in their gossip. ‘‘They’re all blaming me,’’ she whispered heavily.
    ‘‘Of course they are,’’ he said. ‘‘We always bear the brunt of his choices; the people love Jared too much to ever condemn him.’’
    For a moment she gathered her thoughts. ‘‘I need to know, Scott. Do you genuinely support this royal union? Is that what you’re telling me?’’
    Scott rose slowly to his feet and turned away, putting his strong back to her. He braced his hands on the door frame of her bathroom, clearly considering his answer. As Jared’s best friend, she knew he often found it difficult to take a disloyal stance, but he was also a bitterly truthful man. It was one of the things she trusted most in him.
    ‘‘I am not sure how I