Forbidden (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (27 page)

The terror drained like a trapdoor pulled from under her feet. Snow White felt as though she had been running since Rova, so exhausted was she. She strained to see beyond the path but the others were nowhere to be seen.

The rocks whispered:
Beware
.

Snow White dug her heels into her horse’s flanks. The blood coursed hotly in her head. She did not look back at the eyes she could feel raking the back of her neck. She only slowed down when she saw a solitary figure. Pulling the reins of her horse sharply, she halted.

“Ghost?” Snow White said.

Ghost’s face was solemn. “It’s all right, father,” she said. “I will go into this gladly if it will save us from starving. If the witch desires a blind assistant, then so be it. I only ask one thing.”

Snow White dismounted slowly. She stroked her horse’s withers. “Stay, Miriam.”

Ghost did not seem to be aware of Snow White. “Let me raise the hot coals to my own eyes. That way, I will spare you the burden.” Her palms were splayed, as though holding something.

“Ghost?” Snow White cautioned. “Don’t do anything here. Nothing is real.”

“Don't weep, father. It’s all right.” With great force, Ghost plunged her fingers into her own eyes.

“No!” Snow White flew at Ghost and grabbed her arms. They fell onto the ground, tussling. If Ghost had been fully present, Snow White knew that the younger girl would have incapacitated her with a few well-placed chops. But Ghost was strangely submissive. She rolled away from Snow White. A sob shook her body.

“Oh, Ghost,” Snow White said, distressed.

“None of this is real,” said another familiar voice.

Snow White turned to see Kalle. His features were contorted in great anguish. He stared at something in front of him, something that only he could see. He had dismounted and his stance was that of a man possessed.

Snow White picked herself up. She stole a look at Ghost to see if the younger girl was all right. When Ghost removed her hands from her face, blood streaked from her eyes. Thank God she’s already blind, Snow White thought morbidly. She was torn between helping Ghost, who seemed calmer now, and preventing something similar from happening to Kalle.

The King’s ominous voice stopped her. “No, I won’t, father. I won’t kill her.”

“Kalle?” Snow White’s throat felt like someone had rammed a fist through it. It wasn’t clear if the King was speaking in Finnish or German, but she understood him perfectly.

Like Ghost, he did not notice her. He took a step forward, then another step. “I intend to take her as wife,” he declared. “You are dead. You can’t stop me with your mad lies.”

Unease washed over Snow White. Kalle was talking about her, she was certain.

Kalle suddenly clasped the hilt of his sword. “I will not cut out her heart. For the last time, father, she is not a demon!”

Snow White’s blood ran cold.

“Leave him to his own demons. He has chosen to be the way he is for a reason,” said a voice beside her.

Gorm towered above her, and the sight of him made her cringe. Gorm’s head was at an odd angle. A purplish bruise circled his neck. His clothes wore blood and dirt stains, and his bone-braided hair glistened with grease.

He pointed to his neck. “He did it to me, your lover. Snapped it like a twig.”

Snow White was speechless. She swung her head all round. Gustav and Kalle had vanished. She was all alone with her latest ghost.

“There’s plenty you don’t know about him,” Gorm went on. “He’s a killer.”

Snow White found her voice. “He killed you only because you would have killed him.”

“Would I? A bargain is a bargain. He was supposed to lead me to the city paved with gold. Before we got there, he butchered every one of us in cold blood. He left our bodies to welter in the heat and be pickings for the crows. What sort of man does that, I ask you?”

Not a man. A sensation of ants ran down Snow White shoulders. “You’re not real,” she repeated for the umpteenth time that day.

“Whether I’m real or not, your lover is not who you think he is.”

“Ex-lover.”

“Semantics. You have not wormed him out of your marrow. He lies there, a maggot feasting upon your conscience. How much do you know about him anyway, you who are about to enter his lair? Would he be waiting there for you with all his kin, ready to slaughter you at will?” Gorm’s expression turned calculating. “Even you . . . who have bedded this creature and now carry his seed in your womb.”

Snow White involuntarily clutched at her abdomen. The fear rose to her face in a hot flush. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here right now with an army to stop it.”

Gorm’s gaunt face lit up in a cunning smile. “Your lover has a face you won’t allow yourself to imagine. The abomination he fathered lies within you, nourished by your own blood, leaching your very life. Cut it out!”

“No.” Snow White clasped the dagger she kept by her side. “You’re not real!”

“Can’t you feel your hair and nails falling out as your flesh melts in its consumption? Smite it before it’s too late.”

Snow White looked at the dagger in her trembling hand.

“Cut it out,” Gorm commanded. “Plunge the dagger into your very womb and cast the evil thing out!”

For a terrible, bewildering moment, Snow White saw herself knifing her own womb and slicing deep. The pain struck her as if it was real. She pictured the child –
thing
– within shrieking, its half-formed mass of a face raked apart, its squirming red limbs grasping futilely at the glistening membranes that held it. She blinked, and blood streaked across Gorm’s face like an eclipse.

“Do it,” he said. “Get rid of it before it claws out from your belly, flapping its tail.”

“No!” Snow White cried in agony at the image.

She flung the dagger at Gorm. It sailed through him. His image flickered, and then he vanished. Shakily, she looked all around. She was alone again. The sky was a lilac bowl above her head. Her horse had drifted to the foot of a cliff and was grazing the bright yellow flowers that dotted the shrubbery. The wind lifted her tresses, and she could smell pine on it, and the harsh iron tint of blood.

A strange shadow fell upon the ground. Above her, she heard the beating of many wings. Like a gargantuan arrowhead that could only belong to the gods, a dark cloud of birds massed behind her. Ravens. They angled closer and unmistakably swooped for her head.

The nightmare of her stepmother turning into a raven hurtled back at full blast.

Ice needling every part of her body, Snow White sped to the mountains, forsaking her horse. The ravens screeched. She ran and ran, almost stumbling over pebbles and rocks that skittered the uneven tufts of grass. Behind her, the wings of the ravens fanned a fetid, deadly breeze. She could smell carrion on their breaths and feel the terrible heat from their bodies. She did not dare look back. The Pass weaved and twisted. The rock walls of ochre, red and amber seemed to taper, funneling her into a trap. The rustling of feathers fanned her ears. Something sharp nipped at her right shoulder blade.

With a cry, she surged forward and threw herself at the sudden opening. The vista of a shimmering green lake and tall, cloud-capped mountains flooded her eyes. The soft scent of water struck her face. At the edge of the lake, a figure perched motionless, his back turned to her.

It was Aein.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Aein!” Snow White cried. She made for the lapping green waters of the lake. The pulse at her throat fluttered at a thousand wingbeats per minute. Briefly, she took in the gorgeous vista of mountains surrounding the lake, the highest peak of them being Mt. Nordstrom. Their walls were so steep and rocky as to be seemingly impenetrable.

He turned. His face was as beautiful as ever. He was surprised to see her, but not unduly alarmed. Sensing light and space and the sudden cessation of wings, Snow White risked a look backward and almost stumbled on a hillock. The ravens had all vanished. She paused, uncertain if her eyes were playing tricks or the challenges thrown by the Pass did not extend beyond it. Her feet slapped upon loamy grass, such a contrast from the rocky ground of the Pass. Had she truly left all her terrors behind?

“Snow White,” Aein called. He began to run towards her, his long legs gaiting easily across the divide. “How did you get here? Why did you – ?”

As he came closer, his strides became more uncertain, hesitant.

She knew what he wanted to say.
Why did you come, despite everything that has happened between us?
His expression wore so much love, hope and pain that a knife twisted in her gut. At this moment, she knew that she loved him – even though he was an
Otherworlder
.

Dread raked its sharp fingernails across her heart. When Aein’s angelic facade was torn away and he wore his true insect face, would she still feel this rush of complex, alternating emotions? Would her spirit shrink as she gazed upon his six waving blood-red limbs?

“Aein,” she said softly, then faltered. She wondered how he’d react if he knew a two thousand-strong army waited outside the mountain enclave, ready to exterminate his family should she give the word.

They were only ten feet apart.

“Did you – ?” He hesitated, and then continued with a slight tremor in his voice. “Did you come for me?”

The lump in Snow White’s throat hardened. “Aein, I’m here because – ”

Something strange struck her. She frowned. “Where are the Bambenga?”

He looked crestfallen. “I am still waiting for them.”

“What do you mean?”

“They are still in the Pass. Before we entered, we were warned that there are some who must wade through their ghosts longer than others.”

“Oh.” Snow White was thunderstruck. “Then we have to go back and get them.”

“I tried, but I could not find them.”

“How long have they been there?” Snow White thought of Ghost, Kalle and Gustav, trapped with their specters. Surely she could just go back and pull them out? The Pass wasn’t that long or wide, they would be easy enough to find.

A pause. Then Aein said, “Three days.”

“Three days?” Her blood ran cold. These were her friends. She pictured Nevue and Ravanne, who had been so kind to her, wandering around the Pass, ravenous and driven rabid by African ghosts. Ghost and Gustav were still in there, as were Kalle and his men. If something happened here, how would she alert Kalle’s army? She thought of all their plans to stop the invaders, derailed before they could even begin.

Oh God.

She turned immediately to run back into the Pass. But a blurry hand with lightning quick reflexes seized her arm.

“It is no use,” Aein said. “I tried. It is a maze in there and I cannot bear to lose you again.”

His touch was as warm as she remembered. Funny, because she almost expected it to be cold, knowing what she knew now. She wondered if he was thinking about their child – the poor, little unformed thing that must be born into a world as broken as its parents. All the pain and regret of their parting bubbled to her throat.

Gingerly, he touched her scarf. “You wear this now. Why?”

“You should know.”

“I do not. This is as much uncharted territory for me as it is for you.”

“Aein, there’s something you should know.” She forced herself to bravely plow on. “I brought some people with me. To safeguard my world.”

“I do not blame you. I would have done the same.”

“Well, there are more than just a few people. There are – ”

Someone ran out of the Pass, shrieking. Snow White saw with a start that it was Nevue. She was followed by Ravanne, whose lips were blood-streaked. Ravanne fell upon Nevue savagely, hands going for Nevue’s neck.

Aein sprinted towards them, and after a beat, Snow White followed, her heart thudding.

“Stop it!” Aein yelled. “You’re no longer in the Pass.”

When the Bambenga women showed no signs of responding, he pounced on Ravanne, who was on top, and ripped her off Nevue. This was no small effort as the Bambenga woman was as ferocious as a cobra. She clawed at Aein, kicking him. Snow White threw her entire weight onto the struggling Nevue.

“Usurper!” Ravanne spat at Nevue. “You’ll never have leadership of the tribe as long as I breathe!”

“It was never yours to begin with!” Nevue shot back.

“Will you both stop it?” Aein seized Ravanne’s arms and twisted them behind her back. The Bambenga woman gave a yowl. Her muscles seemed to slacken a notch even though she was still breathing hard. In Snow White’s firm embrace, Nevue ceased squirming a little. It was a while before their collective breathing slowed and Aein could let go of Ravanne.

“It wasn’t real,” Snow White said. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t real.”

Nevue looked ashamedly away. Ravanne’s expression was mutinous, until she saw the mountain and the lake. A look of beatific wonder crossed her face.

“Oh!” she gasped.

“Yes,” Nevue said dully, “it was my vision too. Perhaps he,” she gestured towards Aein, “would have to choose the more worthy of us.”