Forbidden (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) by Dawn Steele

almost tripped several times.
    “Don't try to jump out of the window,” Gretel warned. The carving knife she wielded was fresh from the kitchen – it still bore the blood stains and gristle of some mystery meat. “The last girl who did that caught her hair on the sill and hung herself rather painfully. Gave rise to legends of how long her hair really was.”
    “Like you, she was all bravado and big words when she first came,” Hansel added. “I had her two days in. My eardrums rang so hard with her screams I had to club her senseless.”
    Snow White was disgusted. She felt like ripping out the bread knife from her bodice and severing the part of Hansel responsible for causing women misery. She would relish it too. But if she were to stick to her plan, she would have to save the dicing for later. She wondered, after she’d escaped, if there was time to take a detour to ram Hansel’s horned hat into a sensitive part of his anatomy. It would be sweet retribution for what his friends did to Aein.
    The area at the top of the stairs was large and divided into several chambers, all connected by a semi-circular hallway. The first door led into a parlor. The ceiling was tall and arched. Once again, the furnishings were so plush as to turn the eye, but Snow White was more concerned about how high the tower was from the ground, and if there were any torture instruments strewn around the Oriental silk divans to which she would be secured, lamb to the slaughter.
    “Sit down.” Gretel motioned her to a high-backed armchair.
    “I prefer to stand.”
    “Suit yourself. The twins will be here soon enough.”
    I’ll be ready for them. The sharp tip of the blade pressed uncomfortably against her waistband.
    “Should we tie her up?” Hansel said. “She’s been quite a handful.”
    “The twins can take care of themselves.”
    Twins. Not good. There would be two of them to take apart, but not impossible. She would have to be deceptively compliant.
    A tap came on the door. Snow White braced herself. She hoped they weren’t hulking brutes like Gorm, or disease-ridden pustules like Milky Eye.
    “Enter,” Gretel called.
    The door whined open. In walked identical twins. To Snow White’s surprise, they were incredibly beautiful human specimens – long wavy blond hair, large blue eyes, amazingly sculptured cheekbones.
    They were also all of twelve years old.

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    She’s a native, Aein repeated to himself. You’re not supposed to get involved with natives. You’re an observer. A Judge.
    And yet, Snow White’s terrified face reminded him of the poor Karsissian slave, the one who was to be raped by Dimynedon and his flunkies before he had surprised them. Aein could never stomach bullying when he saw it.
    He hoped Snow White would have run off to Lapland by now. She was a strange creature, so graceless to his Sporadean eyes, yet considered – he came to understand – one of the most beautiful people alive by the Blue Planet inhabitants. Truly, it was boggling. He found her skin too pale, her eyes too plain, her features too flat, the thick mass of hair that grew on her head too unruly. Nevertheless, he sensed the goodness in her, even if it was camouflaged by her caustic tongue.
    The men he was with, however, were a different herd of animals.
    “You best not be lying,” Gorm growled upon his horse. “It’s already twilight and we have yet to approach this wondrous place of yours.”
    “It will take several days,” Aein replied. He was also on horseback but his wrists were tethered to the reins. It was a most uncomfortable experience. The horse, a brown gelding with unshod hooves, moved up, down and sideways in sinuous and tortuous ways that made his newly formed bones protest. Aein ignored his discomfort. “I have already alluded to that fact, were you capable of listening.”
    Gorm drew up his horse sharply. It neighed as it flicked its roan-colored tail. The bone-braided man turned his horse and cantered