Forbidden Forest (The Legends of Regia) Read Free Page B

Kendel, who felt his stomach flip. She was five hundred years older than him, not that she looked a day over twenty, and had been Kendel’s first boyhood crush. It was hard for him not to blush around her as the memory came back into his head of how, when he was fourteen, he had proclaimed passionate love for her. He figured that she would be behind his proposal for the mission out of family loyalty; she was Forest’s aunt. But Zefyre would never claim Forest publicly since her brother hadn’t owned that Forest was his.
    Next came Frost, the Werewolf. Kendel always felt unsteady around him. He was broad as most werewolves were, and always looked as though he hadn’t shaved in a week. However, for a werewolf, he was positively posh. A superior politician, slick as they came. What you saw was not what you got with Frost. Frost would probably vote against Forest taking the mission, because that would be the politically correct move.
    Fifth in line was Gagnee, the Shape shifter. She was Kendel’s idea of the dragon lady. She changed her appearance more often than any other shifter in the whole of Regia. Kendel suspected she did so to eavesdrop on her underlings. Her vote would be the easy yes. Shifters were considered to be second-class citizens; they stuck together fiercely. Gagnee might not approve of Halflings, but the fact Forest’s mother was a shifter would sway her.
    Lastly, there was Lush, the Vampire, whom Kendel despised, mostly because of his rumored liaisons with Zefyre. He was typical vampire nobility scum, condescending with every syllable. Everything from his clothes to his tone of voice was calculated precisely. Arrogant and ambitious. He was nothing more than a successful social climber.
    They sat in a semi-circle around Kendel, methodically smoothing their robes under their butts and looking down at the papers in front of them. Silence fell as they read. He watched their expressions change as they thought about his proposal. Lush shook his head in disapproval when he finished reading and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for his fellows to join him.
    One by one, they put the papers down. It was Kendel’s job to begin the tug of war. “Shall we vote, or is deliberation needed?” he asked.
    “Needed,” Lush said immediately, in unison with Devonte.
    Kendel gave a little bow to the council and prepared to hold his mouth shut while the arguing began. It was, as he expected, going to be a long day.

 
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    THE LATE afternoon sun baked Forest’s red curtains. The light filtering through washed the walls in pink. She slept as though drugged in the heat of her condo. The ceiling fan over her bed was off balance, the chain pulls clinking cheerfully, as it buffeted her with hot air.
    The vibrating sound of her phone as it knocked repeatedly into her bedside lamp, disturbed her sleep. She rolled over and grabbed the offensive little thing, reading the email from Kendel with blurry eyes. Some of the message registered in her sleepy brain, and she forced herself to sit up. She grabbed the tumbler of lukewarm water by her lamp and drank it down. It tasted stale and dead, and she hated it. Earth’s water was one of the few things Forest didn’t like about the place. It failed to regenerate her the way Regia’s water did, didn’t taste as good, and wasn’t as pretty. She hissed in pain from what she’d done to herself hours before.
    Unable to focus on the email, she headed for the shower, turned it on, and stepped in. The water washed off the dried blood on her arm and swirled pink around her feet. She ran her fingers gingerly along the ridges of her scars. The pads of her fingers knew every line. The cuts she had made hadn’t changed her scars in the slightest; they still felt exactly the same. Her shifter abilities allowed her to hide them from the eyes of others, but she couldn’t hide them from herself. Those scars were the cruelest things in