Read Eluria's Enforcer (The Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 1) for Free Online

Her movements were graceful, like
a moondancer, sensual and fluid. Though his memory was still vague, he knew she
spoke true. She was part of his Before.
    As she fed him, he studied the memory,
weighed the emotions he felt. Ones rusted with disuse. He recalled her presence
and it felt pleasant, warm. The feelings of happiness, affection, love mingled
inside threading through the shrouded memories. They washed through him like a
tidal wave against the land. He sought to control their intensity, separate and
harness his response to their demands.
    Devon wanted to know more about her, wanted
more of his memory. Something inside him ached to touch her. His shaft rose
hard, tenting the blanket covering him. Desire seared him, yet he found he was
now able to control the emotion, to fetter their strength and command.
    She glanced at the tented blanket obviously
knowing its cause, a tinge of pink spread across her cheeks. She looked away,
appearing enthralled by the bowl in her lap.
    “You need not fear. I am in control of the
emotions now.”
    She glanced up at him. The smoky lenses
covering her eyes, hiding the path to her soul and heart, frustrated his
efforts to read her emotions and find her true purpose. He wanted to know her
and her eyes could tell him much about her true thoughts. She’d also cloaked
her radiance, effectively sealing herself from any further discovery.
    “I don’t fear you. Nor do I fear your needs
if pain exists or you are in discomfort.” Her voice was even-toned, low,
emotionless.
    “So you would be willing to ease my pain?” He
didn’t like the lack of expression on her face.
    She nodded without looking directly into his
eyes.
    “How would you do it? Like before with your
mouth? I’ll admit your soft, wet lips gave me a great deal of pleasure.”
    The hand holding the spoon trembled, and he
watched as she set it down. She licked her lips. “Is that what you need?”
    Devon sensed her vulnerability. Why did he
continue to bait her? Forcing her to relieve his lust was not his way. “Tell me
of Before.”
    “It’s best if you wait for memory to return.
I don’t want you to question whether I force your thoughts.”
    With a frustrated sigh he leaned back against
the bedroll, watching her. The restraints confining him were tedious. He tried
to remember his mission, the fact her termination was inevitable, demanded by
the Tribunal, wanting to remember his duty. But all his mind would return to
him was the vision and feel of her curled next to him in Before. The aroma of
rozanna petals swirled about him. He shifted restlessly.
    “Where is my uniform?”
    Eluria turned and nodded toward a chest. “It
has been repaired and awaits you.”
    “If you don’t plan to terminate me, release
me so I may clothe myself.”
    He saw the look of uncertainty that flickered
through her expression, but she didn’t move to do as he demanded. Sighing in
exasperation he said, “Haydon, Female, I am no longer in Killing Frenzy, you
can see for yourself. You are safe for the time being. This fragment of memory
I seem to have… I won’t harm you until I know more. And it appears only you
have the information I want.”
    Through a long moment of silence she studied
him. What she hoped to find there he had no idea.
    “I would have trusted Devon Andromeda with my
life in Before,” she murmured. “Without question. My need to trust you now
stems from those memories. From the youth I once knew and…” Her words trailed
away, her gaze focused past him, then returned. “Your oath first, you will not
try to leave the caves.”
    “You don’t ask for my oath not to terminate
you?” It puzzled him. It would seem to him preservation of her life would be
uppermost in her thoughts.
    She shrugged, yet did not respond.
    He couldn’t understand. Her manner was
incongruous. She should terminate him, but she didn’t. She should want his oath
not to terminate her, yet she did not. “Very well. You have my oath I will