Eluria's Enforcer (The Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 1)

by Adrianna Dane

  “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 not leave your caves. How long do you intend we stay buried here?”

  “Until your memories of Before return.”

  “And what if they don’t?”

  She bit her lip, a look of uncertainty on her face. After a long moment, she straightened her shoulders. “Memory will return,” she answered him decisively. “Emotions have done so, memory will soon follow. We stay until that time. Do I have your oath?”

  By Mylona, he admired her determination. Even knowing she was a rebel, he found himself drawn to her strength, if not her proud beauty. He’d wanted her Before, that much of his Before was uncovered. To learn more of his blinded memories, he would give her the oath she demanded.

  “Very well. You have my oath not to leave these caves until memory is restored. Now release me.”

  Slowly, she leaned forward from her kneeling position, raised the end of the blanket covering him and released the restraints binding his legs. He remained still. Waiting. Watching.

  Pulling back a moment, she studied him. As if satisfied with what she saw, she stretched over his body, and released the first restraint. He slowly brought his arm down, his muscles protesting at the movement. As the second bond was released, faster than a striking viper, he was up and had her pinned to the ground, stretched fully beneath his naked body. He captured her wrists and pulled them above her head, anchoring them with one hand.

  She didn’t fight him, simply lay quietly beneath him, her breathing shallow as she gazed up at him. Devon leaned in closer. A wave of consuming lust flooded through him, hardening his body.

  “So, Female, what will it take, I wonder, to woo the answers I seek from lips, so experienced and attentive in other ways? Was your trust misplaced do you think?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Eluria felt every inch of Devon’s naked flesh against her body as he pinned her beneath him. She should have expected nothing less. He was no longer the youth she’d fallen in love with in the Before. He was a dangerous predator, and she was his prey.

  Her heart pounded, but she refused to struggle against him—or fight for her life. “You have the upper hand, Enforcer, do what you will. It was my choice to grant you freedom. I live—and will die—by my own choices—wrong or right.”

  His flinty gaze bore into her, piercing her, igniting her flame. He leaned closer, chest to breast, hip to pelvis, with one hand carrying the majority of his weight, yet pinning her effectively beneath him. His fierce heat wafted over her, through her, his male hardness pressed into her feminine core.

  Control shattering, Eluria’s radiant aura burst free, the fiery, flickering evidence of her sexual arousal overly bright in the darkened recesses of the cavern.

  The look in Devon’s eyes was one of triumph. “So, Female, what would you offer me to assuage your need? Twilighter, how long has it been since your last encounter? I need answers and you can provide them. In return—”

  Eluria turned away, unwilling to meet his gaze. She refused to rise to his taunt. His grasp tightened on her wrists and she winced. “How long have you been without completion?” he repeated through gritted teeth.

  “What do you care, Enforcer? Why do you care? I’m nothing to you. If it’s you who want release, say so,” she challenged him in a low deep-throated tone meant to entice. “There’s no need to tackle me. I’m trained, after all, to service those very needs. But it will not give you the answers you seek.”

  Devon’s hard gaze roved insolently over her taut body beneath him. Finally, he released her and stood. Towering over her, he studied her as she lay still, appearing to wait for his next attack. When it became obvious he planned no further assault, Eluria jumped to her feet and retreated across the room. The distance she created helped to reassert control and her radiant red glow flickered and disappeared.

  She walked to the chest containing his uniform. Reaching inside, she pulled out the folded garment and threw it at him. “Your skinsuit, Enforcer. I suggest you clothe yourself. Unless, of course”—she allowed her heavy-lidded gaze to glide brazenly over his body—“you have other needs to assuage first?”

  When he’d been prone, lying on the bed unconscious, his inert form enticed her. But standing, in full, firm glory before her, Eluria wasn’t sure how she would succeed in keeping her distance, or her control, for much longer. The enforced closeness was already eating through her self-control.

  Devon uttered a sound of disgust, and reaching down, picked up the uniform which had landed in a dark puddle at his feet. “I don’t suppose there’s a water supply nearby?” he asked when he straightened, ignoring her suggestive question.

  Eluria pointed to the passage leading to the next chamber. “Through there is a pool. You’ll find the water is naturally heated. It should serve your needs adequately.”

  Devon strode through the entrance, and she admired the golden, molten lines of rippling muscle. Once he was out of sight, she released a long-held breath and collapsed against the side of the trunk.

  A sob broke free as she speculated on how little it would take to lose her control and surrender to her passion. Even now, she was damp with arousal at the thought of him taking her, of the hard need riding her, and how much she wanted to feel him pushing deep inside her. By the look of him, he’d fill her so completely there’d be no room for the empty longing now filling her heart.

  What would he think, she wondered, if she informed him she’d never achieved completion as a companion? She’d never spiraled to the place of total, spiritual balance she knew was possible, with any of the companions she’d accepted.r />
  Instinct told her with Devon it would be different. No, she corrected herself, with Devon it could have been different. He could never want what she’d become. She heard the contempt in his voice when he branded her with what she was—twilighter. Little did he know all the hated name truly encompassed.

  What would happen when his memory was fully restored? They would return to Ednos, and then what? He would take his rightful place and she would disappear. It’s what she’d planned. From that point in her youth when she discovered the betrayal, she’d centered on the need to right the wrongs done by her father to Devon and his family. Every choice Eluria had made, every breath she’d taken had been fueled by the guilt lying heavily on her soul.

  But once Devon returned, what was left for her? Her purpose would be served. Panic rose within her breast. The pain of loneliness and a deep, dark abyss of emptiness loomed before her. She’d never thought that far ahead. To the success of the task she’d set for herself. She shook her head in denial.

  Once she’d held a young Maigin’s innocent visions. Union with a taman she loved. No more—those dreams had been shattered long ago. So what was she left with? More importantly, how would Devon react when he discovered what her father had engineered—and the guilt resting on her shoulders? How would he respond when he knew she was the one ultimately responsible for his father’s termination?

  * * *

  Devon leaned back against the rocky ledge of the heated pool, allowing the moist warmth to ease the aches still remaining from the clash with zyflamite. His gaze rose to the ceiling dripping with stalactites, seeking the source of the latticed patterns of light filtering across the surface of the clear pool he relaxed in.

  His thoughts were filled with the Female—Eluria, the remembrance of her soft body beneath him. Her scent, like her radiance, had wrapped about him, seducing his intent to have answers. If he’d held her longer, he’d have taken her, filled her savagely with the completion he knew they both wanted. The arousal he felt in her presence was new to him, causing an aching need his body demanded be relieved.

  He felt her inner war of need and denial. It flared inside him, halting his intent to take her. He would not force himself upon an unwilling female—no matter the circumstance.

  Devon’s thoughts wandered back to her certainty they were protected here.

  How?

  In one fluid, movement, he rose and then stepped from the crystalline spring. Water slid from his body and pooled at his feet as he surveyed the rocky, uneven walls of the cavern. There was something within them that masked their presence. He was certain of it. He walked to the rocky face to peer closer, splayed a hand to the surface and smoothed it along the uneven contours.

  He bent closer, inhaled deeply, noticing a scent not of earth or heated rock, but slightly metallic. Again, he raised his gaze to peer more closely at the rocky interior and noticed a shimmer caste of violet interspersed throughout the rock.

  Of course! It had to be traces of plordium. It was the only ore which could possibly cloak their presence inside the walls of the cave. Again, Devon found himself admiring the female for identifying and putting to good use this naturally secure hiding place.

  He was still not convinced the zyflamite was meant for him or that he should remain within the confines of the cave for protection. But these new emotions he felt gave him pause to consider what would be his best course of action. There could be no doubt his role as Enforcer would be severely hampered by the feelings churning inside him. Until he was able to control them adequately, he would stay.

  Devon winced as a knife of pain stabbed through his head. He staggered as another arc of pain drove him to his knees. Reaching up, he cradled his head, as another surge shattered, crashing through him. Lights burst behind his closed lids, images of people and events flashing, mingling, colliding.

  It was as though a steel gate had been opened, and he was tossed out within the midst of reclaimed memories. For remembrance is what it had to be. He tried to grasp an image, any image, hold fast to it, understand it, but they moved too quickly, one after the other, drilling into his brain.

  “No!” he yelled, trying to control the swarm of images and the emotions they elicited in response.

  Suddenly he felt gentle yet firm hands on his shoulders; the scent of rozanna caressed him. “Devon, what is it?” A concerned voice hovered above him. Blinded by the images, he tried to push her away. Another deadly dagger speared through his mind.

  “Images,” he gasped, pressing hard with his hands against his temples. “Too fast,” he groaned, “too fast, too many.” The blanking numbness of unconsciousness sucked him away from the whirling colors as he collapsed back into a steadying embrace.

  * * *

  Symion! What do I do? Eluria panicked when Devon lost consciousness. As he began to fall forward, Eluria tightened her arms and twisted, cradling him close as she sank to the ground in a sitting position. She calmed a bit after locating his pulse and finding it strong and steady. Wrapping her arms around him, she waited, praying to Guardian for guidance, to return Devon to her.

  An eternity seemed to linger as she sat there, recalling a time when he’d held her in his arms. Bittersweet memories of his strong arms and the security they represented in the Before. His laughter, like warm honeyberry nectar flowing over her, infusing her with happiness. When was the last time she’d felt real happiness?

  There was some sense of joy in the reality of touching his warm supple skin, after so many years of fantasizing of doing just that. She leaned forward and inhaled his scent. It was different from Before, yet the same, seasoned by time and experience, like the most rare Dalanian Ale.

  Knowing she shouldn’t, but unable to stop herself, she traced the line of his finely-sculpted lips with her fingertips and a yearning inside took shape. A spark of pleasure charged through her.

  One kiss. Just one. To last her a lifetime. To remind her of what happiness tasted like. He would never know she was but a hungry thief who stole a small sample of paradise.

  Eluria leaned forward. His breath whispered across her senses. Like the ray of first sunlight to a new day she touched her lips to his, felt their firm yet yielding hardness, wanted more. She’d known one touch would not be enough. Yet it must suffice. Long ago she’d learned to live in unfilled want.

  She began to pull back. Hard hands rose to cup her face, with gentle firmness. Eluria held her breath and waited.

  He opened his eyes. His turquoise gaze locked with hers. She inhaled in shock. “You’re back,” her words were a triumphant gasp of breath. “Thank Guardian, it worked.”

  “Eluria. Na-nivia.” His hoarse utterance stilled her. My love. If only it were still possible.

  “I remember you. I remember all of it.” Devon released a shuddering breath.

  She nodded in thankfulness, her eyes filled with tears. “I know.”

  Slowly, he sat up without releasing her. His gaze swept over her as a thirsty man eyes a well of water in the middle of a desert. He lowered his head, his lips capturing hers, drawing from her very core, the desire Eluria had fought so hard to control. Her radiance shimmered attempting to burst free, to encompass them both in hot, blazing light. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t let it happen.

  “No,” she breathed, attempting to pull from his arms, from his power. “There’s much you don’t know. We can’t do this.”

  Finally, she broke free and frantically put distance between them. Devon struggled for control. Passion simmered between them, ready to blaze again. Electricity crackled in the air around them. Her radiance fought savagely for freedom, which she couldn’t allow. Eluria strove for the peace of inner balance.

  Devon stepped away from her. Staggered, and righted himself.

  “Devon,” she gasped, instinctively taking a step towards him, ready to help him if need be.

  He winced, but motioned her back. “I’m fine,” he growled. “Let it be. The memories are settling—finding their place. The pa
in isn’t as bad.”

  “You need to rest, Devon. We don’t know how this will affect you.”

  Like jeweled daggers, his gaze pinned her. “You think I’m not aware of that? Everything is turned around. With these memories, these emotions—everything is changed.”

  He leaned down and picked up the uniform. Donning it quickly, he turned back to her and straightened, his gaze the look of a hunter sizing up its victim. “I want answers.”

  She’d known he would. Once the memories of Before returned, he would want the truth.

  Though no longer the eyes of a dreaded Enforcer, still they pierced her. “Where is my family?”

  Eluria bit her lip, turned her gaze from his, unable to meet his searching look. “Your mother is alive, as is your sister. I don’t know about your brother. Alekos has disappeared. There’s been no real word of him for many years. Just rumors. We think he may have been terminated, but have been unable to confirm it.”

  She paused, taking a deep breath to steady her. “Your mother is in seclusion on Ednos. Gavrielle sought peace after…after…” She stopped speaking, trying to find the words to continue. “Kierra…Kierra is near your mother.”

  “And my father?” The question she feared most dropped between them.

  “Taeryl. Taeryl was terminated, Devon.”

  Painful silence echoed all around them. Finality. Eluria saw his jaw harden, and his eyes fill with pain.

  They were silent for long moments as she waited for Devon to absorb the knowledge of his shattered family.

  “All these years I had no memory of them. If I’d actually met any of them during that time, I wouldn’t have known them.”

  She nodded. There was a time when he’d passed her several years ago. There’d been no hint of recognition in his eyes. She’d wanted to touch him, to force him to remember her. Instead, she’d hurried away before desire won over commonsense. The blank, unemotional look in his ebony eyes haunted her for months afterwards.