Free Eluria's Enforcer (The Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 1) by Adrianna Dane Page B

This isn’t what was supposed to
happen.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
     
    After dressing, Eluria paced the chamber, arms
folded across her chest. Haydon, what a mess. There had to be a way out. She straightened her left arm and studied her wrist. It displayed a beautiful,
intricate pattern of colors, similar in design to a delicate tri-colored,
braided wrist adornment. True Union, the markings of Guardian’s acceptance. It
was disaster.
    “Stop obsessing, it won’t give you any
answers. You can’t separate what Guardian has joined.”
    She whirled around at the sound of Devon’s
deep voice.
    “Then what will?” she demanded. “How do we
repair what shouldn’t have happened? We never should have sealed. Never.” She
shook her head in denial and began pacing again. “There must be a way to free
you.”
    “What? Again?” There was a hint of amusement
in Devon’s tone.
    She spun back and stared at him. “You find
humor in this situation?” Of all times for his sense of humor to surface, she
wouldn’t have expected it to be now.
    He walked toward her and cupped her chin.
“You’ve given that to me, Eluria. The ability to feel again. To experience joy
and pleasure.” She saw his eyes darken and a blaze began to glow inside her.
“Guardian has brought us back to each other. Why do you continue to question?”
    Eluria bit her lip, tried to look away, but
his firm grip held her steady. “Maybe because I want it too badly. It’s always
been at the back of my mind, the vision of what could have been if not for my
father’s intervention.”
    “You aren’t to blame for what he did,” he
protested.
    “Maybe not directly, but it never would have
happened if using me hadn’t been part of his plan.”
    Devon brought his other hand up and cupped
her face. “You have suffered enough. You’ve sacrificed too much already. Don’t
try to sacrifice what we’ve found.”
    He tilted her head and leaned forward to
possess her lips with a kiss claiming her acceptance and allowing no argument.
Eluria wanted to fight him, to ignore the needs of her body, the visions
planned long ago, which never faltered over the years.
    Devon stroked his tongue across her lips,
coaxing her to yield, and finally, unable to deny him, she opened her mouth,
allowing him entry. When his tongue drove home, a shudder passed through her.
She wanted him so much.
    Pulling back, he yanked at the front closing
of her skinsuit, then pulled open the front of his own. He clasped each of her
hands, placed one on his chest, then he pressed his left hand to her chest,
between her breasts.
    “Feel the rhythms, Eluria,” he commanded her
in a guttural, husky tone. “I detected the change when we first awoke. What do
you feel?”
    She felt the steady life-beats, absorbed the
rhythms. Her gaze widened with uncertainty as she looked into his face. “There
is no difference in the patterns. How can that be?”
    He nodded. “We are in perfect
concordance—balance, if you will. A change to your rhythm will cause a change
in mine. If you feel fear, I will know it. If you feel pleasure, I will
experience it. If your life-beats stop, so will mine.”
    “No, oh no.” The full import of what he
implied caused her to panic. “If something happened to me, if I were
terminated—”
    “I don’t fear termination, Eluria. If your
life-beats were to end, I wouldn’t want mine to continue. It is an assurance
that in the future you will have a care.”
    “But to tie you to a twilighter—” She didn’t
want that for him. Eluria could give him no Beyond.
    “An ex-twilighter. As I am an ex-Enforcer.
Our paths were ordained to part and to come together with knowledge to combat
the Tribunal. Together we will succeed. We are stronger.” Devon cupped her
face, his gaze locking with hers. “If children are in our Beyond, we’ll find
the path. Know this. I’d rather be joined with you in True Union without surety
of Beyond, than any other female and a planet full of