Eluria's Enforcer (The Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 1) (6 page)

Eluria felt Devon’s arms wrap around her. If
only she felt she deserved his sympathy. She knew she should pull away, but
couldn’t find the strength to do so.

“What happened is not your guilt,
na-nivia
.”

“Ah, Lydion, don’t call me that!” She looked
up at him, searching for the condemnation she knew should be there. Found it
hard to grasp what she found was sympathy, and—something else she refused to
name. “Don’t, Devon, I’m no longer the Maigin you knew.”

His steady blue gaze held hers. “Nor am I the
same youth who made an oath to you.”

Eluria shook her head in denial. “But it was
not by your choice. None of it. What I’ve become is because of choices I made.”

“Why did you become a twilighter? What sent
you to them?” Devon forced her to look at him. “It makes no difference what has
gone before, but I want to know all of your truth. Tell me.”

Her reasons at the time were muddled. It had
been an innocent’s anger and futility that prompted her decisions. There’d been
nothing noble about it.

“My father wouldn’t listen to me about the
union he’d contracted. I begged him to return you to your family. He laughed and
ridiculed my apparent naiveté. Taunted me by telling me you’d shown yourself
already to be prime Enforcer stock. Informed me you’d already made your first
clean kill. He took pleasure in torturing me with details of your training.”
She took a shuddering breath, tried to repress the horror of that meeting. “He
sold my purity and took away your past in exchange for more power and wealth,”
she finished bitterly.

Devon’s arms tightened around her. The
security of his arms felt too good. He shouldn’t want to soothe her, not after
everything she was telling him.

“I’d thought he loved me,” she continued in a
low voice, “wanted my happiness, but found that to be untrue. I knew there
would never be balance in a relationship such as he’d devised. A union made in
Haydon. I knew in my soul it would never be honored by Guardian, nor given the
balance of Mylonna and Symion.” She looked up at him, knowing he would see the
essence of her heart and soul. “There was only one with whom I’d experience the
true balance of Lydion and that vision of union was destroyed forever.”

Devon brushed a hand along the curve of her
face and she leaned into it. She’d never realized before how truly cold her
soul had become. His touch was like a warming beacon on a frigid night.

“The night before the union celebration I
went to the House of Twilight and sold my purity. I decided if anyone would
profit from my innocence, it would not be my father. The next day he confronted
me and I was officially declared impure and no longer of any use to him. I
haven’t spoken to him since that day.”

Devon pulled her close. “It was an act of
desperation. I wish I’d been there, I should have been. There was no one to
protect you.”

She leaned back and looked at him. “Who
protected you and your family from my father’s greed, Devon?” she asked softly.
“I vowed the day I found out what he’d done, I would find a way to free you.”

Devon stroked her hair. “You’ve done that,
Eluria. That and more.”

“But too late. It was by accident I heard of
the plan to seize your father. I’d been able to pass him bits of information
from my…assignments.” She tried to pull away, but his arms anchored her. “As
soon as I heard he’d been discovered, I went to him.”

She reached up to remove the silver necklace
hanging around her neck. “He gave me this. We talked many times about you.” She
looked down at the talisman she’d worn next to her skin for so many years. “He
wanted you to have it. He had faith I’d find you.”

She offered it to him. Devon released her and
took the chain from her hand. A wrenching tugged at her heart. It was the last
link binding her to him and his family. He studied the talisman, then looked at
her. His gaze held memory—and sadness.

“Do you know what it is?”

She shook her head. It had been enough to
know it was something she was to hold in safekeeping for his return. It kept
her focused on her purpose. “I only know he meant for me to place it in your
hand and to offer you one word. Remember.”

Devon’s vision turned inward, past her, into
the Before. “It belonged to my grandfather, and his father before him. It is a
symbol of our freedom from the brutality of the Moygars—a piece of the shackle
our descendant wore. My great-grandfather had it encased in crystallite to
preserve it. It has been handed down to each eldest son since that time.” She
watched as his gaze returned to the talisman cupped in his hand. His fingers
curled into a tight fist around the memory.

“I’m so sorry, Devon.”

“It’s all that’s left. And you have protected
it. Don’t be sorry.” His determined blue gaze caught and trapped her.

“Devon.” The word was but a sob of answering
need.

Without warning, he lowered his head and his
lips claimed hers. His heat blazed through her. Instinctively, she opened her
mouth, and his tongue drove deep into her moist warmth, demanding what should
have been his long ago.

Eluria tried to pull away. She couldn’t do
this. To seal with him now would be her utter destruction. She broke free of
his consuming kiss. “Devon, no—”

His expression brooked no discussion. “Yes,
Eluria. Together we will heal the past and bind the future. Guardian would not
have brought us together on this planet without purpose.”

“It wasn’t Guardian,” she cried in denial.
Guardian wouldn’t have been so cruel as to have brought them together this way.
Not with the knowledge that she could no longer offer the balance that Devon
should have in union. “It was my father who did that. I know the level you’ve
risen to as Enforcer. He doesn’t like to share power. Nor does he like to be
thwarted. This was his way of closing our circle in the most vicious way
possible.”

“Trust me, Eluria. You’ve been in my visions
always, even after the Nanus process. The block should have destroyed
everything Before. Your memory—our connection—is that strong.” Again, he
captured her lips, commanding her acceptance of him. He slid his hands along
the length of her back to rest at her hip, molding her to him. She felt his
hard arousal and her passionate radiance broke free.

The fire he lit surged, and denial of need
could no longer be accepted. She yearned for his touch and bent to him, needing
to recapture the past that should have been theirs.

He raised his head to pierce her with the glow of his fiery
passion. “You’re mine, Eluria Zydon,” he growled. “And I’m determined to make
sure you never forget it.”

Devon picked Eluria up and carried her into
the other chamber. Laying her on the bedroll, he opened her skinsuit and
quickly peeled it from her body.

When she was fully revealed, every inch of
skin open to his touch, Devon sat back, gazing at her. He lifted a hand. With
his index finger he traced a line from her shoulder down, across the full mound
of her breast. He lingered at the blushing areola, circled and teased her
nipple, until it beaded tightly. As though satisfied with the response of her
body, he slid his finger down the curve to the sensitive underside her brast,
tracing its fullness. He hesitated, a look of wonder on his face.

“I like touching you. My body responds to the
sight of your form. Your skin is soft as the rozanna petals. Like silk. I’ve
never felt pleasure in touching before. Not for a very long time.” His tone
seemed to be one of surprise.

“I’ve dreamed of you too, Devon. Are you
shocked to find you enjoy touching me?”

He resumed the sensual exploration with his
finger. Did he plan to trace every inch of her skin? Every spot his finger came
in contact with seemed to draw a path of electrical energy, arousing her more
than she thought possible by such light contact. Nerve-endings sparked inside
her, as though each one fired individually as his finger slid along her body.

Devon’s gaze followed the trail of his digit
as he drew a path over each new contour. His finger ignited her as he traced
her curves, he studied her flesh, as he exquisitely traced, relearning, his
finger a painter’s brush, as it rose and dipped through each arc of new
discovery, stopping only to investigate the most sensitive peaks and valleys,
noting her response. It was as though he sought to memorize and inflame every
inch of her body.

“It’s always been a duty,” he murmured.
“Enforcers don’t feel passion or arousal. What I feel now, when I touch you, is
new. It was aggression through which I achieved erection for sensual
persuasion. Used only as a means to complete the mission.” His gaze rose to
meet hers as his finger trailed over her stomach to linger at her mound. “Not
the pleasure I experience at touching your skin, seeing your response.”

The bliss she felt at the caress of his hands
had her arching to know more. This teasing touch was driving her to the edge of
madness.

“Devon, please—” Eluria’s radiance fluttered
and pulsed in shades of shimmering gold and creamy yellow around her, a very
blatant indication of the intensity of her female desire. Restlessly, she
writhed beneath him. Through slitted lids, she looked at him. “What do you
feel? Do you desire me, Devon?” Symion, his fingers were driving her crazy.

He continued to stroke her body, but never
touching her feminine center. “I’ve always desired you, Eluria.” He bent closer
to her. His long, ice-white hair drifted over her sensitized breasts, flirtatious,
caressing.

Tangling her fingers in the thick, silky
layers, she pulled him down to within an inch of kissing. “I’ve hungered for
you always, Devon. This deep ache inside me has never been satisfied by anyone
else.”

All five of his long fingers splayed across
her mons, branding her with his heat, the sensation crawling downwards. Her juices
flowed, making her ready. She trembled with anticipation. It had never been
like this before. As a twilighter, she’d always needed enhancements in order to
respond. But not with Devon.

Touching her lips with a gentle, teasing
brush, he traced their fullness with his tongue. She opened her mouth, wanted
to taste him. Yanking him downwards, she drank with a ravenous thirst from his
sensuous, firm lips. His piercing invasion captured her soft moan of desire.

With one hand, he cupped her face and the
other, the one that tantalized her, he separated her shax lips and at last two
fingers entered her heated core.
Oh Symion, so much pleasure in his touch.
She whimpered and thrust her hips towards the source. Shafts of radiance flared
outwards, encompassing them both within its warm center.

He raised his head and looked at her, his
fingers anchored inside her. “Your hot silk beckons me,
na-nivia
. Can
you sense my desire for you?”

Untangling her fingers from his hair, she
reached around and yanked his skinsuit open, with an imperative need to taste
of him, she nibbled at his neck, felt his pulse throb beneath her tongue. Her
fingers encountered a scar at the back of his neck. She pulled back and looked
up at him questioningly.

“The chip with your information embedded with
a beamer to track my movements. It will need to be removed. Later.” He bent to
her, his long fingers thrust inside her, his thumb teased at her bud. “Much
later,” he growled.

Eluria pulled Devon close and wrapped her
arms around him. A wave of panic washed over her at the realization of what
awaited them outside this sanctuary. She trembled in the knowledge that this
time with Devon must last her an eternity. With a fierceness born of desperate
need, she clung to him.

“Devon, love me, please,” she whispered
frantically. “Now. I need to have your khout filling me. I need to forget what
awaits us.”

His fingers receded from her and he stood.
“Don’t think beyond this moment. Think of the union we planned. This was always
our path. Envision only Devon and Eluria cloaked in your female light.” He shed
his skinsuit quickly. Eluria admired his lean, hard form. It felt unreal,
having him here, a vision materialized.

It seemed an impossibility he could still
want her after what had happened—after what her father had done. To have Devon
desire her, to see it in his eyes, feel it in his body, had only ever been a
taboo vision allowed her in stasis.

“Open for me,
na-nivia
. Show me your
shax-ra—the petals of your desire, glistening only for me.”

Eluria sensed the very real the passion
rooted in the tenor of his husky tone. She eyed him hungrily, his khout was
thick and hard, ready to impale her. She knew once he entered her channel
completely and held steady, her liquid essence would cause the shaft to grow
longer, thicker. Desire built, her radiance was now a steady golden fire
surrounding her. It was more than lust—it was the color of bonding—a sensual,
yet spiritual melding of bodies and minds.

She sit up, wanting to caress the satin hard
length of him. There’d never been a desire to appreciate a man’s body before.
But now, she thought she understood his pleasure in touching her—she wanted to
do the same—to savor every inch of him.

“No,” he stopped her. His blue eyes glowed
with an inner flare of want. “Open for me.”

She lay back and spread her legs for him. He
knelt between them and watched her as she reached down, spreading the engorged
lips of her shax, and displayed her pulsating, wet shax-ra. Her desire for him
blazed.

Molten fire singed along her skin as he reached
out to caress the engorged, sensitive opening. He touched her hard bud and she
felt more of her liquid essence release. “Yes,
na-nivia
, flow for me.
You are beautiful. It seems I’ve waited a long time as well for this moment.”

His fingers enter her, his thumb teased her
bud of sensation, driving her passion to a higher sphere. Her body clenched
with need. Devon withdrew his fingers and lubricated his shaft with the golden
liquid heat of her body.

“Seal with me Devon, please,” she begged. “I
must have you inside me before I shatter. I must know completion. Only with
you.”

Devon knelt up and pulled her hands to her
sides. Then he spread her thighs. She felt the tip of his hard length at her
entrance.

“Yes,” she sighed, “oh, yes.” He circle the
tip, before he pushed forward. She felt her lips separate, allowing his khout
to tunnel deep inside. She arched upwards offering herself, opening for
complete penetration.

Devon entered her, filling her, until
stopping, fully sheathed inside her. For moments he remained still and she felt
his shaft lengthen and become thicker, adjusting to her, until it touched the
entrance to her tender cervix.

Only then did he pull almost fully free,
every nerve ending in her channel sensitized to each movement. She pulsed
around him, each wave sending her higher and higher. He thrust forward again,
and again in long, slow strokes. She screamed as wave after wave of intense
sensation threaded through her. It had never been like this. Never.

One last thrust and he stopped. His khout
pulsed inside her, and she felt what she’d never felt before. The vibris
beneath the hood of his khout were released and began to massage the entrance
to her womb, encouraging her to open fully to receive his seed. Like feathers
whispering, coaxing her responses. Eluria’s breath faltered as pleasure
consumed her, as the spasms of her release gripped her. Her shax-ra pulsed,
releasing the threads from her shax lips to wrap around the base of his khout,
sealing them together.

Again she screamed, a deep-throated primal
sound of triumph as she felt her anstillia cord release for the first time and
extend from the base of her shax to enter Devon’s anal channel. It thickened
and held fast, each tiny nerve-ending in the length of her cord nestled inside
him transmitting his vibrations of pleasure to her.

She heard his growl of release—of claiming.
This was completion. They were bonded, sealed together as pulse after pulse of
rapture flowed and rippled through them, binding them.

The strokes of the vibris of his khout
continued to cause endless sensual vibrations to consume her, as the sensitive
anstillia cord pulsated inside his anus enhancing and prolonging his release.

Eluria felt all of it. Every ripple of
completion throbbed inside her—their combined release, intensifying, merging
their responses inside her as they climbed ever upward.

As they reached the pinnacle, a stillness
filled her, like a shadowed, soft whisper of death, sending her into a void, a
moment of complete and utter soundlessness, then a burst of shattering colors
surrounded her as she felt her soul freed from her body.

Opening her eyes, she looked around and was
shocked at what she saw. Devon stood next to her, holding her hand in a strong
secure grip. Both of them were naked, surrounded by her vibrant radiance.
Before them was a golden throne set on a raised dais. In her heart she knew
they were in Lydion. It was Guardian who sat upon the throne, and to either
side was Symion and Mylonna—the trinity of perfect balance.

All three stood as one, and Eluria and Devon
knelt as one before them. Guardian nodded and smiled. “The union is complete.”

The scene dissolved and Eluria again felt herself
falling through the black void. Sighing with a pleasurable sense of completion
and balance such as she’d never known before, she fell back into the welcoming
embrace of unconsciousness.

*          *          *

Devon watched Eluria as she slept. He wanted
her to wake, needed to know if she’d experienced the same vision he had. He was
still overcome by the seal and completion they’d achieved. Whenever he’d
engaged in sensual persuasion for duty, he’d always encased his khout in a
protective covering, not willing to unintentionally create a seal with any
other female.

With Eluria, there’d been no question of not
sealing. He wanted all of her and to claim and be claimed in the most intimate
and spiritual way possible. What would she feel when she discovered what he’d
found upon waking? The seal they’d experienced went far beyond anything they
could have imagined. That Guardian had acknowledged the seal and bound them
forever in a true balance union.

He again looked at his wrist, and at the
threaded colors of the markings running down the center of his chest. There’d
been stories of true-balance unions, but to his knowledge none really existed.
He’d thought of them as figment tales only for the ears and entertainment of
youths. Now he knew he was wrong.

Again, he looked at Eluria as she lay
sleeping. A smile curved her full, pink lips. He lowered the blanket, noted the
new markings on her body, which mirrored his own.

It was too much temptation. He lowered his
head and captured her lips. They parted for him, and he thrust his tongue deep.
Eluria arched and he heard her soft sigh. So responsive to his touch. Devon
inhaled, allowing her scent to tease him. Her golden radiance flickered faintly
around her.

He thanked Guardian for this gift. She was
his tafai, his soul-flame, and he would care for her in all ways.

Slowly her lids lifted. A feeling of
possession and satisfaction overwhelmed him when he saw the color had altered.
Instead of the ruby shadow of a twilighter, they were now the rich dark magenta
of a tafai. His tafai. He ran a thumb across her full, lower lip.

She turned away and moved to stand. “I need
to get dressed. We have much to plan. It’s time we left.”

Devon grabbed her shoulders and whirled her
around to face him. Eluria’s expression had become guarded. “What is it?”

She shifted her gaze away. “Nothing. Why
should there be? We need to find a way to reach Ednos. I assume you disabled my
transport. What about your ship?” She tried to pull away.