Dance With the Enemy Read Free

her, and though she was sure he meant it as a kiss goodbye, she knew the effect it’d had on him. Somehow, someway, he would find her again. And even if he didn’t, she knew a part of him would always love her. That was enough to allow her to look forward to a new dream, one that had begun to take hold the day she was marked.
    Yes, life as she knew it was over, but now Elenya saw it for what it truly was: a continuation. She would rise with the sun tomorrow morning, setting out toward her new life. And in the evening she would gaze up at the stars that now represented for her a different kind of hope. She thought of the words she’d written in her journal and knew they were truer than she’d thought. As penned, this was only the end…for now.

 
    Chapter 2

     
    Tahruk slipped his arms into the soft fabric of the dove gray tunic he would wear to the gathering. With a poorly contained tremble, the corisan’s small hand inched forward to smooth the lines over his charge’s thick biceps only to be pushed away. Tahruk’s countenance was darker than it should have been for one preparing for celebration. The time of the Dremis was upon them.
    With clipped movements the warrior wrapped a near-black sash around his waist and tightened it with a sturdy jerk. He despised this yearly ritual, hated the fact that the Masters chose whom the elite would marry. Not that he cared. He’d never had any need for love, observing marriage as a mere means to fulfill his obligation to beget children. Besides, his chosen had eluded him for eight years. Few were the men who reached his age of twenty and six without being bound by some maiden at the Dremis gathering. Perhaps the Masters had forgotten him.
    He smiled, only the corners of his full lips twitching upward to match the wickedness of his thoughts. Either way, his bed would be warmed by an unknown maiden, one as fresh as the new clothing that hung on his powerful frame. Hopefully she would be one of the women brought in specifically for the pleasures of the warriors whose chosen had not yet arrived. He wondered… he’d heard this year’s gathering was far more alluring in their innocence than in most years, though tonight he craved a maiden perhaps knowledgeable even though unskilled. Too often the young women, made up to whet the appetites of the too long denied warriors, were fearful, untaught -- combinations that did not go well together. Tahruk had never minded, really. Under normal circumstances he very much enjoyed his part of easing a reserved maiden into her new position as a Lady of the Courts. He was known for leaving ladies skilled in the art of love, a proficiency appreciated by visitors and need-laden warriors fresh from training or the fields of battle.
    Why then did he not feel the weightless anticipation that usually accompanied preparation for the ceremony? Though true that he despised the ceremony’s reasons for being, he was usually able to look beyond the fanfare to the payoff. And then to the three weeks of rest that followed. Tonight, though, he wore a brooding veil that refused to lift.
    Your enemy will soon walk by your side .
    The odd words darted through his mind, pinging within Tahruk’s head while he pulled on his boots. He knew the exile had been lifted from his family’s enemy and their chosen was said to be in the midst of the Dremis maidens. Again Tahruk wondered why her presence should concern him. Since her marking some fifteen years ago, their exile had ceased and her people had begun to venture to the Centrehead, though not yet in the masses that were sure to come with her union. Some already trained alongside the royal guard.
    He supposed his concerns lay in her match. Depending on whose blood she carried, her family may very well be spending a lot of time near Zanak – his family Drille. It seemed likely since the majority of Drilles were centered about Dorengar’s Centrehead that she would be living close by. He sighed. Their families