Rital of Proof by Dara Joy Read Free Book Online Page A

in, Green thought the trait a particularly charming one.
    Somehow, she thought it a part of Jorlan. He would never shroud his true emotions. The ones that burned deeply inside him. The bold trait might cause him trouble in the future.
    He would need an exceptionally strong name-giver. Someone who could protect him from the vicious judgments of the Slice while at the same time allow him to experience the high emotions he needed to channel. Her shoulders dropped slightly. There were very few women in the Select Quarter who would allow him that kind of freedom.
    "Do you never want to experience love, Jorlan?" His hand came up and stroked the side of her face. The aqua eyes softened to a shade she had never seen before on a human. But she had seen it echoed in the early mornings of Forus as the mist rose off the waters. It took her breath away.
    "Do you offer me love. Green?" he asked in the smoothest of tones.
    It took Green an instant to realize that his heady senses were getting out of hand. He was igniting them both and he was also deliberately playing with the flame. For his sake, she needed to douse his fire.
    She observed him coolly through lowered lids. "What if I was?"
    His lips teased at her mouth, sipping at her bottom lip with an innate talent. "I do not wish to be a name-bearer. I have told you this."
    "Who said anything about being a name-bearer?" she whispered back.
    She knew the exact instant the insinuating remark registered on his passion-drugged brain. Her offer was highly insulting to a man of noble birth. She might as well have slapped him.
    At his stunned look, she rose from the bench and returned to the salon.
    And yet her thoughts remained back with him.
    Green was shocked to discover that she did want him.
    Really wanted him.
    No other woman would be able to handle and release him at the same time. Jorlan Reynard would be the perfect father for her heir.
    But right now she did not need a troublesome veil to contend with, no matter how alluring his qualities. She needed to focus on her house—not her bed. Besides, she still had her pleasurer. River, who more than took care of all of her needs.
    Yet the simple sweet embrace of Jorlan affected her more than anything she had ever experienced with River.
    She decided to leave the soiree, and, regretfully, the compelling Jorlan.
    Somehow on the ride home in the Kloo-driven coach, she could not get him out of her mind. The idea of making Jorlan her name-bearer settled firmly in her mind and would not leave.
    With the swift decisiveness she was known for in the House of She-Lords, she instantly changed her mind and decided she would make an offer for him.
    In time.
    He would be the one she fastened.
    After all of these years of being a woman-about-town, she would finally take a name-bearer. The Slice would be gleefully shocked with the delicious bus-bit. The kloobroth would spread quickly.
    Who would have thought that, with all of the young men vying for her attention and the myriad of invitations from fathers beseeching her to call, she would choose a most reluctant veil, who in all probability was going to object vehemently to the idea?
    It was not going to be an easy task.
    Still, Jorlan could not hide his reaction to her. The man wanted her. She would begin by slowly encouraging him without him even realizing it. The veil was keen to experiment—she would give him what he wanted. Just not in the way he expected.
    In time, he would eventually come to her on his own. His passion was the key.
    In surrendering to it, he would surrender to himself. She hoped.

Chapter Three
    The Reynard estate was vast.
    It bespoke of countless generations of Duchenes, rich in heritage and wealth. Jorlan's ancestresses went back to an Origin officer, of course.
    And not just any officer.
    Captain Cybella Reynard was considered to have been the Founder of their civilization. How ironic that her progenitor son eschewed the very foundation she had set in motion.
    Although most of