Shamara by Catherine Spangler Read Free Book Online Page A

Travan; considered herself safe from such foolishness as yearning after a man. Rayna had warned her often enough to never yield to the other sex, or to give them any power over her. Women had very few rights as it was.
    It didn't matter, Eirene told herself, resolutely pushing away the images of Jarek. She would never see the man again, and in time, the details of her encounter with him would be a distant memory. For the first time in her life, she was in control of her own destiny. She had made it to Elysia and gained a coveted audience with Darya, possibly the greatest healer in the quadrant. Eirene knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life, and how she would go about it.
    No one knew she was an Enhancer, nor would anyone ever discover that fact.
    She was free and safe.  No one would ever take that away from her.
     
    *  *  * 
     
    An Enhancer! Jarek bolted upright in his bunk, as the realization hit him with the force of a rocket launcher. The courtesan, Eirene, was an Enhancer. There was no other explanation.
    Unwilling for his mind to be clouded, he had refused Chase's offer of pain medication, despite the acute discomfort in his abdomen. He'd lain awake most of sleep shift, ransacking every thread of memory, ruthlessly probing his mind, demanding it produce every single detail.
    He focused on the events after he discovered Eirene's virginity, reliving his wounding and the hazy activities following. He now remembered the shooting quite clearly: how he had sensed the intruder at the last minute, dropped and rolled, reaching for his weapon and firing.
    He recalled the blast of agony in his gut, Eirene's stricken face above him, and a blue-haired woman in a swirl of blue feathers next to her. He'd kept his wits enough to demand they call Celie instead of the   authorities. Then things blurred. He wasn't certain whether the events after that point were real or distorted by pain and loss of blood.
    But he did have images—insistent images—of Eirene leaning over him, her hands hovering over his abdomen. She had closed her eyes, and then a torrent of heat and energy had surged into his body. He remembered arching upward, stunned by this assault on his already-screaming nerve endings. Oddly, it seemed the energy was flowing into both his abdomen and his head; that it sedated him even as it recharged his body.
    Then he’d felt as if he was flowing along a rapidly moving current, a kaleidoscope of colors and sensations, leaving him totally disoriented. He had drifted in and out of consciousness, aware Eirene still hovered over him, until a strident male voice broke the energy surge, and he sank into welcome oblivion.
    At least that's what Jarek thought he remembered. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything at the Dome, so he couldn't have been drugged. Add to that the amazing fact that he had not only survived a fatal wounding for four hours without medical treatment, but his wound had closed itself.
    He thought about these things for hours, considering every angle and possibility, and returning to the same conclusion each time. Eirene had healed him. Somehow, she had channeled a special energy into his body that had healed the wound and replenished his blood supply. He was an educated and well-traveled man. He'd never heard of any race of beings that could heal with pure energy, except one. The race he'd been researching the past season. Enhancers.
    But they were extinct. Or were they? In his determined quest to learn all he could about the Enhancers and their possible link to the black hole in the twelfth sector, he had uncovered some unusual tales: accounts of people being born with Enhancer abilities. The occurrences appeared random and were extremely rare, and the people supposedly possessed of such abilities disappeared from sight, probably snapped up by the Controllers or powerful private factions. There was no proof of living Enhancers, yet the tales persisted.
    Jarek had listened to the continually circulating