Breath of Memory Read Online Free PDF Page B

fact. Racha had given him the option and he had accepted, somewhat relieved to have her be involved, even if she couldn’t participate directly. He left the room and closed the door behind him.
    “Did I hear correctly?” Rafe asked when Corey rejoined him in the main room. “Will the Queen be with us via conference?”
    “She considers it a business transaction, so yes.” Corey poured himself another drink, trying to ignore the slight smirk on the dragon’s lips.
    “Giving up a treasure so valuable, I understand. She wants to make sure Jill is well cared for.”
    “So do I,” Corey said.
    “Good. It needs to be clear that we both have Jill’s interests at heart before we begin. I will do everything in my power to see that she’s happy with the results.”
    “I want nothing less.”
    “Of course,” Rafe said. His dark eyes narrowed, as though assessing the veracity of Corey’s remark. “Do you think Jill will like living in San Diego?”
    Corey’s hackles rose at the suggestion of Rafe taking her away with him. “The way I understood it, you would be relocating here.”
    Rafe shrugged. “Of course it is up to her. On the way over she suggested she might like some new scenery.”
    Corey’s attention was drawn to the closed bedroom door when he heard Racha’s familiar voice bleeding through. A moment later the door opened and Jill stood there, looking apprehensive. She’d taken off her shoes and brushed her hair. Behind her, the large screen on the wall displayed the beautiful features of the woman he was really doing this for, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off Jill. Her skin was flushed and beautiful. Some unseen breeze caused a wisp of hair to trail across her cheek.
    If this was a business transaction, why could he suddenly taste her on his lips again? It had only been a couple days since he’d had the pleasure of her flavor on his tongue, but he craved her again as strongly as he craved Racha. His face heated and he looked behind Jill at the screen on the wall.
    “Corey, you know what needs to be done. It is all up to you now,” Racha said. She walked past the camera and it panned to follow her. She was wearing the same wispy gown she’d worn that first day they had met in the temple. The day he learned she would have died rather than coerce him into making love with her. With her back to him, she tugged at the clip in her hair, letting her shiny black curls fall down over her shoulders. Soon she wasn’t alone in the frame. Two men who looked vaguely familiar flanked her at the foot of a large bed. They were nude from the waist up, with heavily muscled torsos, deep tans, and shaved heads. They both had banded tattoos around their forearms that shimmered with colorless power. Their eyes were both unnatural shades—one silvery white, the other gold.
    “Who are they?” he asked, his jaw clenching.
    “I thought it might make it easier for you if we fulfilled two of your fantasies at once. These are my brother’s teachers from the Monastery. Darius and Zak. They will do anything you ask. You can watch while you handle our other business.”
    Corey remembered the men now. Or dragons—because that’s what they were—only they were shackled by magic to prevent them from shifting. The two men were the bastard children of other dragons, born centuries earlier without the sanction of the Council and compelled into servitude to punish their parents for breaking dragon law. Oddly, they were referred to as “Unbound” even though they were clearly the opposite. But he supposed the term referred more to their state at birth than what they had become.
    At the moment they both stood placidly by Racha’s side, but every so often the younger of the two—Zak—would steal a glance at the tiny video in the corner that showed their own room to him. Perhaps Zak enjoyed watching, too. The proposition itself was not something Corey had expected, but Racha knew him well. Perhaps it was the time he spent