Moon Borne (Halcyon Romance Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

perusal of the stars, viewing only the twinkling of his sister’s bright eyes.
    For more than five years, he’d searched endlessly for Lena. In all that time, he’d not come across any trace of her. Desperate, he’d fled his life as a slave and became a slaver. It was the only method of making enough money and connections to find Lena. He’d vowed to do anything, become anyone, to ensure his sister wasn’t going through the hell he had.
    Arsenius dismissed the surging regret of his earliest ventures, when he’d had to prove his way into the slaver world. Contrary to what the Amazon believed, he did not enjoy enslaving the innocent. His present cargo reflected his preference for procuring rare, and often dangerous, creatures. Whether it be ridding a noble’s estate of nuisances like Kobaloi, battling a hydra terrorizing a village, or seeking out rare gifts fashioned by the gods themselves, Arsenius had earned his reputation as the best. He’d risen high enough to choose his assignments. Like his current client, who promised Lena’s location in exchange for the Amazon Kyme.
    It was Kyme specifically he’d been sent to capture. As usual, he didn’t ask questions, though his buyer had made the Amazon’s future clear. When she’d declared her purity, everything began to make sense.
    He’d used the threat of enslaving her sisters as bait. Without some persuasion, he would never be able to keep her imprisoned. She’d fallen into his game. A little too easily. She was hiding something, and he was determined to find out what.
    He did his best to readjust himself and decided he’d been away for long enough. The hunger to be near her twisted his insides, gnawing in an almost painful manner. As he hopped down onto the lower deck, any peace he’d attained was assaulted. Thereus was waiting for him and, from his cross-armed stance, there’d be no avoiding his inquiries.
    “Captain.” Thereus inclined his head. His piercing green eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. In centaur form, the half-black-stallion, half-human male towered above nearly everyone, save giants. Shifting his weight between his four hooves, the centaur wasted no time. “Is this what you snuck off to do?” Of course, his first mate was angry with him. He likely resented being left behind, unable to fight by Arsenius’s side and defend him.
    Even so, Arsenius didn’t have anything to say to his friend, so he grunted an unintelligible response.
    “If you were that desperate for a female, we could have made a detour.”
    “She’s not…” He cleared his throat. “She’s my slave.”
    At his declaration, Thereus’s eyes widened. Before he asked too many questions, Arsenius filled him in on the details. When he finished, instead of offering his approval or support, the centaur gaped at him as though he’d gone mad.
    “You do realize what she is to you, do you not?” The centaur studied Arsenius, nostrils flaring again.
    “She’s my slave, and nothing more.”
    “Ha!” Thereus snorted. “You don’t actually believe—”
    “Enough, centaur. I don’t pay you for your counsel.” Cutting off the interrogation with a slice of his hand, he left his friend to his suspicions.
    The cool ocean breeze did little to clear his head or calm his nerves as he strode up the stairs to his cabin. He opened the door and a pang lanced into the center of his heart, stilling all within him.
    Kyme slept at the foot of his bed. No pillow, no covers. Like a dog. Nay, not like a dog. Like a slave. He stared at his hands, disgust brewing in his gut. I reduced her to this. He was a bastard for presuming she found him attractive. No woman desired a man who treated her worse than an animal. Who promised a future of rape and forced breeding. No woman would, and certainly no proud Amazon.
    And his sister, Lena? Would she forgive him his methods? Would she want to be freed if she knew the price? He raked a hand through his hair. It matters not. He was this far in,