Beguiled (Book 2 Immortal Essence series)

Worlds divided them. Chance brought them together. Only love will save them.

Praise for the Immortal Essence series:

The book was filled with adventure, secrets, and romance, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat." by LM Preston.

"I... felt like I was literally out of this world for a while." by Melissa Lemon.

"Loved it from the first page and was thrilled to be reading something so richly creative and engaging." by
Tahlia
Newland
.

"It's in Michael's and Venus' darkest hours that you can't put the book down." by Brenda Drake

"The twists and turns left me breathless and the writing is beautiful." by
Taryn
Taylor.

"I liked the way things were described, along with the dialogue." by The Golden Eagle.

"What a ride!" by Taffy Lovell.

"I love a book where the details fit together like pieces in a puzzle..." by Rachel Morgan.

"
I fell hard for her characters and found my self rooting for them." by Debbie Davis.

"Her journey and struggle capture the imagination long after the story ends." by Rosie Connolly.

"
RaShelle
does a wonderful job of creating the angst we all feel when life hands us lemons." by Gail.

"Writing that moves readers to ponder their hearts is good writing, and that's what readers will find with Workman. She's a dedicated writer,
talented, and passionate. Readers won't be disappointed. Her protagonist is strong willed, her antagonist is easy to hate, and her mentor is easy to love."
 
by Kathleen
Brebes
.

"Michael and Venus have probably been the best pairing/couple that I've read about this year! GO READ THIS BOOK! You will
love
it." by Nancy.

"I enjoyed the atypical love triangle-- one that didn't throw me into extreme frustration-- and the idea that love is deeper than just physical feelings." by
Shallee
McArthur.

"Truly, at its heart, this is a romance, and a well written and enjoyable one at that. For me, that says something. I'm not a huge romance fan, but this story sucked me in so much that I found myself looking for a spare moment ANYWHERE to read." by Karen Hooper, author of the award-winning
Woldchild
Saga.

Dedication

For Debbie, my secret weapon.

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Afterword

Additional Works by
RaShelle
Workman

Indelibles
Link

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Table of Contents

Preface

Under The Bridge

The dream was venom to my sleeping soul.

It
wouldn’t
stop.

Night after night.
L
ike the rising of Kelari’s
suns,
the dream
was consistent
.

Always exacting.

Always
relentless.

Always unwavering.

An alabaster door loomed
before
me.
I shivered
involuntarily. Doors! Behind them lay the unknown.
The door
shimmered open
and I stepped through without
holding
my breath
like
I normally did. There wa
sn’t any point. I knew I
dreamed
. The outcome couldn’t be altered
.

One overwhelming emotion permeated. Terror. It saturated the air
. Dense
,
like the molten lava dribbling down
the side of
a distant volcano. T
he fear wasn’t mine though.
I scanned my surroundings for the offender generating the
sensation
, but saw no one
.

Above
was darkne
ss. No moon. No stars. Only e
mptiness. Raging fires dotted the otherwise barren landscape like potted plants. Some of the fires rose
into
the sky. Others roared low,
smoldering against the shadowed ground.

D
irectly in front of me
stretched
a bridge
over a vast
ocean of lava
.
I ambled toward the center, treading carefully
.
The l
ava roiled and
hiccupped
far below.
Heat rose and struck my face, but the bridges’ surface was cool against my hands.

Movement caught my attention.

Something swam in the lava.

It was long. Half of its body covered with scales while the other half moved like a billowing
red
curtain.
The creature burst
into the air.
I cho
ked
on
a scream
, falling back, slamming my elbows against the
bridges’
floor
.

The thing, a ferrikat, ascended
higher and higher, passing
the
bridge and continuing upward. I
noticed
the
“
curtain
” was actually fiery
hair attached to a
head. It had a face, which
arched toward the dark sky.
One
nose, one mouth
, and two eyes
.
The
lids were shut
, and long ruby lashes rested against its
porcelain
cheeks. Clavicle bones protruded at the base of the neck
,
where shoulders attached to arms attached to hands attached to long fingers
,
hung at its sides.

A
female, I realized
, trying to chew away my shock.
I knew
ferrikat’s
existed, but they were rarely ever seen.

From the waist down the body was that of a fish. Scarlet, magenta, orange, and fuchsia scales sparkled or burned.
Her
tail splayed wide, and was shaped
like a dolphin
. Abruptly the she-fish stopped, and
hung
in the air,
like a perfectly placed painting.
Her face tilted downward, slowly. Familiarity blew through
me
like a warm wind. The
ferrikat
opened her eyes.

I
knew those eyes.

1.
Two Princes

Wishes
are
like
the
wings on a butterfly
—
frail
and easily destroyed.

Still, as
I watched
Kelari’s
second sun sink
into the Alayeahean Sea, I offer
ed
one
.

“I wish to find my parents.”

In answer
,
a frothy wave slapped the
sand. I
ts edges
clambered
between my
toes, a cool
ing balm, before retreating
.
I stepped back.

When it came to the sea
I was a lurker, an admirer
, definitely not a partaker, though I
did love
the sound of the surf as it broke along the shore
.
The sea baffled me
though
. An entity I didn’t understand and had no control over. The waves, the tides, and the creatures beneath . . . all of it left me frightened.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath
, the salty air clinging to my insides
. The wind whipped against my braid and sent my light dress skittering around me like a dancing kite.

Behin
d me, over the grassy
h
ill, sprawled my family’s castle. Beyo
nd, spread wide with verdant greenery, orchards, and vegetation, was
Alayeah. A
lush and
vibrant countryside kept clean by solar powered energy
produced in
our
city
above
the clouds, Nimbus. The two
entities
were separate, but
each was
intrinsically necessary
to the other’s survival
.
One teaming with rich color, beautiful landscapes, and all manner of life, the oth
er metallic and industrialized.

In between the crashing
wave
s
I
heard
the
chk-chk-chk
of beetles, the buzzing of insects, and the
mawarrr-mawar
rr-mawarrr
of the tsar monkeys.

My home, I thought, fighting tears. Since
my return
to Kelari, even the little things, like the smell of
the brackish sea, made me cry.

A burst of wind rustled my hair
.
“You alright, Venus?” Zaren
was suddenly there. Precisely when I needed him.
He’d
used the kelvieri
form of trave
ling, Britorent, which allowed him
to get where he
had
to go
quickly
.