Hardcore Green Read Online Free Page A

She turned to the greens and vegetables that she had been served and concentrated on them.
    "So, Syl, what have you been up to since I last saw you?"
    So, there was a way to work around it after all. She put a coy tone into her voice. "I forget, how long has it been since you jaunted off for family business? One would have thought you had forgotten your poor wife."
    "It was only two months, love." He lifted her hand to his lips and he flashed a wicked smile. "I can remind you of our last time together after the meal. Now, what were you up to?"
    "Just the usual, the planting on Osharin, then the next world and now Porvin."
    "Did they threaten you when they took you?"
    "No, but the guns at the carnival and the cannons aimed at the ships were giveaways that they meant business." She bit a small pod in half viciously. The threat to her people had been her biggest hot button.
    "The cannons were still there when Eckobar informed me that you had been taken." His words came in between mouthfuls of food.
    "I see. That isn't good. I wish I was back there." She stabbed at her salad and drank half a carafe of water.
    "Have you ever considered leaving the carnival?" His casual tone dropped the words between them.
    She swallowed and then spluttered as she inhaled the water. "You know very well why I can't."
    "Things change, Syl. Things are changing right now." He finished his meal and sat back. "If no one decides to move forward, everyone stays in place."
    She was going to snap at him for digging at the topic, but a knock on the door got their attention.
    Tenario straightened his shoulders. "Sylvain, you are needed in the fields. The special crop requires your attention."
    She felt her face tighten as she stood. She gulped down the other carafe of water and nodded. To her surprise, her sandals were still in place. Even frolicking with Garoz hadn't managed to do more than eradicate her underwear.
    When he got to his feet next to her, she took his hand in a move that probably surprised him. She didn't care. She wanted him next to her.
    "He can't come."
    "He is my husband. He will be at my side." She didn't stomp her foot, but it was implied.
    Garoz casually closed his tunic and wrapped his arm around her hips. "It is a sensitive time for her. She is in heat and gets irritable and irrational if I am not nearby."
    Tenario scratched his head. "No one has mentioned it before."
    "She was still maturing. Her kind takes almost four decades to reach adulthood."
    Sylvain fought not to show the shock that ripped through her. Apparently, she was not the only one of her kind Garoz had ever seen. That was going to be pillow talk for the evening if he stayed with her.

    Chapter Five
    The field of Askuke was suffering. Sylvain left the guards and her man behind to wander through the field. When they had been single-leaf seedlings, she hadn't recognized them for what they were.
    The Askuke were deadly to the soil. Not only would they drain the soil, but they also would start a ripple effect that would skew the harvests of the rest of the planet forever. Tenario's kidnapping of her now made sense. The plants absorbed life and their pods were both a narcotic and an effective treatment for infertility. Eating them gave you the life that they took from their planet.
    With a daily dose of her talent, the Askuke might make it to maturity and the rest of the local growing area might make it to harvest. There was no way to be sure.
    In a stopgap measure, she sent a burst of her growing energy through the wilting plants. With the waves of energy sucked in by the plants, she didn't know how long she would be able to maintain their growth.
    Her feet didn't even enjoy the feel of the soil. There was no life in this field, no joy, no wonder. It was a sucking black hole of greed and need. She didn't think she could fill it.
    Tired and emotionally drained by trying to feed this one field, she stomped back to the men waiting for her. "I don't know how long I can do