Read Online Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Emperor by Felicity Heaton - Free Book Online

beside her, half dressed
and looking as wanton as she probably did. She reached out to push
the long strands of his black hair away from his face so she could
see it better and then paused as it hit her.

    She would have to marry
him now. In her haste to have him, she hadn’t thought about the
consequences. She hadn’t thought about protecting herself. He
murmured something in his sleep and smiled. He had a beautiful
smile. If they had a child, perhaps it would also have his smile.
In a way, she hoped it would have his eyes too. Now that she was
used to them, his eyes were stunning.

    She brushed his hair away
from his neck and ears, and smiled too as she mused what life would
be like with him. Her smile faltered when she realised that she
might not have a life with him. Her father hadn’t consented to the
match and Regis might not want to live on Lyra Prime. What if her
haste had left her pregnant and Regis didn’t want to stay with her?
What if he didn’t love her enough or still refused to believe that
he could love?

    He could. Her mother was
right. Everything Regis had done had proven that he loved her. She
had felt all the feelings in him, everything that she had been
feeling herself. He couldn’t deny that he loved her. Would it be
enough to make him stay on a planet that didn’t suit him
though?

    Or was her love for him
enough to make her leave Lyra Prime for a world and a species that
she knew hardly anything about?

    A place where the
brightest the day got was evening light?

    Her fingers traced the
black band of marks that started just behind his ear and followed
them down his throat and over his shoulder. They were so
familiar.

    It dawned on her where she
had seen them before.

    They had been in one of
the books from the palace library.

    Pulling her clothes closed
around her as best she could, she rushed from the room intent on
reaching hers unseen.

    There was something
important about the marks.

    Something very
important.

    She had to know
what.

    ****

    Chapter
7

    Regis smiled up at the hot
Lyran sun through his visor. It warmed him to the bone but it
wasn’t the reason that he was smiling. He lowered his gaze to the
garden and his smile widened as he saw Sophia. She was beautiful in
her flowing sky blue empire-line gown, her wavy black hair tumbling
around her smooth graceful shoulders. He laughed with her as she
danced around, her smile broad and infectious. The laughter of the
two small children joined theirs and he stopped to watch them
again, fascinated by the sight of her and the
younglings.

    Younglings.

    Their red eyes told him
that they were Varkan. Or at least in part they were Varkan. They
had their mother’s beauty.

    His younglings.

    Their
younglings.

    He had never seen such a
beautiful sight as her playing with them, never in his long years.
A sigh escaped him and he allowed himself the moment of whimsy as
he watched them. In this moment, he was no longer a commander of
his people but a man with a family.

    It was a beautiful
dream.

    No. It would be a
beautiful reality.

    Sophia turned and looked
at him, waving as she laughed, the light breeze tousling her hair
and dress.

    She was a beautiful
reality.

    He flinched and gritted
his teeth as something hit him. The dream slipped through his
fingers as the pain came again and he was torn from sleep. He
frowned as he opened his eyes and then smiled when he saw Sophia
kneeling beside him on the bed.

    “ You utter
sekta no uso cruskin nyaaeso!”

    She hit him again with
something rectangular and very hard. His head ached and he blocked
her next strike with his arm, unwilling to be beaten up any more.
His translator hadn’t understood the last part of what she had said
but judging by the thunderous black look in her eyes and the fact
that she was beating him to a pulp, he deduced it wasn’t words of
love.

    “ You lied to
me.”

    He understood
that.

    Sitting up, he placed his
hands out behind him to prop himself in place and