Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Mercenary by Felicity Heaton Read Free Book Online

when she saw that Kosen looked
as though she had slapped him. His eyes were wide but their black
irises held anger. Not quite the reaction that she had
expected.

    Perhaps she should have
taken her brothers up on their offer to get her a couple of men
from Lyra Six, the pleasure planet, for her coming of age
present.

    Maybe then she wouldn’t
have felt like such an idiot right now and Kosen would have been
putty in her hands.

    “ I’m sorry.”
She looked down at her feet but could only see her cleavage. Her
heart was pounding so hard that she could see it beating. A blush
of shame coloured her cheeks and she felt as though she was red
from head to toe.

    What kind of romantic
idiot was she that she thought she could sway him with a
kiss?

    Especially a kiss as
pathetic as that one.

    He was probably going to
tell her how much more she would be worth now that she had proven
herself an innocent and was a princess to boot.

    She tensed when his hand
came into view. He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing across it.
Her cheek was damp. She had been crying. The galaxy had started to
look a little blurred. She blinked and sent the tears running down
to her jaw. His thumb continued to lightly caress her face as he
raised her head. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the
wall, too embarrassed to look at him.

    “ I’ll help
you,” Kosen said and her gaze shifted to meet his. “Although I’m
not offering because you kissed me. Just so we’re
straight.”

    “ Oh,” she said
and bit her lip. Why did he have to add that? For a moment, she had
thought that perhaps her kiss hadn’t been that bad.

    “ Although...”
He dipped his head and her eyes went wide when his lips grazed hers
in a light kiss. Her heart thumped so hard that she was sure he
would be able to feel it against his chest.

    His hand held her cheek as
his other claimed her waist. Her eyes slipped shut when he tilted
his head and deepened the kiss, his tongue brushing her lips. She
tentatively brought hers to meet it and a jolt ran through her when
they touched. A moment later, she melted into him, no longer aware
of their surroundings.

    She was only aware of this
kiss, of the feel of his body against hers and the incredible
warmth that was filling every inch of her as their tongues stroked
one another, their mouths fused as though they were one.

    His lips left hers and she
stayed there, her head tilted, eyebrows raised, eyes closed and
mouth open.

    Her breath left her in a
sigh.

    That was definitely a
better kiss than the one she had given him.

    “ Kosen,” she
said and opened her eyes. He smiled at her, revealing sharp pointed
teeth that left her wondering how she hadn’t cut herself when they
had been kissing. “I’m royalty. Whatever money you need to gain
your sisters’ freedom, I can give you it, in exchange for my
own.”

    He nodded, as though he
had already figured out what she had been about to offer him
earlier.

    “ I can’t get
you out of here though,” he said.

    She looked at the
restraints and remembered what he had said.

    Only Nostra could open the
cuffs.

    “ When?” Miali
said, hoping that he wasn’t about to change his mind. He looked
worried, as afraid as she felt, but there was a flicker of
something in his eyes. Her brothers had that look sometimes, and
her father. Normally it was before they did something ridiculously
dangerous and heroic.

    “ Tomorrow.”

    “ At the
market?”

    He nodded.

    He was going to wait until
the market to set her free. But surely Nostra, Eryc and the others
would be there to guard her. She wouldn’t be alone with Kosen. How
was he planning to help her escape?

    “ I think now
might be better—”

    “ Not a word,”
he said and silenced her with a brief kiss that sent her head
spinning. He pressed his forehead against hers and whispered
against her lips, “Tomorrow. Only one person is authorised to enter
the medical examination room with you.”

    “ A doctor?” she
said