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

and her breath bounced back from his lips. Her heart skipped a
beat and she was thankful that most of her genes had come from her
father. Right now, she couldn’t imagine how dizzying the beat of
two racing hearts would be.

    “ That would be
me,” he whispered and reached around behind her. His wrist brushed
her neck as he loosed her hair and then ran his fingers through it.
“We’ll need to move fast. I’ll plan it all tonight. You must eat to
keep your strength up and to silence Nostra. I’ll lock the door
with a new combination and keep an eye on everyone to make sure no
one comes down here.”

    The thought of him leaving
her alone again made her want to protest but she knew better than
to say anything. He was doing all that he could to keep her safe.
He had even fought one of his comrades. If he didn’t go back to the
others, they would become suspicious of him. She could only wait
and pray.

    “ We will drop
to sub-space again.”

    Those words made her feel
sick. He opened a pouch on his belt and took out a yellow
pill.

    “ Swallow this.
It will ease your nausea and help you sleep through the
journey.”

    She opened her mouth,
willing to take the pill if it meant that she wouldn’t be ill when
they went into sub-space. Kosen had no reason to lie to her about
it or try to poison her. She could see in his expression that he
only wanted to help her.

    When she had swallowed the
pill, he turned away from her.

    He picked up the protein
pack and bit into the corner. The thought of having to swallow the
disgusting liquid made her stomach turn but Kosen was right. She
had to keep her strength up.

    She closed her eyes when
he brought the pack to her lips and grimaced as she swallowed down
its contents. The gooey liquid made her want to retch but she held
it down. When the pack left her lips, she opened her eyes to find
Kosen smiling at her.

    He really was handsome.
His smile made her heart flutter and sent warm tendrils outwards
from it. They stretched through her until her whole body was hot,
yearning for his touch and the feel of his lips against hers. Her
hair floated upwards and his smile widened when he stroked his
fingers through it.

    “ This is
beautiful, honest,” he said in a low voice as his gaze followed his
fingers through her hair. Her breath left her when his eyes met
hers and he whispered, “You’re beautiful.”

    “ Kosen, I...”
There was so much that she wanted to say but, when she thought
about it, it all sounded so ridiculous. She wanted to tell him that
she thought he was handsome, that a male had never affected her
this much before, and that she wanted him to kiss her
again.

    “ Try to get
some sleep,” he said and she nodded.

    She watched him leave, her
heart heavy with regret. Now that he was gone, the words came
easily, but it was too late to say them. She held them inside,
thinking about them and wondering if they were real and not just a
reaction to her situation.

    The door locks clicked
into place.

    The lights
dimmed.

    With the darkness came the
creeping doubts but this time the chill didn’t reach her heart. She
stared into the darkness, at the point where Kosen had stood not
moments before. Tomorrow they would take her to market.

    She closed her eyes when
she felt the ship shift into sub-space and was relieved when she
didn’t feel sick. Her head felt strangely heavy and she yawned as a
sudden wave of tiredness broke over her. Unable to fight it, she
began to drift off, wondering what Kosen was planning and whether
it would work.

    In the comforting
blackness of sleep, her mind surrendered its fight against her
feelings and her heart took over. She realised that she hadn’t
kissed Kosen purely to make him help her. She had kissed him
because she was attracted to him, because she saw a good man in
him, one that she was falling for. She wanted to help him too. She
prayed to Iskara that Kosen’s plan worked and they would both be
free.

    One fear settled in