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

to his feet and
rubbed his neck. “Soothe him. Bring him back to us.”

    She stared at him and then
at Regis. “I don’t know how.”

    Emperor Varka stepped
forwards and Regis growled again. “Speak with him. He has been
calling you.”

    “ But he’ll
speak in that old language won’t he? I don’t
understand—”

    Regis reached out to her
and she realised that she didn’t need to understand anything he
said, she could feel it all in him, every emotion behind whatever
words would leave his lips. They would tell her what he wanted to
say.

    She stepped up to the
solid steel bars. Varkan steel. All the bars of the cells at this
end of the palace were Varkan steel. It was supposedly
indestructible, even to the species who mined it. They had placed
him here because they knew he wouldn’t be able to break out. He
growled and reached for her again, black claws scratching
impatiently at the air.

    Taking a deep breath,
Sophia placed her hand into his and frowned when he drew her slowly
to him, his grip so light that it stunned her. He closed his eyes
and she walked forwards, following her hand. Silence filled the
dungeon and she trembled as he leaned his cheek against her hand.
It was strange to have such power over one so strong. Her presence
alone had calmed his thirst for violence. Opening her hand, she
furrowed her brow and touched his cheek. He was bleeding. Long thin
lines cut across his face and his neck. The wound on his arm where
he had blocked the guard’s blade was deep, blood coating his
forearm. His chest was marred with cuts and scratches, smeared
blood. His blood.

    “ Who hit you?”
she said, looking over his face again, and he opened his eyes and
looked at her. He said nothing in response, merely leaned into her
open palm and held it against his cheek.

    “ I have not
enjoyed your deception and you have a lot to answer for,” her
father said behind her. She presumed he was talking to
Regis.

    Turning to look at her
father, she pleaded him with her eyes. “Release him, father. It was
all my doing. Punish me instead. I made him bite me. I’m sorry.
Please don’t hurt him anymore. I am a woman, and I can accept
responsibility for my actions.”

    Tears streaked her cheeks
and as the first sob broke free of her lips, Regis growled and
pulled her against the bars. She closed her eyes as she felt his
arms around her and a strip of his chest against her cheek, edged
by cold steel where the bars pressed in.

    “ No one will be
punished,” her father said and she smiled. “But there will be some
explaining to do once the Count of Sagres is calm.”

    She blinked away her tears
as her father turned to the Count of Aeris and Emperor
Varka.

    “ Take the Count
of Sagres to his room.”

    A guard near the cell door
opened the lock and the door slid open, forcing Regis to release
her. The moment the door was out of the way, he grabbed her and
wrapped his arms around her, holding her so close that she couldn’t
help smiling. He still wanted to protect her.

    The Count of Aeris tried
to get her free but Regis clawed at him, making it quite clear that
he wasn’t going to leave her. She looked at her father to see him
standing with his arms folded across his chest and a grim look on
his face.

    “ Can I go with
them?” she asked.

    An amused smile touched
her father’s lips and she frowned.

    “ You are much
like your mother in matters of love. When I saw you enter this
universe thirty Lyran years past, I had a thought that you would be
like me, but I see now that you have grown into a woman as
headstrong and wilful as your mother, willing to sacrifice yourself
for one you love,” he said and she blushed and dropped her gaze to
the floor. She had never thought of herself like her mother in
personality as well as looks.

    “ Perhaps there
is a little of you in me too, father, for I was willing to run away
to avoid an arranged marriage.”

    He frowned. “My sweetest
daughter, you did not believe that