Sons of Lyra: Slave Princess (4 page)

“
Mo kullinso
terra yoi erasu.” He smiled at her and held his hand
out.

She looked at the device
sitting on the middle of his palm. She thought about swatting it
away and then sighed. Taking the device, she pushed it back into
her ear.

“
That’s
better,” he said with a wider smile. “Isn’t it better when you can
understand me?”

“
I’ll never
understand you,” she muttered into her food and then bit into one
of the apples. It was juicy and sweet. She moaned and bit into it
again and again, until her mouth was so full she couldn’t
chew.

He laughed and she scowled
at him, making him stop.

“
I’m sorry...
I’ve never seen someone eat fruit with such... such... hunger.” His
expression changed as he said that last word, concern surfacing in
his eyes with a trace of fear. Was he worried that he’d said
something wrong?

He looked her
over.

“
I haven’t
eaten in almost two weeks, if that’s what you’re trying to figure
out.” She ate the remains of the apple and swallowed it down.
“You’d eat like this too if you knew what it was like to be hungry.
I bet you’ve never been hungry in your life.”

He frowned at her, a dark
look entering his eyes. She knew she was pushing him. He deserved
to be pushed. He’d probably lived the pampered life of luxury. He
probably didn’t have a clue about the terrible kinds of things
she’d been put through. He shifted on the bed and her gaze lowered
to his neck. There were several scars streaking down it, from the
corner of his jaw to around the back of his neck. The more she
looked at him, the more scars became evident. There was one to the
side of his right eye, a dark one that said it had been a bad wound
when it had happened. Maybe he did know of pain, but no amount of
pain could be comparable to the things she’d
experienced.

She scoffed some of the
berries to distract herself from her dark thoughts. One of them
fell down her top. She dipped her fingers in and went to pull it
out, but stopped when she realised that he was watching her. A
furtive glance revealed his eyes were fixed on her hand where it
was down her flight suit. She drew the berry up slowly, tracing her
skin with it and teasing the curve of her left breast. His lips
parted.

Perhaps he did want her.
His eyes had said as much when he’d been on top of her and when
he’d watched her in the shower.

“
I can fulfil
that desire,” she said and his eyes shot up to meet
hers.

“
What desire?”
he snapped with venom in his voice. She’d flustered him
now.

She smiled and ran the
berry a little higher towards her neck before tracing it along her
lower lip and then sucking it into her mouth along with her
fingers. She sucked them a moment, her eyes never leaving his. His
narrowed and darkened again, but this time it was hunger in them,
not anger.

She pulled her fingers
free of her mouth with a pop. “That desire.”

He glared at her and then
stared out of the window.

She leaned back on the
bed, intent on getting him to admit that he did want
her.

“
Come,
Captain,” she whispered with a smile. “You own me after all... you
don’t want to inspect the goods? You don’t want one little taste
before you drop me off? Your family would never know you’d been
with a Terran... I’m clean.”

His gaze shot to meet hers
again. She couldn’t read it now. There were too many conflicting
feelings in it. She’d always been good at reading people, she had
to be to avoid getting hurt worse than she had been, but he was
beyond her capabilities. She’d never met a Lyran before. Perhaps it
was his species and not just him.

She picked up another
berry and caressed her breasts with it. “You don’t want a
taste?”

He frowned at her and took
a deep breath. She’d never seen someone look so offended
before.

“
I have to do
your bidding... I’m yours... you own me.”

He stood sharply, his
frown intensifying. “Stop saying that!”

She was taken aback by the
force of his words. Earlier he’d said that she wasn’t his, that she
wasn’t a slave anymore.

“
Does it offend
you that you own me... that you can do anything with me that
pleases you? I’m yours to command, Captain Lyra II. You won’t touch
me but I’m not stupid... I know you want to... so why don’t
you?”

He paced across the room,
keeping his back to her. “You are not my property. You belong to no
one but yourself. You are free.”

“
You didn’t
answer my questions.” She stood and followed him across the
room.

“
I... it does
offend me that someone thought to make you a slave and you believe
you are one still.”

She moved around him until
he was facing her. He looked at her, right into her eyes. There was
so much passion in them.

“
And my other
question?” she said, cocking her head to one side.

He paused, drew a deep
breath, and then whispered, “Because it is wrong.”

She would’ve laughed at
that but he was so serious and solemn. She looked at him a moment,
studying his expression and his eyes. He really did believe that it
was wrong of him to want her.

“
Because I’m a
slave, or because I’m a Terran?” she said and moved closer to him.
She wanted to know which it was. Something was holding him back and
she was determined to find out what it was. Disgust? Fear?
Loathing? It had to be something other than
self-control.

“
You’re not a
slave,” he said. “You’re free.”

She grabbed the chain
attached to her collar, raised it up so he noticed it and then gave
it a sharp tug. “I’m not free!”

“
Why haven’t
you taken that off?” he said with a concerned frown.

She laughed now. “I can’t.
When the Sekarian handed you the chain, the collar took your DNA
imprint. Only you can remove it because you own me.”

The muscles in his jaw
tensed at those last three words. He really was repulsed by the
idea that he owned her. Most men in the universe would have been
pleased. They would have been abusing her by now. Not this man
though. All he wanted to do was free her. He thought he was doing
that by setting her down on some random planet. He really was
ignorant to the way the universe worked. From the moment he ditched
her, it would be just a matter of time before someone else caught
her and put her back into slavery. She was valuable. He didn’t
realise that.

His fingers brushed hers
as he took the chain from her and she stood mute as he slid his
other hand around the side of the collar and flicked the latches. A
tremendous sensation of freedom and happiness filled her when the
weight of the thick leather and steel collar disappeared from
around her neck. She looked up into his eyes as he moved closer and
the feelings inside her altered when he stroked her neck and the
scars she knew were there.

He was so
close.

Her eyes fell to his mouth
and her lips parted.

She wanted to kiss
him.

Just a brief kiss of
thanks for setting her free.

That’s all it
was.

Her eyes met his
again.

She pressed her hands into
his chest to steady herself, tiptoed, and closed her eyes as her
lips touched his. It was as brief as she intended, nothing more
than a brushing of lips. She set back on her heels and took her
hands away. He was staring at her now with fire in his dark eyes.
His breathing was as heavy as her own.

“
Will you kiss
me now I’m not a slave,” she whispered, holding his gaze and trying
to read him. “Or is it because I’m a Terran?”

Her eyes widened when he
grabbed her waist and dragged her up against his hard body. His
lips crushed hers in a passionate kiss that made her heart skip a
beat. She closed her eyes and leaned into it, wanting to feel his
strength and his heat. Before, she’d wanted him to kiss her so she
could prove to him that he wanted her. Now, she just wanted him to
kiss her.

His tongue brushed hers as
she licked his lips and she held back a moan when his hands, rough
and strong, coursed up her back and pulled her harder against him.
She was out of her mind. He kissed across her jaw, his breath hot
and heavy in her ear. She decided that she didn’t care. So what if
she was giving him the impression that he could have her if he
wanted her.

He could.

Something about him made
it impossible for her to deny him. She wanted him. She’d wanted him
from the second he’d touched her in that dirty port
town.

Something
buzzed.

Balt rolled his eyes and
released the woman. In Iskara’s name, what was he thinking? She
wasn’t his slave or his whore, but he was treating her as though
she was. He stepped away from her and ran a hand over his
hair.

“
What is it?”
he said to the quiet room filled only with their dual
panting.

Damn he wanted to kiss her
again. He’d never tasted anything as sweet and tempting.

She looked
confused.

“
Bridge to
Captain Lyra II, we have company.” The voice crackled over the
intercom panel beside the door. The woman looked less
confused.

“
Company?” he
said and turned towards the door. His heart jumped into his throat.
They couldn’t have caught up with them so quickly.

“
The Minervans
want the woman.”

Balt frowned over his
shoulder at her. She looked frightened now. They wanted her?
Why?

He grabbed her arm and
dragged her along behind him as he walked to the bridge. The
Minervans usually fired first and asked questions later. Why was
today so different? What did they want with the woman? Was she so
important that they wouldn’t risk firing upon them? They attacked
his ship regardless of himself being onboard. Did they value her
more than him?

The door to the bridge
slid open with a swish and then closed behind them.

“
On screen,” he
said to the communications officer.

The middle glass window of
the bridge darkened and then the Minervan appeared on
it.

“
Captain Lyra
II.” The Minervan smiled winsomely. It was the man from the port.
“Give me the girl and your ship won’t be harmed.”

Balt glared at him and
walked forward with the woman. His hand tightened around her wrist
when she tried to get away.

“
What do you
want with her?” he said.

The Minervan laughed,
revealing his sharpened teeth. The woman tensed.

“
You’re so
ignorant, Lyran. You don’t know what you have.” The Minervan’s
attention drifted to the woman.

Balt looked at her. There
was so much fear in her eyes, more than he’d ever seen.

“
I would’ve
thought your filthy Lyran hands would’ve been all over her by
now... but you must be a fool as well as ignorant... to waste such
goods,” the Minervan said with a lewd look at the woman. “Check the
back of her neck and tell me what you see.”

Balt pulled the woman
towards him and turned her around. He brushed her hair over her
shoulder and frowned when he saw the black intricate mark on the
back of her neck. He knew that mark. The woman stepped away and
looked over her shoulder at him, a pleading expression on her
face.

“
So you see,
dear Captain... we want her... hand her over and we’ll leave
quietly.”

He stared into the woman’s
emerald eyes. He couldn’t do that to her.

“
No deal. I own
her. She’s my property now,” he said and slammed his fist down on
the communications panel. The screen went dark and then cleared to
reveal nothing but space. He turned to his crew, never
relinquishing his grip on the woman’s arm. “Change course. Set
coordinates for Lyra Prime.”

He dragged the woman with
him as he headed back to her room. She had some questions to
answer. His blood boiled when he thought about how close he’d been
to falling for her trick. How dare she use her beauty against him?
How dare she make him feel as though she really wanted
him?

The door to her room slid
open and he threw her inside. She hit the table and landed on her
backside on the floor. She sat there, looking up at him with
disbelief in her eyes.

He sneered at
her.

“
Did you intend
to kill me?” he shouted at her. She flinched away and shook her
head. “I don’t believe you. You would’ve killed me!”

He grabbed her upper arm
and roughly hauled her onto her feet. She lowered her head away
from him and then slowly looked up at him.

“
I wouldn’t
have,” she whispered, her voice shaking with fear. “I should to
avenge my people, but I didn’t intend to.”

He didn’t know whether to
believe her. If she was lying, she was incredibly good at it. From
where he was standing, she looked sincere.

“
Tell me,” he
said, his grip on her arm increasing. She cringed and whimpered.
“How does Terran royalty become a slave?”