Heart of a Prince [Daughters of Lyra Series]

by Felicity Heaton

  Renie's heart leapt into her throat when the Vegan commander walked in, flanked by two soldiers. He still frightened her. She stood, unwilling to let him see that fear, and walked to the bars of her cell, coming face to face with him.

  "We have contacted your family,” he said, his eyes showing a smile that his lips hid. He seemed pleased with himself. Renie's heart pounded at the thought that her family were coming. She hated the position she was in, but the knowledge that her father was coming for her lightened her heart and made her feel better. The commander's gaze raked over her and then met hers again. “It will be a while before they reach us. You would be wise to make yourself comfortable."

  Renie glanced back at the bench and then at Tres. He was still sitting with his back to the wall, his strange eyes fixed on the commander in a venomous stare.

  "You will eat,” the commander said.

  Renie looked at him, shaking her head. He wasn't going to order her around. She might be his prisoner but she wasn't about to let him take all her strength from her. Tres had refused to eat and she was going to as well. She wasn't going to make things easy on the Vegans. It could be days before her family arrived. When they did, she wanted them to see exactly how poorly the Vegans had treated her.

  "What do you intend to do with myself and my brother?” she said, straightening her back and standing tall. She was a princess of Lyra. This commander wasn't going to frighten her.

  But her heart thundered in her ears and her palms sweated as she stood before him, staring up into his golden eyes and waiting to hear her fate.

  The commander smiled, thin-lipped and evil. “We have discovered something most interesting about your brother. It seems he is in line for the throne."

  Renie didn't like the way his smile widened, his eyes narrowing with it. It scared her. She frowned and stepped right up to the bars. She could see in the Vegan's eyes what he was thinking and she wasn't going to let that happen. Rezic didn't care about the throne. He didn't want it. He didn't want to be Lyra V.

  All of the malicious thoughts crossing the Vegan commander's face frightened her. They confirmed her fear that he was thinking of hurting her brother. He was going to punish Rezic for being in line to the throne of Lyra.

  Her resolve melted away and her brow furrowed. She stared into the commander's eyes, no longer able to hide her fear. He grinned when he saw it and that only frightened her more. The idea that he was feeding off her fear only increased it. Would he hurt her brother just to make her suffer?

  "Please,” Renie whispered, hating herself for showing such weakness but needing to protect her brother. He couldn't fend for himself. He was already injured. He had been so close to death. If they tortured him for information, he might not survive. “Don't hurt him. Please? I'll do anything you ask of me. Please ... just don't harm my brother."

  Tears blurred her vision. She couldn't bear the thought of them hurting Rezic. She could almost feel his pain already. If they tortured him, he wouldn't tell them a thing. He would die before he revealed any of Lyra's secrets. She didn't want him to die for a throne that he didn't want. Without him, the galaxy would be an empty soulless place. He was everything to her.

  "Please?” she whispered again, reaching up and wishing she could take hold of the bars, could get closer to the commander so he would see that she truly would do anything for her brother. “Take me instead. Don't hurt him. If you want to hurt someone—"

  "Enough,” Tres snapped in a firm voice, making her jump.

  Her head shot around to face him. He was on his feet and approaching the commander.

  "The treaty of Espacia forbids this kind of action.” Tres stepped right up the bars of his cell, his dark blue eyebrows knit tight into a frown. He was taller than she had expected and when he looked like this, so commanding and confident, she realised how handsome he really was. She moved closer to him, her eyes fixed on his face, wondering what he was going to do.

  What could he do?

  They were both trapped here. Mentioning the treaty wouldn't change a thing. They couldn't stop the Vegans from hurting her brother. She felt helpless. Useless. Rezic was hurt and there wasn't a thing she could do to help him.

  No one could help him.

  "You are in no position to speak,” the Vegan commander said to Tres.

  The determined look on Tres's face didn't change. He held the commander's gaze, unwavering in the face of a man she found so frightening.

  "We have contacted your family too,” the commander whispered and a flicker of something crossed Tres's face. Anguish? Fear? She couldn't determine the emotion. It was too brief, nothing more than a flash. In less than a heartbeat, it was gone, replaced by a glare so murderous and dark that Renie almost stepped back.

  Tres slammed his fists against the light bars, making them crackle and fizz. The commander retreated a step. Tres hit the bars again, his eyes narrowed into dark blue slits. Not a trace of pain touched his features although it must have hurt him to touch the energy bars.

  Renie watched in silence, witnessing an unspoken exchange of threats between the two males. She glanced down to see that Tres had his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. They were steady, not trembling in the slightest. The control he had over his obvious anger was incredible and stunned Renie as much as the hatred in his eyes. He had known what he was doing when he had hit the bars and he hadn't cared about the pain it would cause him. Had he wanted to scare the commander?

  Or was it the thought of his family coming for him that had made him react so violently, had made him want to fight?

  Tres heaved a sigh and visibly relaxed. Renie's gaze shifted to his face again. He looked calm at last, his head tilted back and his shoulders lowered. His blue pupils remained fixed on the commander though.

  The commander grinned, as though Tres's change in temperament was a victory for him.

  Tres frowned and then relaxed again.

  "If I eat,” he said slowly, his voice smooth and calm, “you will leave her brother alone."

  Renie frowned now, confused by the exchange. How was Tres finally eating important enough to the Vegans that they wouldn't hurt her brother? If it was true and they would do as he had asked then she didn't care about the reasoning behind it. She looked at Tres and then at the commander. No. Tres hadn't asked the commander. He had told the commander that he would leave Rezic alone.

  Was Tres of high standing within society on this side of the barrier? High enough that he could order the Vegan commander? She almost laughed at that. Given their current situation, he couldn't be that important. If he were then the commander wouldn't have been holding him in the cells. If this ship was anything like a Lyran military vessel, then it would have guest quarters. They would have held Tres in one of those if he were that important. Perhaps he was trying his luck. Perhaps he had only risked it sounding like an order to force commander into making a decision.

  But still.

  How was Tres's offer of eating equivalent to the safety of her brother? It didn't seem like an equivalent exchange to her.

  Renie looked at the commander to see what he would do. He looked pensive for a moment and then nodded.

  "Bring food for him, and make sure that he eats it.” The commander's gaze slid to her and she stepped back, away from him. “If he doesn't, then we go ahead as planned."

  Renie swallowed and glanced at Tres. He was looking at her, his expression serene and unwavering. If it was supposed to reassure her, it did, but she still wasn't about to trust these Vegans with her brother.

  "You'll leave Rezic alone as promised, yes?” she said as the commander went to pass her.

  He paused and looked down at her, across his broad shoulders. There was something in his strange yellow irises that looked like reluctance. He nodded and then stormed out of the room. One of the guards followed him. The other remained in the corner, watching her, his expression empty.

  Renie turned to Tres. He had sat down again in the same spot that he had occu
pied before, leaning with his back against the wall between the light bars of her cell and the bench in his.

  She walked over and sat down too. Her hands slipped from her bent knees to the floor and she looked down at Tres's hand. Carefully reaching through the bars, she tentatively stroked the burns on his hand, black marks against white skin.

  "I'm sorry,” she whispered and looked at him, tears trembling on the brink of falling again. She cursed them, wishing to Iskara that she wasn't so weak. The thought of them hurting her brother made her sick though and she couldn't stop the tears from coming whenever she thought about him. She couldn't lose Rezic. “You're hurt."

  Tres's eyes narrowed slightly, a look filling them that made her heart race a little quicker. His blue pupils mesmerised her, surrounded by inky black irises and then the white of his eyes. The soft look in them warmed her, soothed her. She didn't understand any of what had happened between him and the commander and she didn't need to in order to know that Tres had made a sacrifice for her sake. He had protected her and her brother by giving in to the commander.

  He had hurt himself defending her.

  She tensed when something brushed her left cheek, cold but soft, and then tried to smile when she realised that it was Tres's other hand. He brushed his fingers along her jaw line and his thumb swept across her cheek below her eye, wiping away her tears. He smiled at her when he moved to the other side, catching her tears with his fingers and taking them away.

  "I believe you are hurt worse than I,” he whispered back at her, his eyes never leaving hers. She briefly closed hers when his fingers paused against her right cheek, his touch light and tender. This was insane. Here she was stuck in a cell on a Vegan military ship with a man she barely knew and she was having what had to be the most romantic moment of her life. She leaned into Tres's touch, wanting to steal every drop of comfort and strength from it as possible.

  He took his hand back and she looked at him again.

  "My family is coming,” she said, more to herself than to him. She needed to make it sink in. Her family were coming for her. Rezic would be safe. Everything was going to be all right. “Your family too, apparently. You seem important to the Vegans."

  She studied his face, trying to read his reaction.

  "My mother is an important political figure,” Tres said and leaned his head back into the wall behind him. He stared up at the ceiling and Renie wondered if he was seeing it or the ducts. What would it be like to have ocular implants? Could he see through anything? “My family were probably looking for me and that is why the ship picked me up."

  Renie's eyebrows rose. “Will they ransom you too?"

  "No.” He shook his head and looked into her eyes. “As it stands, their treatment of me will probably get them punished ... but that all depends on my mother's mood."

  "What do you mean by that?” Renie said with a glance down at her hand where it still covered his. It felt nice. Reassuring. She had never realised that such small contact between two people could have such a profound effect. It wasn't the first time she had held hands, but it was the first time it had deeply affected her, making her feel strangely safe and sure that everything would turn out fine in the end.

  Tres frowned. “It means that it may turn out that I am the one who is punished while the commander of this vessel is commended for his actions in capturing and containing me."

  "Your mother sounds frightening.” Renie managed a smile when he did. He had a nice smile, although they were always closed lipped. She looked at his mouth. The seam of his lips was dark blue. Did he have blue gums? What colour were his teeth? He was so fascinating. She wanted to ask him a million questions but held them all inside, sure that he wouldn't like her probing into his life and treating him as though he was a science experiment.

  "She can be at times,” he said and looked up at the ceiling again. Renie studied his profile. His nose was perfectly straight and, for the first time since meeting him, she noticed that he had a slight blue shadowing around his eyes and that his eyelashes were like his hair but in reverse. They went from black at the root to blue at the tip. He suddenly turned his head to face her, his eyes meeting hers. “What is your mother like? Will she be coming with your father on the ship?"

  "My mother?” Renie smiled as she thought about her mother and father. “No, she probably won't be with my father. It's not that she wouldn't want to be with him when he came for me. She's probably worried sick about me and Rezic."

  She giggled.

  "Mother always said that we'd get into trouble one day and father would have to come for us.” Her look turned serious as she thought about how scared her mother probably was, and her sister and brothers too. Even her father was probably worried. Perhaps her and Rezic had overstepped the mark by venturing so close to the Black Zone. They only had themselves to blame and she didn't know what she would do if a war started between Vega and Lyra again because of her.

  "You look upset,” Tres said and she blinked and then looked at him. She shook her head. “Worried?"

  "Are they really going to ransom me and Rezic?” she said, needing him to tell her again that everything was going to be fine.

  "They would be fools to try. Vega would not condone such actions."

  "You seem terribly sure of that,” she said with a little laugh and a smile, afraid that he was wrong. “The commander seemed rather intent on getting his dues."

  "And he will get them, but it will not be from ransoming you.” Tres's hand shifted beneath hers and he held it tight. “Come, you were speaking of your family. I wish to know about them. Is your mother Terran?"

  Renie frowned. “You know who I am don't you? You know about my family. Do you know who my father is?"

  He nodded. “I know of General Lyra II, but I do not know about you, and ... I would like to."

  A blush blazed across her cheeks and she dropped her gaze. Her eyes fixed on their joined hands and her face only burned hotter. He wanted to know about her. It was a strange notion. No one had ever really wanted to know about her, but then she had never remained in one spot long enough for someone to ask. Rezic and her had always been flitting from one port to the next, heading deeper and deeper into space that was sparsely populated.

  "My mother is Terran,” she said after a moment's thought. She wasn't going to deny Tres the chance to hear all about her family, not when it was comforting to speak about them and to remember how much they loved her and that they were coming for her. “She was a princess but no one knew it. When my parents met, she was a slave. My father was given her by a trader. His translator had broken and he didn't realise what was happening until it was too late. My father set her free."

  Her eyes met Tres's when his hand tensed against hers. His were wide, staring at her with a curious look that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Was he thinking about their situation? Did he think that he could free her just as her father had freed her mother?

  "Your father is a very noble man and has a great reputation that spreads deep into the Black Zone. All of the sons of Lyra are men to be feared. I am learning that their daughters may be just as formidable."

  Renie laughed. “Formidable? That's not a very complimentary thing to say to a woman."

  Tres's hand left hers. “I apologise,” he said and frowned, staring at the floor near his bench. “I have little experience of speaking to females."

  "But you have your mother?"

  "My mother is often in other quarters. I rarely see her."

  "Oh,” she said and a horrible feeling settled in her chest. Perhaps she shouldn't have teased him about his choice of words. He was only being nice to her after all. She should have seen the good in what he had said rather than the bad. His mother sounded quite formidable though. “Don't you have any other family?"

  "My sister."

  There was a curt edge to his voice that warned her not to probe any further.

  "I wish I could speak to my parents. My mother especially. I'm sure that she would
want to come with father but he's out in the region of Perseia."

  "He is closer to us than he is to Lyra then."

  She looked at Tres with a frown. “Are there star charts of my side of the galaxy in the Black Zone? We have no charts of the Black Zone. They end at the line of the Vegan barrier."

  "Your space is well documented,” he said and his hand came back to hers, his fingers brushing her knuckles. His hands were still cold but she didn't care, not when it felt so nice and he looked as though he was enjoying the contact between them. He seemed fascinated with her hand. Perhaps it was warmth he was after. She hoped it was something more.

  The door to the cellblock opened again and Tres's hand left hers as he stood.

  Renie took her hand back and wiped away any remaining trace of her earlier tears before looking up at the corridor of the cellblock. The other guard was back. He had a blue dish filled with something. The guard that had remained with them did something to a control panel near Tres's door and a small opening appeared at the bottom of the bars. The guard with the food pushed the blue bowl through and then the bars closed again.

  "Eat,” the guard said and nodded towards the food.

  Tres took the bowl and came back to her. He gave her a small smile as he sat down and she peered across into the bowl. It looked disgusting. Inside the blue dish was a thick gooey clear mixture with some kind of pale red strings in it. Tres stuck his fingers into the mixture and stirred it. A blush of purple rose to the surface, rippling through the clear. It smelt foul.

  But she couldn't stop herself from watching Tres eat it. He scooped some up in his hand, tipped his head back, and let it fall into his mouth. She caught a flash of blue gums and white teeth and then he was swallowing. How could he eat such a horrible smelling and gross looking food?

  Her stomach growled.

  She looked at the bowl again and placed her hand over her stomach, trying to make it be quiet. It grumbled again as Tres ate another mouthful of the food. The more she looked at it, the more her stomach rumbled and the more appetising it looked. She was starving. It had been a while since she had eaten. Two days or possibly more. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious.