“Whatever brings you here?” Her mother sat back down on the royal blue and silver couch, spreading her long cream satin gown across it.
Natalia could see past the smile plastered on her mother’s face. She was always sad when her father went away. The worry lines between her mother’s fine black eyebrows made Natalia sigh. She went over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her shoulders as she sat down beside her.
Her mother’s smile faltered.
“He’ll be back soon,” Natalia said with a real smile, hoping to brighten up her mother. “It’s only an escort mission within the Lyra system this time and if he encounters any trouble, he’ll survive. He’s too stubborn to die on the battlefield.”
Her mother laughed. “You are right but it still doesn’t stop me from worrying about him. Balt’s stubbornness is the reason I worry so much.”
Natalia understood that. Her father wasn’t likely to turn tail and run if he encountered any resistance. He would fight to the end for Lyra.
She took hold of her mother’s hand and squeezed it as she tried to think of a way to broach the subject that she had come here to raise. It was difficult now that she knew her mother was worried about her father. She didn’t want to increase that worry by suggesting that she was going to go to the festival.
Natalia looked at her two attendants where they waited by the door. They nodded.
Perhaps they were right. Her plan might actually go better now that her mother was worried and she was sure that nothing would happen to them down in the city. They would only be there a few short hours and if things went to plan, they wouldn’t be alone. They would have the best protection in the galaxy.
“Mother… I am going to go into the city today.” Her heart fluttered and she could barely meet her mother’s gaze.
Her mother’s emerald eyes were wide, fear shining in them. “But the festival is in full swing and there are reports of potential unrest amongst some of the purist factions.”
For a moment, Natalia’s heart faltered and she almost said that she would stay in the palace. Ixion had spoken of danger in the city but Natalia hadn’t realised that it was so bad. The purist factions hated Lyra and wanted revenge for what it had done to the Terran species. Years ago, the Earth system had been caught in the war between Lyra and Vega. It had been decimated and the Terran people scattered across the galaxy, orphans in space. Her father had met her mother, the last Terran princess, by accident when she was a slave and they had fallen in love. Her mother had united her people again and it had been so peaceful on Lyra Five, their new home world, that Natalia had thought the Terran people’s hatred of Lyra had been healed and its sin forgiven.
Clearly it hadn’t.
Natalia looked at the door. Was she willing to take the risk in order to see the festival and Ixion? As a Lyran princess, she would be a prime target for the purist factions. Her death would trigger the war that they wanted. That war would be a massacre. Her father wouldn’t hesitate.
She swallowed the dry sticky lump in her throat and clenched her fists. She would be safe in the city. Nothing would happen to her.
“Is the military on alert?” Natalia said, her voice trembling the tiniest amount.
Her mother nodded. “They are posted in town and the palace is also on alert.”
Was that why her mother had been speaking to Ixion? The royal assassins would be used if there was an attack on the palace.
“Would you stop me if I tried to go?” She needed to know. Her mother hadn’t disapproved of her desire to go to the festival. If she was against it, she would have said as much rather than just pointing out the potential danger.
Her mother shook her head, the beautiful black ringlets that tumbled from the back of her head swaying in time with her movements. Natalia’s own black hair was down today, falling loose around her shoulders in black waves. She never wore it down in public. It was always tied back, centre parted with each half plaited from the parting directly above her nose to the nape of her neck where it met and joined into one long plait or held in a bun. Today, she had been careful to wear it in a way that would help disguise her identity. She wore it in the way that she did sometimes when she sung at the club.
“No one will recognise me as royalty,” she said and stood. “I want to see the festival just once in my lifetime.”
“You are of mating age and able to be responsible for your own actions. I will not stand in your way if you want to do this. I have often wanted to see the festival myself.” Her mother stood and placed her hand on Natalia’s shoulder. Her expression turned pleading. “Just be careful and be alert.”
Natalia nodded.
“Ixion!” The loudness of her mother’s voice startled Natalia and she turned the moment the doors opened, her eyes immediately fixing on Ixion where he stood between them. It was exactly as she had hoped. Her mother would ask Ixion to guard her, trusting his skills above those of the guard. Guards would draw too much attention. No one would see an assassin.
Ixion placed his right hand against his chest and lowered his head. “Your highness?”
Natalia had expected him to call her mother ‘my lady’ as he had called her. His deliberate use of ‘your highness’ for her mother made her feel as though his use of ‘my lady’ for herself was more intimate, as though she commanded him more than her mother.
“Princess Natalia has expressed a desire to see the festival,” her mother said and Ixion’s gaze shot to Natalia, as though he couldn’t believe that she would do such a thing. It made her nervous. Did he really think the threat of conflict was that real? Did he fear for her safety? “Take two of your men and shadow her and her attendants. At the slightest sign of trouble, you will get them out of there and bring them back to the palace.”
“Yes, your highness,” he said and bowed lower before backing out of the room.
The doors closed.
Natalia’s heart thumped.
Was she really going to risk her life in order to have Ixion notice her?
Perhaps her father was right.
A male had already captured her heart.
***
Ixion leapt over the narrow divide between the buildings on the main street of the city. His gaze never left Natalia where she walked below him on the street even though his attention was spread wide, monitoring everything for a sign of danger. He signalled his two men where they ran over the rooftops on the opposite side of the street to him. They nodded and disappeared, reappearing in the crowd below.
The people were still spread out at this end of the street, but the market square ahead of them was packed. It would be difficult to keep an eye on the princess and her attendants from the rooftops.
She reached the start of the festival, passing under the large colourful banner that marked the boundary and the first of the stalls.
Ixion watched her closely as she moved through the gathered people. She was beautiful. Her gown pushed her breasts up and the tight short pale blue jacket she wore only emphasised them all the more. The glossy waves of her long black hair spilled over her shoulders, free for once rather than drawn back. At the palace, she had looked at him long enough for him to notice the black kohl that lined her rich green eyes, emphasising the shape of them and her long lashes. She was beautiful enough to take his breath away, but it was difficult to see her like this, knowing what her father had planned and that she may already love another.
It was torture and he longed for her to end his misery and silence his heart forever.
She had a very sensual way of moving, her hips swaying enough that it would be noticed, more so than usual today. It was as though she knew she was being watched, or she wanted to be watched.
The males in the crowd were certainly out to satisfy her desire to be seen. The way they looked at her made Ixion’s blood burn. His fingers twitched against the two blades strapped to his legs.
Two young males at a stall called her over, showing the fine pottery they were selling. Another ma
le at a stall opposite called to her too, holding up a bolt of pure blue silk and smiling.
Ixion stroked the blades, picturing their quick deaths at his hands. He hated the lustful and unabashed way they raked their eyes over Natalia, lingering on her cleavage and daring to look into her eyes.
Natalia shook her head and moved on, her hips swaying enticingly with each step, drawing his attention to only her, so much so that he started to forget to focus on the crowd and look for danger.
He was no better than those males. Her sensual air and beauty had him lusting after her too.
No. It was more than lust.
But whatever it was, it was pointless, just as the males attentions to her were. They could compete for her attention all they wanted but in the end, she would belong to none of them.
Ixion watched her stop at a stall with her two attendants. All three of them wore empire-line dresses but the two attendants’ ones were noticeably different. The material was poorer quality and made the fineness of Natalia’s evident to everyone. The colour was also dull, the dark haired maid in cream and the redhead in a pale green. Natalia wore sky blue.
It turned his stomach.
Sky blue would be the colour she wore at her wedding.
Her father’s conversation with her came back and Ixion stared at Natalia, wondering who the man she had blushed about was. Did she already have someone in mind? Had other males been contacting her, males worthy of her love and attention? That turned his stomach too. The whole affair made him want to turn his back right now and walk away. Pride and duty kept him still, forcing him to continue along a path that would inevitably break his heart. It was a path that he had to tread. An assassin had no right to desire or love a princess and it was time that he realised that. His duty was everything. To turn his back on it was to disgrace his family.
She had moved on and he was thankful that his men had followed, blending into the crowd.
Two older males at stalls next to each other competed for her attention, offering her sweet candy and sugary drinks. She took some from both of them. When her dark haired attendant tried to pay, the men waved them away, smiling and laughing.
Did they think that giving her free things would win her heart?
Ixion’s jaw ticked.
If that were the case, he would kill every suitor her father sent her way for her. It was the only thing he knew how to do. He couldn’t offer her fine goods and fancy delicacies. He could only kill.
That was all that he was good for.
Natalia stopped at another stall, this time managed by an older woman and selling jewellery. The stones didn’t seem particularly expensive, nothing more than cheap trinkets, but they excited Natalia and her two attendants. The dark blue hangings on the stall were stitched with silver stars, providing a beautiful backdrop for Natalia as she turned and showed one necklace to her companions. A myriad of emotions crossed her face as the bright sun made the deep purple heart-shaped stone in the pendant sparkle. They fascinated him. He had rarely seen her express her emotions and let them show. She looked at the tag on the pendant and frowned when her attendant checked her purse. Disappointment flitted across her face. Clearly she hadn’t expected the festival to be so expensive.
They moved on, heading deep into the crowd where there was barely any room to walk and away from the rooftop on which he stood. He couldn’t track her from above anymore and he was growing tired of seeing the males vying for her attention. He needed to be closer to her, wanted her to be his so much, even when he knew that he couldn’t have her.
Ixion disappeared and reappeared next to the stall that sold the jewellery. Looking down, he spotted the necklace that had made Natalia’s eyes shine and frowned at the price. It was expensive. The price tag was far more Lynans than it was worth. But she had seemed to like it.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, he took out all the Lynans that he had. He never bought anything with his wages. It accumulated in the Central Bank of Lyra. What he had in his pocket was this week’s pay and wasn’t enough to buy the pendant. He looked at the old woman and then in the direction that Natalia had gone. She had stopped two stalls away.
His hand went straight for his blade when someone touched his money where it sat on his upturned palm. He stopped himself from drawing it when he saw it was the old woman. She smiled at him, as though she knew why he wanted the pendant, and took some of his money, not nearly enough to cover the cost of the necklace.
“Tk’llsoi nkayk utteaiosolance.”
Ixion stepped back, glaring at her, shocked by the language that she had spoken.
She offered the pendant with a broad warm smile.
“Akkati nem utteaiosolance.”
His hands shook when he went to take it. The clear purple heart was warm against his fingers and slowly turned black when he touched it. Variance stone? He stared at the old woman. How had she managed to lay hands on something from his home world? No traders went there. She nodded and smiled. Her words rang in his head.
A heart for an assassin.
How did she know him?
An assassin deserves love too.
She didn’t know him at all. If she did, she wouldn’t say such things to him in his own language.
Her eyes shifted, the edges of her irises turning purple. Perseian. Their own language then. He had never expected to meet another Perseian outside of the royal assassins, not here on Lyran soil so far from home and definitely not a female.
He bowed, pocketed the pendant and followed after Natalia, trying to shake off the unsettled feeling inside of him. It had been twenty Lyran years since he had left Perseia. In that time, he had forgotten things about his home world, things that came back to him now.
He shook them away and focused on Natalia.
The crowd was closely packed but he moved through it with ease, never breaking his cover or being seen and always aware of his surroundings but focused on Natalia.
She pointed to something a short distance away and tugged her attendants there. Ixion slipped through the crowd and stopped when he saw her. She was laughing. It had been so long since he had seen her laugh. Years. It was a relief to see her smiling again after her confrontation with her father.
Ixion moved closer, wanting to see what had amused her. Her eyes lit up, glittering like the precious stone from which they had stolen their colour, and she laughed again.
He looked at her hands as a portly middle aged Lyran female placed a small bundle of pale blue fluff into them. A head immediately popped out of the mass of feathers, wide blue eyes taking in the Natalia as she stared back at it. It pecked at her with its dark blue beak and then wriggled as though settling down for a sleep in a nest.
A baby Friskin.
They didn’t have such things on his planet. It was bleak and lifeless, barely able to sustain his species let alone any wildlife, and situated beyond the point where the markets roamed.
There was so much life on Lyra Five.
He narrowed his eyes on Natalia, almost smiling along with her as she laughed and stroked the Friskin now settled and sleeping in her delicate hand.
There was so much life in her.
It only made him love her more.
Natalia turned and stopped when her eyes fell on him. Her hand continued to stroke the Friskin even though her concentration was clearly on him. The laughter fled her lips, replaced by a shy smile that barely tilted the corners of her rosy lips but filled her green eyes with startling warmth.
It tugged at his heart.
Such a smile for him?
Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin Page 4