Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Commander (10 page)

“
Van?” she
said, her voice trembling now. He was still so tense. She wished
that he would turn towards her. She wanted to see his face and look
into his eyes when she said these things. Pulling on his arm, she
tried to force him to roll over and look at her. “Turn
around.”

He did and she moved
backwards to give him room. His eyes were dark as he looked into
hers, full of conflict. She stroked her fingers over his brow and
then down his cheek, smiling at him the whole time.

“
I love you,”
she said again and the tension in his expression lifted a little.
“I’m glad that I’m yours now... your mate... there’s no one else
that I want as mine.”

He swallowed, frowned and
pulled her close to him as he rolled onto his back, growling
possessively. She pressed a kiss to his chest and then looked up
and studied his beautiful face as he fell asleep, wishing with all
her heart that he didn’t feel so unworthy of her.

She hoped that things
would be different now.

Now that she was
his.

****

Chapter
7

Amerii shifted on the seat
of the small shuttle as it descended into the atmosphere of Varka
Two. She looked herself over for the millionth time, wondering what
her captain was going to make of her outfit. Van had insisted that
she change into a black armoured suit. It was tight to her skin,
the thick material lined with some kind of liquid metal that
responded to impacts. She had discovered that when she had been
prodding it whilst walking and had bumped into Van, forcing her
finger into the chest area of the suit. It had instantly hardened
and then became soft again. Varkan technology certainly was
incredible.

Her gaze roamed to Van
where he sat close beside her, a huge black heavy artillery laser
rifle cradled in his lap. He wore a suit similar to hers. It
mimicked his muscles perfectly, giving her every reason to remember
how good he had looked naked. She wet her lips.

“
We will arrive
shortly. It will be day in the area where the old base station is
situated,” Van said and she noticed that he seemed uneasy about
that.

Varkans didn’t like the
daylight. The other Varkan soldiers in the transport shuttle with
her and Van were already wearing their black visors in
preparation.

Van’s sat on the seat
beside him.

“
The area is
shielded as per Varkan regulations but the facility is old. We must
be on our guard.”

Amerii nodded, knowing
exactly how to read between the lines of what he had said to the
meaning beneath. It wasn’t just information or a warning. It wasn’t
just that she would see firsthand Varka’s method of filtering the
light to protect their sensitive eyes, or the fact that Wraiths
used to inhabit the planet and could return at any moment to attack
them there.

It was that he was worried
about her and that he would do all he could to protect
her.

He placed his hand over
hers where it rested on her knee and closed his fingers around it,
holding it. None of the other Varkans seemed to notice or they were
doing an admirable job of pretending they hadn’t seen this sign of
affection from their commander towards a Lyran. Van squeezed her
hand and she looked back at him.

She was surprised when he
leaned towards her and whispered something in her ear that she
didn’t understand. It wasn’t Varkan. It was another language.
Perhaps the old Varkan language but no words that she was familiar
with.

He kissed the spot on the
neck of her armoured suit that was directly over the marks on her
neck. She smiled and blushed, that blush turning to a blazing fire
when she realised that all of the soldiers opposite her were now
facing her direction. Van kissed her neck again, whispered
something else, and moved back into his seat.

She glanced at Van, glad
that he was all right with what had happened between them and that
he seemed more comfortable around her now. She placed her other
hand over his where it covered hers and held it.

The pilot announced they
had entered the facility docking area and, a moment later, they
touched down, the thrusters of the small vessel deafening her as
they fired to stop its descent.

Van’s hand left hers and
went to his gun. He stood, slung the strap of his gun across his
body, and motioned to his soldiers. She didn’t understand what any
of the elaborate gestures meant.

When the soldiers had
filed out, Van offered her his hand. She placed hers into it and
stood, looking into his eyes as he smiled and brushed her hair from
her face.

“
Remain close
to me, Amerii,” he said, his dark eyes giving her the impression
that he was thinking about violent things. Was he really that
worried that the Wraiths would attack? Lyran reports indicated that
they had been quiet in this area for some time now. “I will not let
anything happen to you.”

She leaned into his touch,
seeking its comfort, and then closed her eyes as she pressed a kiss
to his palm.

“
What did you
say to me that you wanted those men to hear?” she said with a sly
smile, seeing straight through him.

When her eyes met Van’s,
there was an awkward look in his.

“
That you are
mine, and only mine, and I would not share you with any
male.”

“
Mmm,” Amerii
said and pushed his gun aside before wrapping her arms around his
neck. “I don’t want to be anyone else’s. I only want to be
yours.”

He smiled, exposing his
sharp teeth. “Truly?”

She nodded. “There’s no
other man in the universe for me. I love you.”

His eyes widened and then
closed as he leaned in to kiss her. She sighed against his lips as
they touched hers in a sensual caress that heated her blood and
made her heartbeat quicken. She frowned over the loss as they left
hers and looked at him.

“
What about
your father?” Van said.

Amerii’s frown stuck. “I’m
really not interested in my father in that way.”

“
I am being
serious.”

He looked it too. She
stroked his cheek, enjoying the sight of him so deadly serious and
intense. His red irises were brighter than they had been a moment
before. Had he been thinking about her blood while they had been
kissing?

“
My father will
be fine,” she said and released him. She walked a little way
towards the exit of the shuttle and then paused, looking back at
Van with a wide smile. “Of course, he won’t make it easy on you at
first.”

Van paled.

“
I’m joking,”
she said and he glared at her. She made a mental note that Van
didn’t like jokes. When he walked towards her, she went to leave
the shuttle but his hand on her arm stopped her.

“
Take this,” he
said and she turned back to see him holding out a small laser
rifle.

He really wasn’t taking
any risks.

She slung the strap of the
rifle over her shoulder and weighed it up. It was a good weapon.
She had shouldered a few rifles in her time and this had to be the
finest and most balanced one she’d had the opportunity of
using.

A glance at Van made her
blood boil with desire. He stood tall, back straight, holding the
massive rifle. The armoured suit he wore really did make him look
as though someone had stripped him and painted him black. It was a
divine sight. She blushed when she remembered that he was all hers
now, and she was his. She touched her neck again, her fingers
hovering over the point where he had bitten. His gaze shifted
there, boring into it and heating it until it matched the fierce
temperature of her blood.

She wasn’t sure how she
was going to break it to her parents. Her mother would understand
but her father was protective of her, and then there were her
uncles. Sebastian, the king of Lyra, would understand. After all,
it was his daughter Sophia who was married to Emperor Varka. Balt
might not be too upset since his eldest daughter Renie was marrying
a Vegan, but her youngest uncle, Remi would. He had suffered both
physically and emotionally because of the Varkans and the war. She
doubted that he would be able to bring himself to see past Van’s
role in that war, just as he couldn’t bring himself to speak to
Regis.

“
Come,” Van
said, dragging her out of her thoughts.

Amerii pushed them to the
back of her mind. When the time came, she would deal with them.
Until then, she had a mission to focus on and a job to do. She
followed Van out of the shuttle and watched two small Lyran vessels
land, sending plumes of gritty black sand into the air. The ribbons
twirled like smoke, drawing her eyes upwards to the dome. The sky
was dull, nothing like the one she was used to seeing back on the
planets of Lyra. She wondered if she could stand to be always under
a dome, locked away from the sun and the sky. If Van were with her,
she probably could get used to it.

The dome on Varka Two had
its purpose though, and it wasn’t only to protect the Varkans’
eyes. It regulated the temperature of the station and protected its
occupants from the harsh rays of the Varkan sun. Apparently, it was
almost twice as strong as the sun of Lyra and because of Varka
Two’s proximity to it, the dome was essential. Without it, the
temperature would be near impossible to bear.

Nothing could survive
here.

She remembered the
Wraiths.

Something could live here,
but it wasn’t something she wanted to meet.

The dome protected against
that too. At least, she hoped it did. It looked weak in places as
her eyes scanned the perimeter. They would have to fix
it.

She walked forwards with
Van and, as he joined his men, she noticed that he had put his
visor on. The two sides of it swept around to form a point a short
distance from the tip of his nose, a line running directly over the
top of his head where the sides joined.

When her captain stepped
out of the first Lyran vessel, his first officer at his side,
Amerii saluted and stood straight. Her captain raised an eyebrow at
her apparel and her heart beat harder as she prayed to Iskara that
he wouldn’t make a scene. She didn’t know how Van would react if he
did, or if he treated her any less than Van thought royalty should
be treated. She had seen his disapproval both when she had been on
her ship and Van had first met her captain, and when she had been
on the Varkan vessel and her captain had ignored her.

She hoped that he would
ignore her now.

“
Commander
Aeris, we are ready to begin our inspection.”

“
We will split
into two groups. I will escort you, your first officer and Princess
Amerii. I am sure you wish to tour the facility. My officers and
those left of yours will inspect the facility and decide upon any
repairs or changes that will need to be made to accommodate Lyrans.
All officers are to maintain a state of alert. We do not know if
the Wraiths have returned. I would order your men to remain close
to mine,” Van said, his voice deep and carrying a note of authority
that practically challenged her captain to disapprove of his
plan.

Amerii waited to see how
her captain would respond. A momentary flicker of something crossed
his face, something remarkably similar to irritation or anger, but
quickly disappeared when Van stepped forwards. Any sign that her
captain was going to speak out against the plan or attempt to take
leadership of the mission faded along with his courage and his
colour. His skin paled, turning almost as white as
Van’s.

Van grinned, revealing
sharp teeth.

“
Shall we,” Van
said, holding his hand out to one side.

He walked ahead of them,
his massive rifle constantly at the ready. Wherever he turned his
head, he turned it. Did he really think the Wraiths might attack
here? The barrier was thin in places. It was possible that they
could get through and Van had mentioned that there had been
sightings of them in this area of space.

Was this the reason Varka
had insisted on escorting them to the planet and remaining with
them a time rather than letting them arrive on their own? Lyra had
never fought Wraiths before. The Wraiths had never attacked them
during the insurgences or the war before that. She had only read
sketchy data on them before Sophia had married Regis and Varka had
made their military data available to Lyran soldiers. She had read
all about them then, wanting to know what sort of species it was
that shared the Varkans’ planets.

They sounded
terrifying.

Creatures that were like
ghosts, able to appear and disappear in the blink of an eye,
impossible to hit without the correct weapon.

She hoped she didn’t meet
one.

Her captain moved and she
followed him, walking beside his first officer. Van dropped back to
walk alongside her captain but near to her too. He turned his head
slightly towards her, clearly glancing in her direction. She knew
what he wanted but she couldn’t do it. It wasn’t her place to walk
beside her captain. Van had to understand that to her captain, she
was a lieutenant, not a princess.