Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Commander (14 page)

The Varkan officer she had
lost came thundering around the corner.

He walked into the room
and kneeled before Van. Amerii noticed that his suit barely made a
sound as his knees hit the dirt. He clearly had better control over
the Heavy Armour than she did.

“
We came to
rescue you,” she said with an affectionate and soft smile, holding
her hand out to Van. “If you’re ready to go, I really think we
should. I could carry you if you wanted.”

Van frowned at her and the
Varkan soldier looked up in her direction. She didn’t need to see
his face to know that he would be scowling too. Insinuating that
Van was weak was becoming quite amusing. She liked how he reacted
to it. She liked the way he looked when he frowned. It added to his
handsomeness.

He touched the hand of the
Heavy Armour, frowned again, and then touched her face instead. His
hand was warm against her face, soothing as he held her cheek and
looked into her eyes. He nodded.

“
I am sure I
can last the journey back to the station.” He glanced up at the
sun, his eyes narrowing to slits, and then looked at her and the
soldier. “We will need to hurry. The sun is a long time from
setting.”

She closed her helmet and
then turned to lead the way. She knew what that meant and even
though her heart said to, she couldn’t refuse him. If he wanted to
run, then they would run. She wouldn’t risk the sun damaging his
eyes by making him walk.

“
Keep between
us. Lyran fighters are waiting outside to cover us.”

Amerii walked back out
into the corridor, her eyes on Van for a moment where he walked
between her and the Varkan officer. She would see him back safe.
She wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

Never.

***

Amerii walked into the
infirmary, smiled politely at the nurses, and went into the small
room where they were holding Van. Holding was the right word.
They’d had to restrain him to stop him from trying to leave the
bed. He was nowhere near ready for duty again, even if he insisted
that he was.

She snuck into the room,
as quiet as she could so she didn’t wake him. He looked better
today. Many of the cuts were now healed, the swelling had
disappeared, and his skin had a little more colour, or at least as
much as she had come to expect of it. It had been four days since
the Wraiths had captured him.

The Lyran fighters had
escorted them back to the complex and had then returned to blanket
bomb the North Sector. She had gone with Van to his vessel, but not
before her captain had taken her aside.

It seemed she had finally
impressed him and that he was recommending her for a long overdue
promotion. His apology had been so sincere that she hadn’t been
able to speak for several minutes and had only been able to salute
him.

He had also given her
leave to remain by Van’s side until he recovered. She was grateful
for it but even if he had refused, she would have gone
anyway.

She sat beside Van on the
black covers of his bed and stroked the hair from his face. The
monitors above him showed him as stable now. A red gauge read
ninety-seven. Apparently, it meant he was close to being completely
healed.

She gave a shy glance at
her wrist and the marks on it. In the shuttle en route to the ship,
she had fed Van. The Varkan officer who had rescued him with her
had told her that even a small amount of her blood would help
increase Van’s healing speed.

She had given him all she
could without passing out.

“
What are you
thinking?” a drowsy voice said, the sound of it warming her right
down to the marrow of her bones.

“
About you,”
she said and looked into Van’s eyes.

Their dark red irises
still spoke of fatigue. She smiled and caressed his cheek. His hand
came up and claimed hers, bringing it down to his chest.

“
I wish you
would not worry so.”

He could say that a
million times and it wouldn’t change a thing. She would always
worry about him.

“
I’m not the
only one who worries,” she said and moved closer so she was sitting
near his ribs. He rested one arm across her lap, holding her hand
with his other. “Regis is en route.”

Van rolled his eyes and
sighed.

“
He claimed it
was so Sophia could see me as planned, but I think it’s for your
sake that he’s coming. Sophia said he was packing the moment he
heard you were injured.”

Even though Van looked
unimpressed, she could see that Regis’s concern had touched
him.

“
I didn’t tell
him,” she whispered, afraid to raise her voice now. His gaze
shifted to her throat, to the marks hidden beneath the collar of
her tight blue and black flight suit. “I thought it was best you
told him and it was done face to face.”

“
Have you told
anyone?”

She nodded.

“
My captain
knows. Your crew knows. And when you were... while you were
sleeping... I contacted my parents.”

His hand tensed against
hers. “And?”

She smiled at the tremble
in his voice. Her fearless Varkan was afraid of the one thing in
the universe that she would always be able to protect him from—her
parents.

“
My father
wishes to know if all Varkans claim their women first and ask for
their hand after.”

“
Is that a bad
response?” he said.

“
He wished to
meet you. I told him that he already had. My mother reminded him
about a certain young Varkan who had spent half the night talking
to his daughter. He remembered you rather vividly then. It seems he
has heard all kinds of positive things about you. Regis has been
talking to my uncle, Sebastian, and in turn, he has been telling my
father. It sounds rather like a plot to me.”

Van frowned.
“Regis.”

“
You didn’t
happen to mention why you wanted to learn love, did
you?”

He shook his head. “He
also noticed that I had spent a long time talking to you
though.”

“
You’ll have to
thank him for the groundwork on my father. It seems he approves of
you and will be looking forward to discussing tactics with you at
our wedding.”

“
When we return
to Lyra?”

She shook her head this
time and patted his hand. “He’s on his way here. We’re already
heading to Varka Prime where the ceremony will take place. Regis
will meet us halfway and we will transfer to his ship. You’ll have
around six days to prepare to meet my father. Will it be enough? I
had always read that Varkans were fearless...”

His eyes narrowed into a
glare.

“
I do not fear
your family,” he said with a grim expression.

“
That’s the
spirit.” She smiled even though he frowned at her.

“
How did your
captain find out?”

Pulling the collar of her
blue and black flight suit down, she touched the marks on her
throat. “I showed him these.”

Van’s eyes brightened,
sending a flush of heat through her.

“
Hungry?”
Amerii whispered, her own and different form of hunger rising. He
looked at the door and she glanced there. Before she could stop to
consider how naughty the thoughts crossing her mind were, she was
at the door and locking it. She crossed the room back to Van and
moved to kneel on bed. He groaned when she straddled
him.

His eyes followed her hand
and she lowered the fastening of her flight suit to just past her
breasts. She pulled the collar of it to one side to expose her
neck.

He pulled her down to him,
his grip on her waist firm and his tongue caressing her throat.
Closing her eyes, she leaned into him, sighing out her
breath.

“
Are you well
enough for this?” she whispered, afraid that she might hurt
him.

“
Stop worrying
so much,” he muttered and she did when he kissed her, his mouth
warm against hers, his kiss persuasive and electrifying.

Returning the kiss, her
lips caressing his and her hands pressing into his shoulders, she
thought about her future now.

She was sure that when she
reached Varka Prime, she wouldn’t want to leave it again. She would
want to remain there with Sophia and her family, and with
Van.

Her father’s wedding gift
had been leave from duty and she intended to spend it on Varka
Prime. He had given it to her when she had admitted how frightened
she had been on the battlefield against the Wraiths, and how
horrifying the sight of death was.

She had almost asked her
father to discharge her.

Before she could voice
that request, he had told her of his first experience in close
combat, and how scared he had been on seeing death for the first
time and being injured.

It had made her realise
that he had grown from his experience, and he had found a way to
deal with the things that happened in war. It had changed him, but
for the better. He had become stronger, and she knew that she could
become stronger too.

Instead of asking him to
discharge her, she had requested a transfer to one of the ships
that would remain in Varkan space assisting the rebuilding of the
base station on Varka Two. Van would be heavily involved in the
project and it would mean that they could spend time together and
she wouldn’t have to give up her dream of becoming a captain.
Perhaps she would even make it to the rank of general one
day.

Her father had granted her
request and had told her that she was strong, even when she doubted
it. She was like her mother.

That had made her smile.
She had always thought she was like her father, always seeing him
as the stronger one out of her parents. Now she could see that she
was like them both.

Her strength and resolve
had come from both of them. She was a good soldier and she knew
that she could make something of herself, could help her fellow
soldiers and could make a difference just as her parents had. With
Van at her side, she believed that she was strong enough to make
the rank of captain.

But first there was the
matter of getting married.

It had been her request to
have the wedding on Varka Prime. She hoped that once they were
there, Regis would grant Van time away from his duties and they
could spend their leave together on the planet.

She pulled back and stared
into Van’s eyes.

“
Van?”

“
Amerii?”

“
When we’re
married... what will my gift be?”

He smiled as though he
knew the answer that she wanted. She wanted what Sophia and Regis
had. She wanted the gift that Regis had given Sophia.

“
The only gift
I can give that is worthy of you,” Van whispered and pulled her
back down to him. He kissed her throat and then her ear. He
whispered into it, “Eternity.”

Her eyes closed on hearing
that word and she smiled.

Soon the kiss he placed on
her throat would be one that would last forever and give her a gift
beyond her imagination.

A gift that she wanted
above all others.

Van.

For all
eternity.

“
Amerii,” Van
husked against her throat, kissing up it towards her jaw. She
smiled lazily and held his mouth against her.

“
Yes, my love?”
she whispered and dipped her head to kiss his neck.

He took a deep
breath.

“
I love you.”
There was a tremble to his voice that made the usual echo that
laced it even stronger.

Amerii stopped and pulled
back, a blush on her cheeks. “You do?”

Van nodded, a nervous look
in his eyes that was quickly chased away by hunger when her hands
came to rest against his chest.

“
I love you
too.” She leaned forwards, kissing him again and feeling light and
hot inside. He loved her. She had seen it all in his eyes. He had
realised his dream of feeling love. He had changed himself for her.
Her stomach flipped and jigged, her heart thumping against her
ribs. “How does it feel?”

He swallowed hard, pushed
her off him and smiled into her eyes.

She smiled back at him. He
was so handsome and he was all hers.

His smile
widened.

“
Like I am
flying and falling at the same time.”

Her smile widened too on
hearing her description of love on his lips. She knew that feeling
well.

With a sigh, she leaned
down again and kissed him, whispering against his lips, “Like
flying and falling.”

But more than
that.

It was flying and
falling.

And knowing that Van would
always catch her.

Always.

The
End

###

About the
author

Felicity Heaton
is a great believer in love at first sight and the romantic ideal.
Having grown up reading extensively, she developed a deep love of
classical literature, ranking Jane Eyre, North & South, and
Persuasion amongst her all time favourite reads. The most romantic
moment of her life was when her husband got down on bended knee on
the steps of Sacré Coeur, Paris, at night in front of several
hundred spectators and proposed. She was too drunk on love, and
subsequently champagne, to care about the audience. All she could
see was the man that she loved. A writer of emotion and life, she
always strives to touch a chord of familiarity in her readers and
give them characters they can love and a read to
remember.