Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin (10 page)

Natalia walked in silence
beside him as they headed back towards the palace. The baby Friskin
shifted around in the box, looking up at him occasionally with wide
blue eyes full of curiosity. It was probably wondering where
Natalia had gone. He had heard that Friskins grew attached to
people and Natalia had protected it from the fighting and shown
tender care towards it.

The palace loomed ahead of
them, bright golden in the light of the sun now peeking over the
horizon.

Natalia wrapped her arms
around herself and stared at the floor. What was she thinking? Did
this hurt her as much as it did him?

When they crossed the
bridge into the palace grounds, passing the guards, he felt her
glance at him. He wanted to look at her too, but doing that would
draw attention from the guards that were going about their
business. He had a duty to protect Natalia from any rumours that
might spread if he looked at her, showed any sign of affection
towards her.

He had neglected his duty
once already. He wouldn’t do it again.

They walked up through the
garden to her apartments and she opened the door. He handed her the
box with the Friskin in and she looked sad as she took it. Tears
rimmed her eyes with sparkling diamonds and he longed to wipe them
away, to tell her not to cry for him because he wasn’t worthy of
such a thing.

Ixion took a step
back.

His fists clenched and
trembled with restraint. Everything he wanted stood before him,
beautiful in the pale light of dawn, and he couldn’t have it. In
order to protect her, he had to do this, even though it would hurt
them both.

He had to leave
her.

He had to disappear from
her life and never let her see him again.

***

Natalia placed the crate
down just inside the door and closed it. She stood on the
threshold, facing Ixion, hating the fact that they were back at the
palace. Tears trembled on the brink of falling but she wiped them
away, not wanting to look weak in front of him. There was so much
pain and sadness in his eyes as he looked into hers that she felt
it too. When he took hold of her hands, it was with a solemn look,
one that made her heart ache.

“
Goodbye.” That
softly whispered word pierced her heart like a shard of ice,
turning her cold. It felt as though he was saying it forever and
they would never see each other again.

Not wanting it to be over,
she stepped between his arms, tiptoed and kissed him.

She didn’t say goodbye. He
walked away without so much as a backward glance and a tear slid
down her cheek, hot in the cold morning air. She would never see
him again.

Her hands trembled when
she curled them into fists. Her heart hurt.

Suddenly the palace garden
looked like a dark and dead place. The building towering at her
back felt like a prison. Her title was a collar around her
throat.

She hated
everything.

Everything but
Ixion.

Why couldn’t she have been
born a normal woman who was free to choose who she
loved?

She stared at Ixion’s
retreating back. He disappeared into the staff quarters of the
palace.

Why couldn’t she be free
to love him?

Something moved at the
corner of her vision and she turned sharply to see a woman standing
in the garden below her. Her long blue hair and milk-white skin
shone in the light of dawn, a face Natalia had never seen before.
Intruders?

Natalia stepped back
towards her apartments. Her heart pounded.

Had the female seen her
and Ixion?

Natalia’s eyes widened
when a male that she recognised walked down the path to the female.
His dark hair, handsome face, and clothing of white shirt and tan
trousers was unmistakable. Rezic. Her eldest brother had returned
which meant that her father and sister had too. The female was one
of the party. A Vegan.

The female spoke to him.
Natalia could only see her lips moving. The distance between them
was too great for her to hear what was being said. Rezic turned a
frown on Natalia. She panicked.

He strode up through the
garden, his frown remaining fixed on his face, making him the
picture of their father. The female followed him. Her unusual
appearance went unnoticed by Natalia. She could only focus on her
brother and the look in his eyes.

“
I heard the
strangest thing,” he said without any trace of amusement in his
voice. “Princess Tesia informed me that you were kissing
someone.”

“
Leave me
alone.” Natalia backed into the door and fumbled for the pad that
would open it. “And keep your spy away from me!”

The door behind her opened
and she darted in, closing it straight in Rezic’s face. He banged
on it, making the glass shudder in the frame.

“
Come on,
Natalia, confess! I’ll find the man.” The note of amusement finally
laced his voice.

Natalia cursed him for
finding this something to laugh about. It wasn’t a joke. She loved
Ixion with all of her heart. Why did all her family have to treat
her as though she was nothing more than a plaything, someone to do
their duty for them while they had all the fun? Why couldn’t she
have fun for once? Why couldn’t she be free?

Her eyes widened in horror
when the female with Rezic gave a very detailed report of what she
had seen.

Rezic was quiet for a few
seconds. The pounding of Natalia’s heart filled the
silence.

How could the female have
seen that much at that distance?

“
An assassin!”
The force and anger in Rezic’s voice shocked Natalia enough that
she stepped back from the door. “Natalia! Open this door
now!”

“
No!” Her voice
shook but she held her ground. She wouldn’t do as he asked because
she was afraid that she would confess if she did.

“
Fine.” His
tone was calm and measured. It only meant one thing. He was up to
something. “If you will not confess… I will find your assassin
myself.”

Natalia gasped. He
wouldn’t.

She looked out of the door
to see that he was gone and so was the female.

He would.

Panicked, Natalia grabbed
her long coat to protect her from the morning chill of the palace
and put it on. She lifted the crate with the Friskin in off the
floor and placed it on her bed so it would be safe while she was
gone, and then ran to the door.

By the time she had
reached the central courtyard, most of the assassins were lined up
and Rezic was pacing the length of them.

Her heart stopped when her
father chose that moment to walk through.

“
Inspecting the
troops?” he said in an amused tone. “That isn’t like you,
son.”

“
No.” Rezic’s
voice was dark. “I am looking for someone who took something dear
to the family.”

“
A
thief?”

Natalia’s fingers closed
around the heart pendant. If they discovered what Ixion had done,
he would be punished, or worse. She prayed to Iskara that Ixion
wouldn’t come but knew that he would. He was commander of the royal
assassins. It was his duty to be here.

She would have to stop
this madness before he arrived.

Dashing between her
brother and father, and the gathered assassins, she flung her arms
out either side of her to block their way. They both frowned at
her. Her father looked confused.

“
Please don’t
do this, brother,” she whispered, not above begging him if it would
protect Ixion. “Leave it alone… you’re worse than Aiden and
Ciel.”

“
Confess then,
little sister.” There was a strange look in Rezic’s eyes. It was
hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

At that moment, Ixion
walked in.

Natalia looked at him, her
heart aching. Tears welled up.

“
I only wanted
to be normal… free of the tight bonds that hold me prisoner, tied
to a destiny that I don’t want. Is it too much to ask?” She looked
at her brother and the tears in her eyes slipped down her cheeks.
His look softened and then changed completely to one of
remorse.

“
I didn’t
realise… I thought it wasn’t serious or I would never
have—”

“
Serious?!” She
cut him off and glared at him. The anger in her veins made her
blood boil and she couldn’t contain herself. She stepped towards
her brother. Her voice was a snarl. “What would you know of
serious? You spend your whole life gallivanting around the galaxy,
fleeing your duty as Lyra V. You have never had to dance at the
balls or meet the new commanders or bestow gifts upon the
populations of Lyra. You shirk your duty at every turn! And while I
hate mine… I do it… and I’ll do it even when it breaks my heart.”
Her eyebrows furrowed when she looked at her father, her anger
overwhelmed by the sadness and pain in her heart. She clutched the
heart pendant tightly. “I’ll marry someone I don’t love because I’m
a princess and a good marriage is expected of me.”

Stepping back, she lowered
her gaze away from her father and brother’s stunned ones and turned
away.

“
I guess we
can’t all be as fortunate as Renie.”

With that, she ran away,
unable to hold back her tears any longer.

***

Ixion stared in the
direction that Natalia had run, touched by her words but angry,
upset that her family had hurt her so much. Both her brother and
father looked shocked. Her words had hit their mark but Ixion
didn’t expect them to have much effect. Natalia was so different to
her family. She bore so much pain and stress for their sake when
none of them would do the same for her.

“
She always did
speak her mind and tell the truth.” Rezic was the first to speak.
The sound of his voice made Ixion’s fingers curl into tight fists
of barely restrained anger. He wanted to teach Rezic some manners
too. Clearly Rezic had thought Natalia’s feelings were nothing
other than something to be laughed at. He was worse than Aiden and
Ciel. “I never saw it the way she did.”

Remorse. It wasn’t enough
for Ixion. Rezic deserved to suffer for hurting Natalia.

“
I never knew,”
General Lyra II whispered to the floor and Ixion looked at him,
able to forgive him in part because of how pained he sounded. The
expression of sorrow on his face was a silent confession of the
feelings in his heart. He truly hadn’t been aware of Natalia’s
feelings and what the family were doing to her. “I never knew that
she was so unhappy here.”

Ixion had heard
enough.

Her own family hadn’t
noticed something which he had seen that night seven years ago.
This palace was a prison to her and she only wanted to be free—like
her brothers and sister were.

He stormed past Rezic and
General Lyra II, intent on going to see Natalia, intent on doing
what they should have been—comforting her.

“
Where are you
going?” Rezic’s voice was loud in the courtyard.

Ixion stopped, turned on
his heel, and stared him down.

He considered the
repercussions of what he was about to say and then threw them all
away, no longer caring what happened to him.

“
My lady needs
me. My duty—no—my heart has long been pledged to her. I will not
stand by as you do and let her suffer!”

Rezic’s eyes narrowed into
a glare. “Insolence!”

Ixion took a deep breath
to control his anger and walked back to Rezic. The prince backed
off a step, moving closer to his father.

“
I am staring
at insolence… a man who does not do his duty, even when a woman
does hers when she hates it. The males of this family are weak and
unworthy of the general. His daughters have inherited all of his
strength!” Ixion didn’t back down even when Rezic’s hand moved to
the laser pistol hanging at his side. “I have watched Aiden and
Ciel become spoiled and watched an heir prince turn his back on his
people. Weak fools who don’t consider the outcome of their actions…
how it all falls to Natalia to lift the name of their
family.”

Rezic’s hand closed over
the pistol’s grip. General Lyra II’s hand against his chest stopped
him.

“
I have long
felt the same. I have neglected my role within this family,” he
said and Ixion looked at him, surprised that he had found the
strength to confess such a weakness. “I have not given my sons the
upbringing that they needed.”

Ixion stepped back. “That
is your problem, your highness. I cannot linger.”

He turned and walked away.
Rezic shouted after him, ordering him to stop, but he kept going.
With a heavy heart, he removed the commander’s insignia from the
arm of his black dress uniform and dropped it to the
floor.

He couldn’t work for a
family who would hurt Natalia.

His feet knew the way to
her apartments, leaving him free to lose himself in thought. The
repercussions of what he had done would be tremendous, but it had
lifted a heavy weight from his heart. Natalia must have felt the
same when she had confronted her eldest brother and
father.