Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin (3 page)

“
Again. From
the top. The moves that I showed you, if you please, my lords.” His
words gained a sharp edge at the last, his frustration getting the
better of him.

He had never had direct
contact with Aiden and Ciel before, but had heard about their
disrespect towards the palace staff. Having witnessed it firsthand,
he found himself struck by a longing to beat some manners into
them.

Just at that moment, a
breath of fresh air swept through the room.

Natalia.

She looked at him with
wide startled eyes and then lowered her gaze and hurried forwards.
Beautiful Natalia. His impossible dream. He had allowed her to see
him once when she was eighteen and could still remember how she had
looked at him—frightened but fascinated. He had guarded her ever
since, although she hadn’t been aware of it. When she had started
sneaking down into the city last year, he had considered stopping
her straight away but then he had seen how happy it made her to
sing and he hadn’t been able to through with it. Things were
different now though. Back then, it hadn’t been dangerous for her
to be out alone at night. Now she was attracting attention from the
wrong crowd—the kind who would kill her if they realised who she
was.

“
Where are we
scurrying of to?” Aiden stepped in front of Natalia. She frowned up
at him and tried to pass but he blocked whichever direction she
went.

She turned around and
swept the two long strands of hair that framed her beautiful face
out of her eyes.

Ciel stood behind her, his
sword resting on his shoulder and a wide grin on his
face.

“
I’m busy,”
Natalia said on a sigh. “Just get out of the way.”

There was a tired edge to
her voice that spoke of stress. Ixion had seen her schedule for
today and it was as gruelling as ever. By now, she would have been
working straight for six hours and would have travelled down into
the city for a council meeting about the festival. Her brothers
were being nothing but cruel by delaying her.

“
Don’t go,”
Ciel said and grabbed her around the waist from behind. He lifted
her off the floor and she slid downward in her pale pink accented
white empire-line dress. It rode upwards, exposing her legs to the
thigh. “Play a while.”

Ixion swallowed hard.
Iskara. It was wrong of him but he was thankful to Ciel.

Natalia struggled,
flailing her legs, and Ixion couldn’t take his eyes off them. The
white stockings she wore made his heart thunder. His elusive
princess.

He looked away, berating
himself for taking such liberties. Natalia was a princess. It was
wrong of him, a lowly assassin, to look at her like
that.

A dull ache settled in his
chest.

It was wrong of him to
love her.

It was torture.

“
Get off me,”
Natalia said and then Ciel cried out in pain.

Ixion’s head snapped
around. Ciel was clutching his shin, hopping around the courtyard
as Aiden laughed. Natalia stood with her hands on her hips, glaring
at both of her brothers. She huffed and straightened out the loose
knot of black hair at the back of her hair and the
frowned.

Ixion was about to go to
her when she stooped, picked up the wooden sword that Ciel had
dropped and stalked towards her brother. She snatched Aiden’s sword
from him and shoved it into Ciel’s hand. Her brothers stood at
least eight inches taller than her and were three times as broad,
but she wasn’t intimidated in the least.

“
Play?” she
said and held the wooden sword out in both hands. “Is that what you
think this is?”

Ciel and Aiden exchanged a
confused look.

“
All you two
ever do is play, and I’m going to prove it. I bet you can’t beat
me. Nothing that Ix—your tutor says goes into that thick head of
yours.”

Ixion smiled inside at the
fact that she had almost said his name. He wasn’t surprised that
she knew it. Since he was head of the royal assassins, he was often
spoken about by her father and the members of the elite
guard.

He was also silently
thankful that she intended to beat some manners into her brothers
for him.

Ciel looked wary and then
straightened to his full height, his cocksure smile back on his
face. Aiden patted him on the shoulder and gave him a look that
said it should be an easy win.

The moment Aiden had
stepped aside, Natalia launched herself at Ciel. Ixion had never
trained any of the royal family to fight but knew that the
daughters had been trained to the same level as the sons. Clearly,
Natalia had given her tutor and lessons the attention they deserved
because Ciel was immediately on the back foot, desperately blocking
her thrusts and strikes.

The look of sheer
determination on Natalia’s face only made her more beautiful. Her
emerald green eyes sparkled with satisfaction when she landed a
blow and a smile curved her delicate rose lips. Ixion pressed a
hand to his chest, willing his heart to be still when it raced at
the glorious sight of her. She fought with grace and speed, and
with immeasurable elegance fit for a princess. She was stunning. If
she hadn’t captured his heart before that moment, she would have
claimed it then.

Ciel tried to dodge her
wooden blade and swing at her but she ducked and kicked his legs
out. He crashed to the floor. Before Ciel could recover, her white
booted foot was on his chest and her sword was against his
throat.

The sound of clapping
echoed around the room.

“
Stunning,” a
deep warm voice said, reflecting Ixion’s thoughts. He turned at the
same time as Natalia and her brothers to face the newcomer. General
Lyra II. Ixion immediately pressed his right hand against his chest
and bowed his head. “My sons would do well to listen to their
tutor’s instruction since their little sister has beaten
them.”

General Lyra II halted in
front of them as Aiden helped Ciel up off the floor. Natalia hid
the sword behind her back, a deep blush staining her
cheeks.

“
You will never
make officers if you do not apply yourself to your studies,”
General Lyra II said with a saddened expression.

Ixion didn’t think that
Aiden or Ciel wanted to be in the imperial army. Neither of them
showed any inclination to do anything besides playing the
fool.

“
Natalia,”
General Lyra II said as he turned to face his daughter. She looked
up at him with wide eyes that held a trace of fear. Her father was
an imposing figure but Ixion didn’t think that she had a reason to
fear him. He hadn’t said a word about her singing in the city
clubs. He would take that secret to his grave for her. “I would
like you to come with me. I need to discuss something with you
before I leave to meet Renie and Rezic at the edge of the system
and escort them home.”

Natalia nodded and handed
the fake sword to Aiden.

Ixion kept his head bowed
but watched her as she passed. She was frightened. Why? Was she
expecting some sort of retribution for her behaviour today or was
it something else?

The town clock chimed the
hour, the sound of the bells carried on the still warm air. Ixion
saluted Aiden and Ciel and left. Rather than heading back to his
quarters and reporting for duty, he followed Natalia and her
father. It went against his duty to spy on General Lyra II but he
had to know what he was going to say to Natalia, because whatever
it was, it scared her.

They disappeared into her
father’s chambers and Ixion hung back. He couldn’t stand by the
door and listen. It was too obvious. There were rooms adjoining her
father’s office. He looked around the wide arched stone corridor
and then went into one. It was a grand drawing room. He had been in
it once before when he had first arrived and the general and
Natalia’s mother had greeted him and the others. There was a door
that joined it to the office where Natalia and her father were.
Ixion walked over to it and leaned his head against the dark wooden
door, listening.

“
Several
potential suitors have contacted me.”

Ixion wished that he
hadn’t heard those words right. He closed his eyes and leaned
harder into the door, until his skull ached.

“
Suitors?”
There was a high note of panic in Natalia’s voice but something
told Ixion that her father’s suggestion wasn’t so wholly
unexpected.

She was mating age after
all and her sister was to be married. It made sense that her father
would start to think about finding her a husband too.

A husband?

Ixion felt sick. He had
watched Natalia for seven years. Had fallen in love with her. Now
he was going to have to stand by and watch as she was married off
to some whelp of a male for the sake of the prosperity of Lyra and
good relations with whatever species the male was from. It turned
his stomach.

He pressed his hand to the
door, wishing that he could see Natalia’s face so he knew what she
was feeling. Did the thought of suitors frighten her?

“
Send them
away,” Natalia said and something slammed into something else. Her
fist? It sounded as though she had hit something. “I want no
suitor!”

“
Natalia… my
sweetest angel of Iskara… you are twenty five. When you turned
mating age it was only a matter of time before you attracted the
attention of suitors. You are beautiful, the very image of your
mother, and it will be a sad day for me when you marry.”

Ixion’s fingers curled
into a tight fist. How could her father talk like that when he was
clearly going against her will just by entertaining the thought of
allowing males to court her?

“
You will be
waiting a long time because I refuse. I will not have males
peddling their wares for my heart!”

There was such force
behind those words that Ixion was sure her father would be shocked
by the outburst. Couldn’t he see that she hated the very idea of
having suitors come to the palace to court her?

The silence in the room
next door stretched on. Ixion’s breathing was slow and steady even
when his heart beat fast with anticipation of what would happen
next. He needed to see her face so he could read her feelings.
Years of watching her had given him the ability to see the emotions
she felt even when only a tiny trace of them showed on her face. He
could see beyond it to her heart.

Looking down, he frowned
at the old-fashioned brass handle and lock. He crouched and peered
through the keyhole. He could see part of Natalia. She was facing
towards him, staring intently at her father, her hands pressed
against the wide wooden desk.

“
Natalia.” Her
father’s tone was cautious. “Is there someone already?”

Ixion’s eyes widened. He
watched Natalia closely. Her blush gave her away.

“
Tell me,
Natalia.”

She shook her head and
lowered it. Her fist came up and pressed against her lips. Ixion
silently begged her to say the name of the male in her heart. He
wanted to know who he had to kill. If it was anyone other than him,
foolish dream as that was, he would see to it they
disappeared.

The door opened behind her
and a tall man stepped in, dressed in a tight blue and black flight
suit. He saluted.

“
I must leave,”
her father said and Ixion heard a chair move. Her father appeared
in view and then stopped beside her, facing his officer. He placed
a hand on her shoulder and turned his head towards her. “We will
speak of this in a few days when I return.”

With that, he walked away.
Natalia remained in the same spot, hunched up and with her eyes
closed. The pink stain on her cheeks darkened, as though she was
thinking of the male who had stolen her attention. Ixion’s heart
darkened at the same rate as her cheeks, jealousy coiling deep
within it. He had never wanted to kill a male more. He had never
wanted to kill anyone at all for his own sake.

He stood and reminded
himself that it wasn’t his place to do things outside of his orders
and his duty. Following Natalia into the city had broken the rules
of a royal assassin, along with his failure to report her actions.
He couldn’t break any more rules without drawing attention to
himself and bringing dishonour to his family.

As difficult as it was for
him, he had to maintain his distance from Natalia and stop fooling
himself into believing that something might ever happen between
them. A princess would never fall in love with an assassin, and she
would certainly never marry a man like him.

When she married, it would
be to a king, a leader of men and a public figure that people
looked up to. A male of the standing that she deserved.

It wouldn’t be to someone
who didn’t even exist in the eyes of universe.

It wouldn’t be
him.

****

Chapter
3

Natalia sighed for the
hundredth time and stared out over the beautiful city as the sun
set. Golden light cast an unearthly glow over the tiled roofs of
the town and the tall tower of the city hall, turning them warm and
peaceful. She had seen pictures of the towns that had once stood on
Earth and one in particular reminded her most of her city. A place
they had called Prague. She was sure that the city architects must
have studied the towns of Earth when they had designed
hers.