Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin (8 page)

Only not as beautiful as
it was today.

He had listened to her
many times throughout her childhood and even more often when she
had reached eighteen. He had allowed her to see him then, to know
the presence of the assassins and to see how she reacted to him.
She had been so fascinated that she had stopped singing.

Her beauty had stopped his
world from spinning.

The moon had been shining
down on her, highlighting her pale gown and the silver threads that
ran through her hair, holding it back. He had fallen for her then.
She had looked like an angel.

With a voice that
matched.

No.

“
Iskara’s
angels have no voice to compare to yours,” he whispered, unsure
whether he wanted her to hear.

She faltered and looked at
him. Her voice died away and he cursed himself for speaking. She
was looking at him with such questioning eyes. They demanded
answers and he would give them to her.

“
I have always
listened to you sing.” He somehow managed to hold her gaze and keep
his voice steady. “You have a beautiful voice… although I preferred
it when you were younger.”

She frowned.
“Why?”

“
Because your
songs were only for my ears then.”

Her lips parted, her mouth
falling open as she blinked at him. Iskara, he wanted to kiss her.
He wanted to confess everything—he loved her more than anything. No
male could ever love her like he did.

Crimson touched her cheeks
and she averted her gaze.

He cursed again. He hadn’t
wanted her to turn quiet or be ashamed. He should have kept silent
and let her sing. She had obviously been trying to calm her nerves
and he had ruined it with his foolish words. As though a princess
could ever love someone like him.

She pulled his jacket
closer around her, her fingers slipping into the pockets to hold it
closed. He froze when she frowned and looked down at one of the
pockets. She reached a little further in and his heart
stopped.

Natalia slowly pulled the
heart pendant from his jacket pocket and held it up in the
light.

Her eyes shot to
his.

Ixion swallowed
hard.

This was going to go
horribly wrong.

****

Chapter
6

Natalia stared at the
pendant dangling in front of her, still shocked from finding it.
Why would Ixion have the pendant that she had set her heart on at
the festival but hadn’t been able to afford?

Her heart whispered that
he had bought it for her but that didn’t make any sense at all.
Ixion couldn’t afford to buy such an expensive item and, even if he
could, why would he buy it for her?

She slipped down from the
stage and came to stand in front of him. Staring down at him, she
waited to see if he was going to explain. She knew that he wasn’t a
thief but she needed to hear him say it. She needed to know why he
had the pendant that she had wanted.

“
Princess
Natalia.” The sound of her name spoken in his deep voice sent a
shiver tripping down her spine and her stomach warmed. “I can
explain.”

She touched the stone at
the same time as he did. It turned black. He snatched his hand back
and the heart turned purple again.

She hadn’t realised that
it could do such a thing. No wonder it was expensive. Whatever it
was made from, it wasn’t a cheap stone that could be found
anywhere. She had thought that it was just purple glass.

“
Why do you
have this?” Her voice shook almost as much as her hands. The
pendant jiggled, the heart swinging in a small circle.

“
I…” He lowered
his head. The long finger-length black strands of his hair fell
forwards to hide his face. She wished he would look up at her again
so she could read the reason in his eyes because she was beginning
to fear that he was going to leave her with no explanation.
“Forgive me.”

She frowned. Forgive him?
His tone had held such a solemn note, one that spoke to her heart
and told her to do as he had asked, even though she didn’t know why
he wanted to be forgiven.

“
I should not
have bought it,” he said to his knees. “But the Perseian took a
little money and handed it to me. She spoke to me in my own
language and made me foolishly believe in something which is
impossible… I never intended to give it to you. Doing so would
break—”

“
I forgive
you.” Natalia didn’t want him to continue. If he was going to
mention his duty and his position then she had to stop
him.

She knew that he had been
watching her the whole time since she had left the palace but
hadn’t realised how closely. He must have seen her at the stall and
seen the disappointment she had felt on realising that she couldn’t
afford the pendant. Taking a look at the scant silver Lynans in his
jacket pocket, she realised that he probably hadn’t been able to
afford it either. Had the woman given it to him for only a few of
his Lynans because he was Perseian or because she had realised why
he had wanted it?

The woman had made him
believe something that was impossible. What was that something? Did
it have anything to do with her?

Natalia looked at the
pendant. It was beautiful, but what made her smile was the fact
that Ixion had bought it for her because he had seen her
disappointment.

“
Thank you,”
she said and he looked up at her, his clear purple eyes as bright
as the stone that she held. “No one other than my family has bought
me a present before.”

He frowned. “No one has
bought you this. Only your family are worthy of buying you
gifts.”

Natalia’s shoulders
slumped. She hated the way he talked about himself as though he
didn’t exist. He had done so the night he had come to take her home
from the club and he was doing it again now. She wanted to tell him
that she thought he was someone of consequence and that he wasn’t a
nobody. He existed to her, in her heart.

“
Can I keep it
anyway?” She closed her fingers around the heart and held it to her
chest. “Can I say that it means a lot to me and order you to
believe it?”

An order was probably her
only way of making him believe it.

She swallowed her nerves
and stepped closer to him, so they were toe to toe. She looked down
into his eyes and then leaned over, swept his black hair from his
forehead, cupped his cheek and kissed him.

It was barely a meeting of
lips but her stomach flipped and her heart raced. She brushed her
mouth over his and was surprised when he responded with force. His
hand caught her wrist, bringing her closer and holding her there.
His lips grazed hers and then he slanted his head and his tongue
stroked the seam of her mouth.

Natalia felt giddy when
she parted her lips, allowing his tongue into her mouth, and
clumsily tackled it with her own. It was thrilling to kiss him like
this, to have such deep intimacy between them. His tongue slid
sensually against hers, stroking it and her teeth. Her breathing
turned rough and her blood heated. The kiss became choppy, a
clashing of lips and bursts of tongues. Her nipples tightened
against her dress and fire pooled at the apex of her thighs.
Iskara. She wanted him.

Suddenly, the kiss was
over and he had drawn back into the chair. His eyes were dark as he
stared at her, full of passion and something else.

Anger?

Natalia struggled to level
her breathing, absorbing the calamity of sensations and feelings
inside her. Renie had told her that males could make the female
body do funny things but she had never imagined that it would feel
like this, that she would feel as though her body was taking
control and leading her actions.

“
Why did you
stop?” she breathed, still trying to get hold of
herself.

His black eyebrows knitted
into a heavy frown and he stood, pacing a short distance away from
her.

“
I am an
assassin… under your father’s command no less—”

“
Stop!” She
didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want him to find a reason not to
kiss her when she knew that he wanted it as much as she did. He
looked over his shoulder at her with hurt in his purple eyes. She
had never wanted him to look at her like that. It hurt her heart.
It made her realise what he had wanted to say. “Don’t mention my
father… or the palace… or that I am a princess… because I wish that
I wasn’t and I have done from the moment I met you.”

He turned now, a stunned
look replacing the pain in his eyes.

Natalia turned away,
unable to see him when she said this because she feared it wouldn’t
make a difference. She was frightened that she would lose her
nerve. Ixion was the only male that she had ever wanted. She
couldn’t bear it if he rejected her because of her
title.

“
I wish I
wasn’t a princess,” she whispered and lowered her head. She
uncurled her fingers and looked at the purple heart resting in her
hands. Ixion’s heart. She wanted to take hold of it and not let it
go, wanted to make him see that it didn’t matter what titles they
bore, because she loved him and she knew that he had feelings for
her. “I just want to be Natalia… I want to be free to sing wherever
I want to and do whatever I want.”

“
What is it
that you want so badly that you cannot have or do now?” he said
close to her ear and she closed her eyes, relishing the way it felt
to have him near. It was comforting and warmed her heart. He made
her feel safe. He made her happy. “To sing?”

She shook her head, turned
to face him, and looked deep into his eyes. “You.”

His eyes narrowed, the
passion in them reigniting, and then she was in his arms. They were
tight against her back, crushing her to his chest. His mouth
descended, claiming her lips in a fiery kiss that made her heart
burn. She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and surrendered to
him. His tongue plundered her mouth and she fought back, stroking
it with her own. The sound of his deep moan made her shiver with
delight and empowered her. She slid her hands up his chest, the
pendant tangled around the fingers of her left hand, and looped her
arms around his neck.

The sound of weapons fire
drifted into the distance, the hard beat of her heart drowning out
all noise. Ixion’s hands settled against her sides, fingers
pressing in hard as though he wanted to hold her forever and never
let her go. She wished that he wouldn’t. She wanted to be his
forever. She wanted to give him every part of her—her heart, her
body and her soul.

His lips trailed fire down
her neck and she leaned back, sighing at the ceiling as his silken
tongue traced sensual patterns on her flesh. He travelled lower,
his hands coming up to press into her back as he placed soft kisses
on the curve of her breasts. Her nipples tightened against her
dress and she found the courage to unleash her first moan. It felt
so good that she did it again. Ixion responded by tugging at the
short bodice of her dress. Her breasts spilled out when he undid
the dark blue ribbons that held it closed across them.

She gasped when his lips
latched onto her right nipple, tugging it into his mouth. Her wide
eyes fell shut again when he suckled and laved the pert nub,
sending warm sparks skittering across her skin. She buried her
fingers into his hair, clutching him to her breast, wishing he
would never stop.

Instinct made her lift her
leg and wrap it around his backside. The move put her off balance
and she crashed to the floor with him on top of her.

“
Natalia?”
Ixion said in an urgent tone. She opened her eyes to see an
overwhelming amount of concern in his. “Are you hurt?”

Natalia shook her head and
blushed when she realised that he was on top of her, between her
thighs, her leg still hooked over his backside.

Before she could even
think of something to say, his mouth had claimed hers again, his
kiss fierce and demanding. She responded as violently, desperate to
taste him and feel him against her.

His hand skimmed up her
thigh, pulling the skirt of her dress with it, and then moved down
again. The next time he touched her, it was with only her stockings
between them. His hand was warm as it stroked her thigh, making her
tremble with need. She responded by sliding her tongue along his,
brushing it over his teeth and then nipping at his lower lip. He
moaned again, his breath hot against her face.

“
Natalia,” he
husked and a shiver danced through her.

She liked the way he
normally said her name but she loved the way he said it in the heat
of the moment, breathed soft against her skin and telling her of
the depth of his passion and hunger.

Natalia raised her knee
and his hand slid lower, grazing her backside. He propped himself
up on his other elbow and lowered his head to her breasts again.
The feel of his tongue swirling around her nipple was torture but
one she willingly submitted to. She tilted her head back and arched
her body into his, forcing her breast against his mouth. He wrapped
his lips around the pert nub and sucked.