Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin (9 page)

A moan escaped her, loud
in the empty club.

“
Natalia,” he
whispered against her flesh again and she ran her fingers into his
hair.

He disappeared. She
frowned and then her eyes widened when he pressed a kiss to her
inner thigh.

Iskara.

He was going to kiss her
there? Renie hadn’t mentioned anything about that kind of
thing.

Natalia’s breathing
quickened, anticipation making her tremble, and she stared at the
ceiling. Waiting. Ixion placed a trail of kisses along her thigh,
marking his path to the centre of her flesh. She gasped when he
pressed a kiss to the thin silk of her underwear, directly over her
mound, and then groaned when he laved her clit through
it.

A wave of pin pricks
chased over her skin and she couldn’t stop herself from reacting,
from lifting her knees and letting her legs fall open. He licked
again, rougher this time, and she flung her head back.

“
Ixion,” she
whispered and her fingers scrambled for purchase on the
floor.

He groaned against her, as
though the sound of her uttering his name so passionately had
thrilled him.

A cold draft caressed her
backside when he pulled her underwear off and her heart fluttered.
He was really going to kiss her there.

She tried to prepare
herself but nothing she could have done would have made her ready
for how it felt when his tongue found her slick flesh again. He ran
his tongue up the length of her and swirled it around her clit,
sending jolts through her and making her whole body tighten. The
warm feeling inside her abdomen turned to fire and an ache filled
her, a desperate need to find release.

He licked down to her
opening and then back up again. It was maddening. She clawed at the
dirty floor, writhing against him, unable to stop herself from
thrusting herself against his mouth as he suckled and licked her
clit. The feeling within her reached bursting point.

Ixion flicked her pert nub
with his tongue.

Stars exploded in front of
her eyes.

Her already rough
breathing turned choppy.

Her heart
hammered.

Ixion appeared above her,
licking his lips. She grabbed him around the back of his neck,
dragged him down to her, and kissed the breath out of him, tasting
herself on his lips. He moaned into her mouth and she answered with
one of her own. Her whole body felt lax but as she kissed him, his
hands moved over her body—skimming her thighs one moment and
caressing her breasts the next—reigniting the hunger she felt for
him.

She wanted him.

She wanted to give all of
herself to him.

Her hands slid down his
sides and settled on his backside. It was taut beneath her fingers,
the muscular globes delighting her. She could easily imagine how
beautiful he would be when naked, but the room was cold even with
her clothes on. She definitely couldn’t imagine him wanting to
strip off for her.

Gaining some courage from
the eager way that he was kissing her, she brought her left hand
down and around his hip. She tensed the moment her fingers found
the hard evidence of his arousal and then relaxed a little when
Ixion moaned. She kept her hand firm against him when he thrust,
rubbing his erect length against her palm. Bigger than expected.
Renie hadn’t said much about that either, only that males varied.
Her tutor had said even less than that. It was a miracle Natalia
even knew that some species’ males had parts like this.

Ixion moaned and shuddered
against her, his lips leaving hers. His face was beautiful—his
eyebrows knit into a tight frown of concentration, his eyes closed,
and his lips parted as he breathed roughly. Whatever he felt when
she stroked his cock, it felt good enough to make him want to just
stop everything and take it all in, to relish the
sensations.

Her fingers found the
clasps of his trousers and she struggled to undo them. He tensed
and she thought that he would stop her, but instead he leaned to
one side and helped her. She craned her neck, looking down the
length of their bodies, eager to see him in all his glory and to
see what she did to him. She had aroused him. She had made him want
her. Now all she had to do was make him go through with it. Renie
had warned her about that bit. It was going to hurt and he was
going to know.

He startled her out of her
thoughts by taking hold of her hand and guiding it to him. She
wrapped her fingers around the rigid shaft and watched as he moved
her hand up and down its length, stroking him. It felt good.
Clearly it felt good to Ixion too because he moaned with each
stroke of her hand.

Her gaze settled on his
hard cock.

She wanted that inside her
now. She wanted them to be one at last.

Bringing her hand down,
she forced him to follow, and raised her knees again. Ixion’s eyes
shot to hers and she stared into them, wanting him to see how much
she needed this and wanted him. She wouldn’t regret it. Her heart
was his and her body would be too.

He lowered his hips,
removed her hand from his length, and guided himself to her slick
opening. She tried to relax but it all happened so fast that she
didn’t have a chance. Before she could even draw a deep breath,
Ixion had buried his length inside her. She bit her lip to stifle
her cry as pain shot through her and closed her eyes, squeezing
tears from them.

“
Natalia.” He
sounded more than a little shocked.

Did he think that she had
visited the pleasure planet like Renie had? Most of her family
either lost their virginity there or had some lovers from the
planet come to them. She hadn’t wanted that. She had wanted her
first time to be with someone she loved.

“
Sorry,” she
said through clenched teeth.

Ixion peppered her face
with kisses, erasing her tears with his lips and thumbs, and kept
still inside her.

“
You should
have told me, sweet Natalia,” he whispered against her
skin.

He would have stopped her
if she had. He would have started spouting stuff about her being a
princess and him not being worthy. She hadn’t wanted that. He was
worthy. He was the only man she would ever love.

The pain began to subside
and she opened her eyes, finding herself staring into the beautiful
purple depths of his.

Lifting her hand, she
stroked his cheek and then smiled. “You would have
stopped.”

The look in his eyes said
that she was right.

“
Don’t stop… I
want you to have this… me… like this.” She was close to pleading
him to move, to take her mind off the pain and dark thoughts that
were creeping in at the corners of her mind. This wouldn’t be their
only time. She wouldn’t marry another. She would only marry the man
that she loved, if he would have her. There was no one as worthy of
her love as Ixion. “Kiss me.”

He did. He dipped his head
and brushed his lips over hers, his kiss sweet and slow. Her heart
warmed and her body relaxed under the gentle ministrations. When
Ixion withdrew and slowly eased back in, she felt no pain, only raw
pleasure. She moaned her encouragement.

His pace quickened and she
deepened their kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth, her body on
fire as Ixion moved against her.

His own moans joined hers,
each thrust punctuated by one. Natalia closed her eyes and wrapped
her arms around him, clinging to him as he thrust into her, each
one making her body tighten a little more until she was close to
begging him to make her climax. She wanted to feel him climax
inside her, wanted this beautiful moment to be complete.

Ixion touched her ear and
she didn’t realise that he had removed her translator bud until he
whispered words against her lips that she didn’t understand. They
were passionate sounding, hungry things that made her blood burn
even though she didn’t know what they were. It was a beautiful
language. It made her heart sing.

His hands caught her
shoulders and he moved deeper, thrusting all the way in, taking her
out of her mind. Her body tensed but release seemed so far away.
She raked her nails down Ixion’s arms and then threaded her fingers
into his hair. She kissed him hard, her teeth knocking against his
with each thrust of his body into hers. He uttered something deep
and rough, and then jerked hard up inside her. His cock throbbed,
his warm seed spilling into her. She tensed her body around his
length and the hard pulsing of it pushed her over the edge. Her
hips convulsed against his, her thighs trembling with her climax
and a warm haze suffusing every molecule in her body.

Ixion continued to kiss
her, slower now and softer, spreading the warmth inside her and
making her smile. She could feel his emotions in it and they
soothed her heart.

She wasn’t the only one in
love.

****

Chapter
7

Ixion pulled the blanket
closed over Natalia’s front and tucked it around her shoulders as
best he could with one hand. His other arm was under her head, his
beautiful princess’s pillow. She slumbered on, unaffected by his
coddling, her face the picture of serenity.

The night had fallen
silent shortly after he had found some blankets and she had fallen
asleep in his arms on the stage. The fighting had
stopped.

The only sound now was
Natalia’s soft steady breathing and the small noises of the Friskin
as it moved around in the shipping crate beside them.

Ixion sighed and carefully
lifted each rogue wave of black hair from Natalia’s face so he
could see it clearly. She was beautiful. His elusive
princess.

The heart pendant he had
bought for her lay resting against her bosom, almost slipping into
her dress. She had asked him to put it on her after they had made
love. Everything had been so perfect that he had almost fooled
himself into believing that things would be different
now.

They couldn’t
be.

If her parents discovered
what she had done, they would be angry with her.

If her parents discovered
what he had done, they would execute him.

The black band around his
wrist crackled and then a voice came over it. The palace was
secure. The riots in the city had been quelled. They were safe to
return.

Natalia’s nose wrinkled
and she curled up against him, as though she had heard those words
and didn’t want to go back to the palace. It was a nice fantasy.
When he told her that they could return, she would be happy, not
sad. He stroked his fingers across her forehead, not wanting to
wake her yet. He wanted to have this moment last a little longer,
wanted to imprint it all on his memory so he would never forget a
second of it.

Her eyelids fluttered and
then lifted to reveal her bright clear green eyes. A shy smile
touched her lips and a hint of colour reached her pale cheeks. He
smiled back at her, continuing to caress her, not wanting her to
leave him yet.

Or ever.

“
There was a
noise,” she muttered, her voice filled with sleep.

Ixion wanted to tell her
not to worry about it and to return to sleep but her eyes were
growing brighter and more awake by the second. She rubbed her face
and then frowned.

“
I must look
terrible.”

His smile widened. If
terrible was looking like an angel, then she looked
terrible.

She pulled the black waves
of her hair from her face and slowly sat up. Her arms crossed over
her chest, hands grasping the dull grey blanket near her shoulders
to keep it around them.

“
Is it
morning?” she said with a look around.

“
Almost.” Could
he tell her to stay with him? Was that a foolish thing to do? There
was no chance for an assassin and a princess. He was a dead man
when they returned to the palace. No matter how hard they tried, if
they continued to see each other they wouldn’t be able to keep it
secret. His position meant that he would often see her father and
family. He didn’t think he could hide it from them, this sin that
he had committed.

Would she even want to
keep it a secret? A female of her standing deserved a man that
stood on a similar level, far above the one that he could reach.
The commander of the royal assassins was the highest echelon he
could attain, and it would never be enough. Her father wouldn’t
condone an assassin courting his daughter.

“
We should
leave,” he said and stood, then stooped and picked up the crate
with the baby Friskin in it. It was Natalia’s now, he supposed. She
would look after it and it would probably remind her of him, just
as the heart pendant would.

He hoped that she would
never forget him.

That was all he could ask
for.

Without another word, he
opened the door to the club and stepped out into the still-dark
street. Dawn was only minutes away but the sky showed no sign of
lightening. Clouds of smoke drifted overhead in the ink-blue sky,
the last signs of the riots. When they returned to the palace, he
would have to file a report to General Lyra II about what had
happened and would find out how much damage had been done to the
city. Whoever had planned the riots was going to become his next
target.