Heart of an Emperor [Daughters of Lyra Series]

by Felicity Heaton

  He picked the book up and looked at the drawing of the markings and then at his arms.

  "Because I had to know,” he said and closed the book, placing it down on the bed. He looked at her, at her sore eyes, and realised that she had been crying. Why? Was it because of what she had discovered or something else? His gaze lowered to her stomach and then darted back to her face.

  "You had to know what?” New tears rose into her eyes and he longed to reach out and wipe them away.

  Was this also love? This past day had been incredible. He had learnt so much, gained so much, and now he felt as though he was standing on the edge of the cliffs of Varka Three, one step away from falling to his lonely death. If he said the wrong thing now, if he couldn't convince her that he hadn't lied to her, then he would lose everything.

  Without her, life wasn't worth living. Eternity would be a bleak darkness without this ray of light before him.

  His own shoulders slumped as he realised that the Terran tale was true. He understood it now. Love was consuming, beyond mortal control. The star-crossed lovers had killed themselves—one because they believed the other dead, and the other because they woke to see their love had died. Neither had wanted to live without the other. Both had chosen death over life alone.

  A decision he would gladly make should Sophia turn her back on him because of his deception.

  "It was not easy. Please believe me, Sophia,” Regis said and took her hand. When she didn't snatch it back, he took it as a good sign. This was all frightening and new. Never before had he been so scared that someone would leave him. Never had he relied so heavily on one person for his future happiness. “I desired to tell you at every turn, with every furtive glance you threw my way, but I had to resist and see what you would do. When you rejected the emperor because you could not love him, and when you sought my company, I knew that you were growing attached to me but I still could not dare hope or reveal the truth."

  He sighed and squeezed her hand.

  "Sophia, I admit that while we were en route to Lyra Prime, I decided to switch with Sirus and see what would happen. You have had many suitors and rejected them all. I wanted to spend time with you to discover whether you were only waiting for the right amount of money, planets or power to come along or whether it was something else that you were looking for."

  "You lied."

  He closed his eyes and raised her hand, pressing it against his cheek. He opened his eyes again and looked at her. The frown she wore was beginning to fade.

  "Know that I did not mean to deceive you. I only wished to observe proceedings, hoped that perhaps I was wrong and there was something else you sought. When you admitted that you wanted to love your future husband, I wanted to rejoice and cry at the same time. You had chosen the one thing I could not give and I had begun to long for your company and the sight of your beautiful face."

  A blush touched her cheeks and he stroked her right one with the backs of his fingers.

  "But you can love,” Sophia said and took hold of his hand. “I have seen it ... felt it."

  "You have made me realise it.” He squeezed her hand and sighed. “Although I fear you will no longer love me."

  "It's foolish, but when I met you, I longed for you to be the emperor so I could spend time with you. I hated the emperor."

  "Do you still hate the emperor?” he said with a hopeful look.

  Her frown melted away and she sighed. A smile curved her beautiful lips.

  "I'm an idiot, but I think I love him."

  Regis smiled, warmed by her confession and the fact that everything was out in the open now.

  Almost everything.

  "Would you marry the emperor?"

  "I don't think the emperor should talk about himself in the third person,” she said and then frowned again. “Your name is Regis though, yes?"

  He nodded.

  "And the Count of Sagres bit?"

  "Count of Sagres is the name traditionally given to me as Emperor Varka. It was a risk to use it, but it is not well documented."

  Sophia stared at him. Regis was a count, and also the emperor. The man she had thought was the emperor wasn't the emperor at all. She couldn't believe this. It was almost as strange and fantastical as the thought that he couldn't love. She had wanted Regis to be the emperor, and it had turned out that he was. Was this the deception her father had spoken of?

  "My father knows, doesn't he?"

  "Does he?” Regis said with a frown.

  "Down at the cells he mentioned a deception and that someone had to explain something. It must be this."

  "The cells.” Regis looked pensive, as though he was having difficulty remembering being there. “It is not clear. Perhaps he does. Everything between leaving you here and seeing you there is a blur."

  "The bloodlust?” Sophia said and he nodded again. She stroked the back of his hand and then the start of the marks running up his arm. “You really are the emperor, aren't you? You're not going to suddenly announce that the Count of Aeris is the emperor?"

  He laughed, although it sounded strained to her. “No. Van would make a terrible emperor. He is a better tactician than politician. He is the commander of our finest fleet."

  "And the other one?"

  "Sirus?” he said and lowered his gaze to watch her hand. “He is my first attendant and bodyguard. Although I do not need one."

  She could believe that. Having seen Regis fight, she couldn't imagine anyone besting him if he was in control of himself. Her fingers followed the marks up to his elbow.

  "Were you going to tell me?” she said with a frown, hoping his answer would be yes. She hoped that he had been intending to tell her sooner rather than later. She hoped that he would have told her before she had found out from her father.

  "Were you going to tell me?” he countered and her frown intensified.

  "Tell you what?” she said, unable to think of any secret she had withheld from him.

  He lowered his hand to her stomach. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

  "Varkans are very sensitive to female times of needing and pregnancies. A Varkan pregnancy develops quickly. A Varkan's ability to see the future of their family develops faster than that.” He smiled and she was stunned to see the tenderness in it and the affection that filled his eyes as he stroked her stomach. “There will be two."

  "How do you know?” She placed her hand over his, shocked by how sure he had sounded.

  "I have seen them. A boy and a girl. Playing under the Lyran sun with their mother."

  When he smiled at her, she wondered how he could have ever said that Varkans couldn't love. There was so much affection and love in his expression and in his voice.

  She hesitated and then smiled. “Do they have red eyes?"

  He nodded.

  "I think I might be the first Varkan to ever say this.” He looked nervous for a moment and cleared his throat. “I love you."

  Sophia grinned and forgot that she had been angry with him. It was impossible to be angry with him when he looked at her like this, so full of devotion and love. She was about to throw her arms around him when she stopped herself.

  "You saw us here?” she said, wanting to make sure that she had heard him right.

  He nodded. “In the gardens."

  "But you're the emperor of Varka. You can't live here and I've already made up my mind to leave with you. How could you see us here?"

  "Perhaps because I had already decided to stay here. The dreams can change. I am willing to change with them. We could make both palaces our homes."

  "Spend some time here and some on Varka Prime?” It sounded too good to be true. She knew it was a long journey between the planets but perhaps the Varkans could invent a type of space travel that would be even faster than sub-space. She could happily spend half a year on Varka Prime if she knew she could bask in the sun of Lyra Prime for the other half. If they were having twins as he said, then she wanted her family involved with them. She didn't have a cl
ue how to look after children and everyone would be more than willing to help.

  "Whatever you wish for, you will receive, my love."

  Sophia threw her arms around him then and dragged him down to the bed. His mouth claimed hers and she sighed inside over his tender kisses and the fact that his hand remained against her stomach.

  "Regis?” she whispered when he kissed down her neck.

  "Yes, Sophia?"

  "Will you lose control again ... if you taste my blood?"

  "No, not now."

  "Not now?” she said with a frown.

  "Not now that you wear this,” he said and kissed the mark on her throat. It was something she hadn't read anything about and now she wished she had so she could understand what was happening.

  "Why not?"

  He drew back and looked at her. “Because it tells everyone that you are mine."

  "I'm yours?” she said, hopeful and wanting to hear him say it again.

  "Forever mine and mine alone. No one will dare touch you.” He caressed the marks on her throat and warmth spread out from their centre, suffusing her entire body. She closed her eyes for a moment to relish the feel of his fingers against her and then looked at him. “To bite someone's neck is the equivalent to ... well ... marriage."

  "Marriage?” Her eyebrows shot up and she went to touch her neck but touched his hand instead. A jolt ran through her and she bit her lip at the sudden hunger that followed. She wanted to feel him against her, their bodies as one again. She cursed him for being able to make her feel like that from just a touch, for making her forget what she had been talking about. “Marriage?"

  "There will be an official ceremony of course, both here and on Varka Prime. The people will wish to meet their empress. If you will have me?"

  And she had been worried that he was going to leave her. She blinked, too stunned to form a response. He had already marked her as his but he still wanted to marry her.

  "Are you going to talk to my father?” she said and he nodded again. “I think I should go with you and perhaps we should bring Van and the other one too. We might need all the protection we can get."

  "Why?” He frowned at her.

  "My mother will be there."

  "And?"

  It didn't seem to be sinking in.

  "Well, you see, I already have ties to your species."

  "You do?” His frown didn't shift.

  "My mother isn't wholly Minervan. She's part Varkan. My father can feel things but it's strongest when my mother is with him."

  His eyes shot wide. He paled to a shade of white Sophia didn't like.

  "She will be able to sense the pregnancy,” Regis said in a distant tone, his eyes bright but unfocused. Clearly, he enjoyed the idea of having to face her parents as much as she did.

  "Your bags are packed and I have nothing I'd need to take with me,” she said and sat up. “We could run away."

  He sat up too and frowned at the luggage.

  "No."

  "No?” The thought that he might actually stand up to her parents made her squirm inside. She didn't want to start a war between Lyra and Varka and if Regis went to face her father alone, that might happen. Both of them seemed unduly stubborn. “Then let me go alone. My father won't deny me."

  He looked uncomfortable.

  There was a buzz over the intercom beside the door.

  She tensed and looked at Regis.

  "Open the door, Sophia,” her father said over the intercom.

  Regis stood and put his jacket on. She could only watch as he buttoned it and then did his trousers up and fastened his sword around his waist. He gave her a smile, swept the long strands of his black hair out of his face, and then strode to the door. She curled up on the bed and hugged her knees to her chest. At least they were both dressed. Perhaps her father wouldn't put two and two together. If he did, she prayed to Iskara that he made five.

  Regis opened the door. Her father walked in and Sophia smiled until her mother stepped out from behind him. They both looked at her, their shock written on their faces.

  Sophia opened her mouth to explain but Regis stepped between them.

  "I, Regis, Count of Sagres, Emperor Varka, kneel before you,” he said and unsheathed his sword and knelt in front of her father. She leaned forwards, anxious to see what he was going to do. He balanced the sword across both of his palms and lowered his head. “Your highness, Lyra I, King of Lyra, I offer you my sword."

  "Your life?” her father said and Sophia started forwards but stopped when Regis looked at her.

  The sword symbolised his life?

  No.

  "My life, in exchange for your daughter's,” he said and looked up at her father. He raised the sword up, offering it just as he had said. She shook her head, afraid that any exchange he spoke of would be taken literally by her father. She could see the anger in his eyes and knew that both he and her mother had sensed what had happened to her. Her father would have felt it from her mother. “I willingly give my life for hers."

  "Regis,” Sophia whispered and reached out to him. Tears blurred her vision. She bit her lip and sobbed when her father took the sword and held it tight in one hand. “Father?"

  She cringed and flinched away when he brought the sword down and there was a harsh thud.

  Silence reigned.

  "I do not understand,” Regis said and Sophia opened one eye and then the other. Relief filled her swift and sweet when she saw that he was unharmed and that her father had buried the sword point down into the wooden floor.

  "My daughter loves you,” her father said on a sigh. “Enough that she has given herself to you. I cannot cause harm to one my daughter loves, not when it would in turn cause harm to her."

  "Sophia,” Regis said and stood. He held his hand out to her and she went to him, slipping her hand into his and holding it tightly. Her stomach fluttered with nerves as she stood before her mother and father with him. He turned to her father. “You will give your daughter to me, to protect from this day forward?"

  Her father nodded. Her mother smiled wide and looped her arm through her father's.

  "I give my daughter to you on one condition."

  "Anything,” Regis said.

  "That you promise to love her until the end of your days, whenever those may be, and beyond them."

  "I will always love her.” Regis turned away from her father and looked at her. She blushed when he took both of her hands and held them, his thumbs caressing her fingers. “I will always love you, Sophia. I am no longer afraid of these feelings or how little control I have over them. For you, I embrace them and the fear they bring, just as you embraced it for me."

  Sophia bit her lip and smiled when he pulled her into his arms. She rested her head against his chest and listened to his heart beating strong. Her heart. She had captured it just as he had captured hers.

  She cursed her parents when she saw them still standing by the door and tried to shoo them away. Her father gave her a look that said he wasn't going anywhere.

  "One more condition,” he said and Regis looked at him. “Sophia is Lyran and will live many long years just as the rest of our species, but not as yours. Give her a wedding present when you are married in two night's time."

  Sophia frowned. “Two nights?"

  "Hush,” her mother said with a knowing smile. Sophia couldn't believe it. If they intended for her to marry Regis in only two nights then they must have been setting everything up from shortly after she had spoken to her father in the garden.

  "I will give her any present that she desires,” Regis said and she smiled at him.

  "Give her this one. Give her the aeturnalia solis."

  Regis’ expression changed to one so serious that she was dying to know what her father had said. She hadn't understood it. It had sounded like the old language that Regis had spoken.

  "I will,” he said and her parents left.

  Sophia looked at Regis, eager to know what it was that she would be getting as
a present. It sounded interesting but the look on Regis's face made her worry. She hoped it wasn't anything to do with him dying again. The thought of him leaving her was terrifying. She didn't want him to ever leave her side, and definitely not on her wedding night.

  In two night's time.

  Night.

  She was getting married at night?

  Evening at least. She wanted to see Regis's face during the ceremony.

  "Regis?” she said as he wrapped his arms around her and the door closed. “What's aeturnalia solis?"

  He brushed the waves of black hair from her face and smiled at her.

  "Something I would have given you without his asking, but only with your permission."

  "Permission?” she said and frowned.

  "It goes with this,” he said and stroked the mark on her throat. “Think of it as love everlasting."

  "Love everlasting?” she said and then remembered what she had read about Varkans. “Or life everlasting?"

  He smiled and cupped her cheek. “Both, for you."

  "Love everlasting,” she whispered as she stared into his eyes.

  Eternity with Regis.

  It sounded wonderful.

  Taking his hand, she placed it over her stomach, holding it there, and kissed him. She wasn't going to leave this room until the ceremony in two night's time. After that, she wasn't going to leave Regis's side forever.

  She smiled when Regis nicked her lip with his teeth and kissed her harder, stealing her breath away but in control this time, just as she knew he always would be from now on. Now that she was his.

  Always.

  And soon he would be hers.

  Forever.

  The End

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  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.