Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Mercenary (9 page)

Miali was still grinning
when he looked at her. She ruffled the hair of the boy that she was
holding and set him down on his feet. Dim lights flickered back
into life above them.

“
Run along
now,” she said and the boy disappeared into the crowd. It wasn’t
dispersing. Everyone was watching the Lyran vessel now.

“
Home?” he said
and pointed at the ship.

“
The
Nebula-Lyra II. My father’s ship.” She looked around them and then
back at him. “Do you know where the docking bay is?”

He dumbly pointed along
the corridor. She grabbed his hand and dragged him in that
direction.

“
My father will
want to meet the man who rescued me.”

Those words sent a chill
to his heart and made him nauseas.

Her father?

Was she forgetting that he
was also one of the men who had kidnapped her and had intended to
sell her into slavery? He was sure that Nostra would be quick to
mention that when he met her father.

Kosen tried to get his
hand free of hers but by the time he had managed it, they were in
the docking bay. He swallowed his thundering heart and pulled
himself together. Nostra probably didn’t need to tell her father
that he had been involved. It wouldn’t take much for her father to
piece it together. After all, the only place they could have met
was on the ship that had taken her. Perhaps they could pretend that
he had been a captive too. That would work until her father had
spoken to Nostra. Perhaps it was better not to lie. Her father
might kill him for such a thing. Perhaps it was better just to
avoid the situation entirely.

“
This isn’t a
good idea,” he said.

Miali looked at him and he
gave her a nervous smile. Understanding visibly dawned in her
eyes.

“
Perhaps you’re
right—” Before she could finish that sentence, one of the airlock
doors further along opened.

They both looked there.
Her hand fell from his as two tall, broad built males walked
through it. Their black hair and black eyes made them look Minervan
but Kosen knew that they were Lyran. They wore the black and blue
flight suit of the Lyran military.

“
Miali!” One of
the males grinned and came rushing towards her. The other rolled
his eyes and walked.

“
Aksel,” Miali
gasped moments before she was wrapped in the male’s
arms.

Kosen’s blood boiled at
seeing the man handle her so familiarly. If he wasn’t one of her
brothers then Kosen was going to kill him.

It was a strange feeling,
as violent as others he’d had since meeting her. For some reason,
he needed to protect her, to keep her shut away from other males.
It all clicked into place in his mind. He really did like her, more
than he had thought. He liked her enough that he had attacked
Sasue, a man easily able to kill him, and he was considering
attacking both of these Lyran males at the same time.

“
Miali,” the
other man said in an official and somewhat displeased
tone.

Her smile fell off her
face and the man she had called Aksel put her down.

Miali lowered her head as
though in shame. “Taelis.”

“
Come Taelis,
show her a little affection. Be pleased that your rigorous and
ridiculous training served her well and she was able to escape.”
Aksel slapped the other man on the back.

Kosen decided that they
had to be her brothers. No man unrelated to the one she had called
Taelis would dare slap him.

Taelis gave Aksel a
thunderous look and then patted Miali’s cheek. “Mother was having
Snrikiks over this. She’s had father flying around half the galaxy
looking for you. I am glad that you were able to
escape.”

Miali cringed. “I didn’t
do it alone, or use anything that you taught me.”

Kosen stepped back and the
two males’ eyes immediately locked onto him. Perhaps moving had
been a bad idea.

“
Miali,” Taelis
said and stepped up to her. “You appear to have a young man with
you.”

She grinned but it looked
more like a grimace to Kosen. Kosen smiled and then backed off
another step when the two men frowned.

“
A young
Minervan man,” Aksel said and then his eyes narrowed with a sly
smile. “Don’t tell me that he helped you... that you and
he—”

“
Brother!”
Miali shouted and slapped him hard enough that the sound echoed
through the docking bay. When her hand fell away from Aksel’s face,
there was a bright red mark on it.

“
What in
Iskara’s name is happening here?” Another male voice joined them
and this one held such a note of authority that Kosen’s palms
sweated.

When the two males in
front of him parted to reveal the owner of the voice and they
saluted, Kosen made a small whimpering noise in his
throat.

He knew about the sons of
Lyra.

Only one had a cybernetic
arm that could easily crush a man’s throat.

Why did that one have to
be her father?

“
Father!” Miali
bounded over to him and threw herself into his arms. “You were
cutting it close.”

The captain’s handsome
face shifted into a wide smile as he held her and then set her back
down on her feet.

A cold trickle of sweat
eased down Kosen’s spine and he considered running for it but
didn’t think he would get very far with Miali’s two brothers only
feet from him.

“
We have the
men who kidnapped you,” her father said and looked her over. “Did
they hurt you?”

“
No... Erm,
father?”

Kosen prayed that she
wasn’t about to point the man in his direction. If only he could
fade into the darkness and disappear. He had never had to face
something as terrible as this. The moment this man realised who he
was and what he had done to his daughter, he was going to crush him
like a bug.

“
Miali has a
lover.” Aksel grinned.

The heat drained from
Kosen in a flash, leaving him cold and numb.

“
What?” he said
at exactly the same time as Miali, Taelis and her
father.

Aksel’s face blanched too
as all eyes came to rest on him and his father stormed towards
him.

“
A lover?” her
father said, face dark.

“
Wait wait
wait,” Miali chanted, her cheeks bright red.

Kosen held his hands up
when her father diverted his course away from Aksel and straight
towards him. Miali ran in front of him, trying to block his
way.

“
Wait, father,
it’s not like that.” Miali pushed against his chest and then looked
over her shoulder at himself.

Kosen waved his hands in
an attempt to tell her not to speak. If her father asked her
anything that would make her think about the things that had
happened between her and himself, then no matter what answer she
gave him, her body would tell the truth.

“
He’s not your
lover?” her father stopped and scrutinised him.

Kosen frowned at him and
had a change of heart as he wondered why it would be such a bad
thing if he were Miali’s lover. He was a good man who could easily
make something of himself. He had been honest with Miali throughout
their time together and she liked him. So there was that little
fact that he had played a part in her kidnapping, but he had surely
cancelled that out by helping her?

He was about to ask
whether her father objected on the grounds that he was Minervan
when the man stepped up to him, sandwiching Miali between them.
When she backed into him, Kosen placed his hands on her upper arms,
holding her.

She was
shaking.

“
Father, I can
explain. Kosen helped me escape those men. He was the doctor on
their ship.” She held her hand up when her father’s look turned
deadly and he opened his mouth to speak. “Was, father. Was. He
helped me escape. Now I want to help him. I need money.”

“
Money? Lovers?
What in Iskara’s name is going on?”

Kosen had the distinct
impression that this wasn’t going well, especially when her two
brothers came up behind their father, flanking him and drawing
their weapons.

“
He kidnapped
you. He’s one of them. Step aside, Miali,” Taelis said, taking aim
with his laser gun.

Kosen swallowed hard and
stared down the barrel of it.

Miali stretched her arms
out across him and shook her head.

“
No,” she said,
her voice shaking as much as he could feel her body was. “Kosen
saved me. I promised that I’d help his sisters. He needs money to
buy them back from their master. Please, father?”

“
Answer
something for me, Miali.” Her father’s look softened and a tiny
flicker of hope ignited in Kosen’s heart. Perhaps he wasn’t going
to die today after all.

“
Anything.”

“
Is he your
lover?”

Kosen couldn’t help
looking at her as she struggled for an answer. Her silver hair
shifted and she frantically pushed it back down. It seemed to be
the only answer that her family needed.

“
A Minervan?”
Taelis grumbled and shook his head.

Miali whined and then
said, “What does it matter if I’ve fallen for a Minervan? Aunt
Terea is Minervan and she’s the queen of Lyra!”

All three men pulled faces
that clearly expressed that they couldn’t deny that. Kosen joined
them. It was true. Her family had no right to complain about her
choosing a Minervan when they were under the rule of a Minervan
female.

His eyebrows
rose.

Wait.

Choosing a
Minervan?

He stared at Miali but her
hair obscured her face. He turned her to face him when frustration
got the better of him. He had to see her when he asked
this.

She dropped her head
forwards, looking at her feet. He cupped her cheek and raised her
head up until her eyes met his.

“
Fallen for a
Minervan?”

Her cheeks
flushed.

“
No one you
know,” she said and tried to turn away. He held her. She was a
spirited little thing now that she was free and safe, even more
than he had expected, but she couldn’t deny it.

“
Miali,” he
whispered and she looked up at him through her lashes.

Her eyes widened as he
dipped his head. He captured her lips, not caring about the fact
that her father was likely to tear them apart and throw him in the
cells, if he didn’t kill him outright.

She made a small noise of
protest and then melted into him, her hands pressing against his
chest as he wrapped his arms around her. A quiet moan escaped her
lips as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss, and she began to
respond. Her tongue parted his lips and brushed his, her hands
sliding up until she had looped her arms around his neck. He
frowned and exhaled through his nose when her body pressed against
his.

Suddenly, there was only
her in the universe, just as it had been the first time they had
kissed back in her cell.

The galaxy came crashing
back when someone tapped him on the shoulder and he lifted his head
to see three unimpressed males.

“
Come with me,”
her father said, his expression grim. “I have a few questions I
would like to ask you.”

Kosen released Miali and
followed her father towards the airlock that led to the Lyran
fighter. He glanced back at her to see her standing between her two
brothers, worry written across her face.

He really hoped that a few
questions meant just that and wasn’t code for ‘I’m going to crush
you once we’re in private and my daughter can’t see us’.

Holding his hand up, he
smiled at Miali, trying to tell her that he would be all right. Her
hair floated upwards as she returned the smile and she blushed
again as she struggled to smooth it down. Beautiful.

She was an angel of
Arkus.

And she had fallen for
him.

Just as he had fallen for
her.

****

Chapter
8

Miali stared out of the
window of the small fighter ship and wondered how long it would
take to travel back out of Minervan space to where the Nebula-Lyra
II waited for them. Taelis and Aksel had accompanied her and Kosen
to Minerva Seven. Her two brothers seemed reluctant to leave her
alone with Kosen but now they were busy tending to their new
guests. Kosen had gained his sisters’ freedom at the scant cost of
one hundred gold Lynans, which was only a fraction of what her
father had given her.

Kosen had taken his two
sisters straight to sickbay. She had only seen them in passing on
the planet and when they had been brought onto the ship, but they
were both beautiful, with skin as pale and hair as dark as Kosen’s.
They seemed frail though and wary. Kosen had told her that it would
take a long time before his sisters overcame their time as slaves,
if they ever did.

She wondered if they would
like to live in the Lyra system and then realised that it wasn’t
just for their sake that she wanted that. She wanted Kosen to stay
with her. Now that she had seen him around his sisters, she knew
that he would go wherever they went. She had never seen such an
attentive and loving brother. If they wanted to remain in the
Minerva system, even after what had happened to them, then he would
remain there also.