Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Prince (2 page)

The air was too thin. Her
eyes unfocused as she struggled to maintain consciousness. The
lights came back on at a low level, the computer reporting that
there were multiple hull breaches and life support was down. The
shield would seal the remaining air in, but it wouldn’t last for
long. Normally the shield gave out after an hour or so.

She fumbled across the
panel until she found the emergency life support. She hit the
button and a whoosh of air filled the bridge. She gasped, taking
the fresh air down deep into her lungs.

She turned where she knelt
on the floor and her eyes widened when she saw Rezic. Blood coated
the side of his head, dark against his pale skin. Her heart slammed
against her chest.

“
Rezic?” Renie
said, reaching out and touching his face. He was breathing, but
barely. She frowned at the wound on the side of his head. He needed
a medic. For the first time in her life, she wished she had paid
attention to Aunt Emmanuelle when she had given her and her brother
basic medical training. Rezic had been distracting her the whole
time, mimicking Emmanuelle behind her back. She cursed him and
stroked his face. “Wake up, brother, please.”

The computer informed her
that Rezic’s life signs were fading and he needed medical
assistance.

“
I know!” she
screamed and dashed her tears away as she got to her feet. She ran
to the door of the bridge but it wouldn’t open. Smashing the panel
over the manual control, she grabbed the lever and yanked it. Still
nothing. “Open the door!”

Her fists hurt as she
banged them against the solid metal, willing the door to open so
she could get to the medical supplies in the engine bay.

The computer warned her
again that Rezic was dying. Renie curled into a ball and sobbed
into her knees. She couldn’t get the door open. Why couldn’t the
computer open the door? Why did she have to sit here and watch her
brother die?

No, she wouldn’t admit
defeat so easily. Rezic would have broken the door down had their
positions been reversed. She ran to the control panel of the ship
and hit the intercom button.

It was pointless, but
right now, the only chance she had was a ship hearing her call and
coming to their aid. Someone had to be within ten thousand leagues
of them. There had to be a patrol along the Black Zone.

“
This is the
Explorer One, I have a medical emergency and require
assistance.”

Nothing.

“
This is the
Explorer One, I have a medical emergency. One of our crew is dying
and I’m trapped on the bridge. I require assistance. Please
respond!”

Nothing.

She stared into space and
then collapsed to her knees on the floor. Taking hold of Rezic’s
hand, she squeezed it and smiled.

“
Hold on.
Someone will come for us. I won’t let you die. I won’t.” She
sniffed back her tears and smiled at him. She would never let
anything happen to her brother. She wouldn’t let him die. “This is
the Explorer—”

“
Explorer One,”
a male voice said, deep and crackling. Her heart jumped in her
chest, hope making her dizzy. “Leave this space
immediately.”

Renie frowned, not
understanding at first. Leave? A glance at the control panel showed
there was no ship within five thousand leagues of her.

“
I won’t leave.
I have a medical emergency. My brother is dying!”

“
Explorer One,
leave at once.” The voice came again, clearer now. “I will not
repeat myself.”

“
I won’t
leave!” She tried to calm herself so she didn’t go through the
limited air supply but it was impossible. She wouldn’t leave. She
didn’t even know if she could. “Help my brother, please? I’ll give
you anything. I have money... riches... I’m willing to pay for
help!”

Silence.

Were they gone?

Had they abandoned
her?

She went to speak again
but her voice left her when an enormous silver and yellow ship
appeared through the barrier between her and the Black
Zone.

Her heart went off the
scale and she squeezed Rezic’s hand.

What had she
called?

The ship dwarfed hers and
fear pounded down on her, stealing her breath.

Perhaps this was a bad
idea. She hadn’t realised that the reply had come from the Black
Zone. Perhaps they were better off trying to leave after all. She
could set the ship on autopilot, get the door open, and tend to her
brother while they travelled to the nearest spaceport.

Releasing Rezic’s hand,
she grabbed the controls and turned the ship about. Before she
could get the engines to full speed, she was going backwards. She
pressed the button to switch to the rear view of the ship and her
brow furrowed when she saw that the huge vessel was pulling them
in. The cargo bay doors were open to reveal an area that her small
ship could fit into fifteen times over.

What had she
done?

Who were these
people?

Were they really going to
help her brother?

****

Chapter
2

Renie cradled her brother
to her, stroking his brow, and when the ship came to a halt, she
gently lay him down on the floor of the dark bridge. The power had
gone out during the ship’s descent onto the large vessel. Now she
was in complete darkness. The strained sound of Rezic’s breathing
made her feel ill, turning her stomach and filling her head with
terrible thoughts. The ship’s computer had announced that his life
signs were stabilising but she knew better than to believe that
meant he was going to live.

The blood on the side of
his head was thick and dark, covering half of his forehead and his
cheek. He hadn’t stirred at all since the meteorites had struck the
ship and she feared the worst. An image of the huge vessel that had
answered her call for help flashed across her mind. Would they be
able to save her brother when she couldn’t? She hoped that they
could but an ominous feeling had settled in the pit of her stomach
on seeing the ship. She couldn’t remember ever seeing one like it
before, but it had come from the Black Zone and instinct was
telling her that wasn’t a good sign.

It had commanded her to
leave the area. She prayed to Iskara that didn’t mean what she
thought it did.

Her gaze strayed back to
where she knew Rezic lay. Her insides flipped again, stomach
churning with fear and anticipation. The air was growing thin
again. With no power, the life support system had failed. She
stared in the direction of the door and stood. Would they come
soon? It was getting hot.

The bridge door opened a
fraction. Light streamed in. Renie’s heart jumped into her throat
and then pounded hard when black claw-like fingers appeared through
the gap. She gasped and stepped backwards, hitting the ship’s
console behind her. The clawed fingers closed around the door and
pulled it open with ease. She couldn’t possibly have done that. Not
even her brother could have. Whatever was coming was stronger than
both of them were. She crouched down to be with Rezic and stared at
the door, waiting to see the face of their rescuer.

The doors opened
fully.

What they revealed was
more frightening than her worst nightmare.

Several dark clad soldiers
moved into the small space, forcing her to one side. Her eyes
didn’t leave the man who had opened the bridge door. Standing over
six and a half feet, he towered above her, his skin as white as
clouds. His long black hair parted over his pointed ears. He barked
orders at the men and she frowned when they grabbed her, pulling
her around as they searched her body for something.

She glared at the soldiers
when they opened the small weapons hold beside the pilot’s chair
and took the laser guns. Weapons? They were searching her for
weapons.

Two soldiers grabbed her
and marched her through the ship and out into the cargo bay of the
vessel that had her. They roughly turned her on the spot to face
her ship and she struggled when she saw her brother on a hover
stretcher. Three women and one man were attending to him. She
fought harder to escape the men holding her when the others began
to walk away with her brother.

“
I need to go
with him,” she said and stamped on one of the men’s feet. He
snarled and tightened his grip on her, his fingers digging into her
flesh.

“
You offered
payment for your brother’s life,” a familiar deep voice said and
she looked up to see the man who had opened the door to the
bridge.

In the bright light of the
cargo bay, his eyes met hers, sending a sickening chill through
her.

What should have been the
white of his eyes was black. His irises were golden, bright and
sharp like a hawk’s. They studied her and held her at the same
time. She couldn’t look away no matter how much she wanted to. He
stepped out of the ship and she barely held the gasp inside when
she saw he had black leathery wings tightly furled against his
back. She looked over at the doctors that were taking Rezic away
and then at the soldiers in the area. Wings. Black
wings.

Her heart beat painfully
hard and her gaze slowly came back to the man who had addressed
her.

She had never seen one
before, but she had been educated well enough to be able to
recognise one when she saw one.

“
Vegan!” she
growled the word with all the hatred of her species.

The man grinned, an ugly
smile that only made his rough countenance more horrifying. He
seemed pleased by her reaction.

“
Lyran,” he
said as his hand came to rest against her cheek. He licked his
lips. “Wait, even sweeter, a half breed Terran.”

Her heart felt as though
it had stopped.

His smile widened and she
knew what he was going to say.

“
Welcome,
Princess.”

Fighting the men holding
her, Renie tried to get free. She needed to get to Rezic and escape
the hellish place she had brought them to.

“
Rezic!” she
shouted after him, desperate.

There was a growl of
annoyance and then pain black and sharp split her skull. She faded
into the darkness, drifting away.

This was a warm
place.

Renie liked how free of
hurt she was here, how free of everything. The darkness surrounded
her but slowly began to brighten, as though the sun was rising. She
watched it, fascinated but numb. Gradually, the dark turned to
light and she fluttered her eyes open.

“
Rezic?” she
muttered, her head splitting, and tried to remember what had
happened.

She shot into a sitting
position when she remembered that Rezic was hurt and that she was
on a Vegan ship and they knew she was Lyran royalty.

She screwed her eyes shut
when her head ached even worse, blinding her. Perhaps sudden
movements weren’t wise after someone had tried to knock your head
off. She clutched it and groaned when she slowly opened her eyes to
see that she was in a cell. The pale grey wall behind her was
solid, a bench running along it that she supposed was a bed. The
other three walls of her cell were blue light bars—rows of highly
charged vertical energy beams. Lyran vessels had cells that used
them but she had never seen them before.

Dreamily and without
thinking, she reached out and touched them. They crackled and she
snapped her hand back as they burnt her fingertips. Clutching her
hand to her chest, she tried to make sense of where she was. The
other cells were empty and it was quiet. She didn’t know where she
was in the ship or where her brother was, or even if he was alive.
She didn’t know what they wanted with her or what they were going
to do to her.

Curling up against the
bench, Renie hugged her knees to her chest and checked her hand.
She frowned when she saw her communicator band was still there and
pressed the button four times, the number she had agreed with Rezic
would be their emergency signal.

Nothing but static came
back.

“
It will not
work in here,” a male voice said and she jumped, looking around
her.

She wasn’t
alone.

There was someone in the
cell beside hers. Renie shuffled over to the bars and tried to get
his attention. He was lying on the bench, his back to her and a
dark grey blanket covering him completely so she could only see the
shape of him.

“
Excuse me,”
she said and held her hand up by the bars, wary of them. “Excuse
me... how do you know—”

“
Quiet,” he
said and tugged the blanket further over his head, exposing a pair
of heavy dark blue and silver boots at the other end.

Her right eyebrow rose.
Such a lazily spoken order wasn’t going to put her off. He sounded
like her brother after she had awoken him. If Rezic didn’t scare
her when he was in a mood like that, then this stranger certainly
wasn’t going to.

Unless he looked like that
man had. She had never imagined that a Vegan would look so
frightening.

“
Excuse me...
how do you know it won’t work... or even what I was doing for that
matter?” She frowned at him. His cell was at a right angle to hers.
He had his back to her and she hadn’t heard anyone move. How had he
known what she was doing?