Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Emperor (7 page)

Her gaze wandered his body
until it reached his hands. They rested on his knees, relaxed but
holding them. She could sense the tension in him, the desire to
touch her. It seemed he was in control of himself, at least for
now. She frowned when she noticed a black finger thick band that
ran up both of his arms on the outside. She looked a little closer
at it, fascinated by the intricate markings that created the line,
markings that varied from slashes to swirls to what looked like
symbols. Her eyes followed the black line upwards over his biceps
to his shoulder and from there up his neck. They were
beautiful.

Without thinking, she ran
her fingers down the line nearest her, tracing it and revelling in
the warmth of his skin. The marks were familiar but nothing came to
her—nowhere she had seen them before or what they might
mean.

Dropping the cloth, she
took hold of his hands, one in each of hers, and then ran her
fingertips along the marks, following both at the same time towards
his neck. When she reached it, she caressed the line of his jaw and
then brushed his lower lip with her thumb.

Regis growled, grabbed her
upper arms, and pushed her onto her back on the bed.

Give him blood.

That was what they had
told her.

Sophia shut her eyes when
his mouth closed over hers, his kiss stealing her breath and
setting her body on fire.

Give him blood she
would.

****

Chapter
6

Sophia stared at the
ceiling when Regis’s mouth left hers and he kissed a trail along
her jaw and then down to her throat. She swallowed and lay sprawled
out on the bed, ready for anything. Ready for everything. A moan
left her lips when he kissed her throat and then wrapped his lips
around it, sucking the skin. She longed for him to use his
teeth.

She ached for him to bite
her.

She would give anything to
feel it again.

Involuntarily, her body
arched against his, her thigh rubbing between his legs. He growled
and sucked her throat harder, but still didn’t bite her. She would
surrender everything to feel it. Her birthright, her family, her
blood. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t sacrifice in exchange for
him.

It didn’t matter that he
wasn’t the emperor or that her species would gain nothing from the
match. She didn’t care.

She only wanted
him.

She loved him.

Her eyes shot wide when he
nicked her neck with his teeth and she shuddered along with him
when he growled and sunk against her, his body half covering hers.
Her hands swept up his arms and she clawed his back, lost in the
glimmer of pleasure and the promise of exquisite ecstasy. His hand
roamed down the other side of her neck and covered her right
breast. She bit her lip and moaned her approval, hoping to
encourage him.

They had told her to give
him her blood.

She wanted to give him
more than that.

So much more.

Regis growled again and
shifted, moving to kneel between her legs. Sophia gasped when he
ground against her and she felt his hard length. Her heart raced.
She had decided to give herself to him but it still hadn’t quite
prepared her for the reality of it or the fact that he didn’t seem
quite with her.

She had thought perhaps
that he would come around a little once he’d had a taste of her
blood. Right now, he didn’t seem at all conscious of the fact it
was her.

Or was he?

“
Regis?” Sophia
whispered as he devoured her throat with kisses so intense that she
yearned for his touch. They drove her wild with need and when he
pushed his hand beneath her skirt and placed it over the bite mark
on her thigh, it sent her out of her mind. She raised her body into
the touch, into him, and threw her head back. Her breasts pressed
against her corset, straining for contact with him. Her heart ached
and thundered, begging him to relieve her.

He muttered something in
her ear, his breath hot and sultry, his words carrying a promise of
seduction even though she couldn’t understand them. She longed to
know what he was saying, what words he husked against her skin
between kisses. He felt hungry, full of desire and passion as
strong as her own. There was an aura of desperation around him, of
hope and fear.

Her hips bucked into his
touch when he pressed his hand against her mound, fingers teasing
her through the material of her underwear. She willed him to remove
the snug material, to invade her body with his own and take
everything that she was offering him.

“
Regis.” As she
uttered his name in sheer need, he ran his fingers over the front
of her underwear and she blinked as she felt cool air against her.
His fingers quickly followed it and she realised he must have used
his claws to rent the material in two. She gasped at the thought of
him touching her with his claws out and then relaxed when she
looked at his other hand and saw his fingernails were
normal.

Her eyes met his and she
opened her mouth to speak but her words came out in a garbled moan
when he slipped his fingers into her folds and drew wetness up to
her pert nub and circled it. The feel of his touch was intense,
mind-blowing.

Regis growled, a pleased
smile on his face.

She had to stop him. She
needed to know that he was actually in there, that it was him
speaking to her and he was conscious of what they were doing. Her
hands pressed against his chest but he didn’t stop. His fingers
slid lower and she melted into the bed when he inserted one into
her slick channel.

“
Regis?” She
bit her lip and stared into his eyes.

They brightened, turning
crimson.

“
Shh, Sophia,
before you turn me insane. I am already half there.” He flashed her
a smile that was all sharp fangs before burying his face in her
neck and kissing it.

At least he was still with
her, even if he was on the verge of losing control
again.

He needed blood or, well,
she didn’t know what he would do or how violent he could become.
The others had told her to give him blood to calm him down. Taking
hold of his other hand, she brought it up to her neck and then
remembered that his claws were retracted and she really didn’t want
them out again when he was touching her down there. She had to cut
herself though. She had to convince him to bite her and take her
blood before he lost control. She could feel that he was slowly
regaining a sense of awareness about her and his surroundings. She
didn’t want him to lose that again. She wanted to make love with
him, not have him lost in a haze of bloodlust as he had sex with
her.

His finger moved inside
her and all reasonable thought left her. She gasped with each
plunge of it into her core, each smooth slide that sent sparks of
hunger gathering in her abdomen. She writhed against his hand,
moaning into his ear and desperately trying to retain a sense of
cohesion within her thoughts so she could figure out a way to make
him bite her.

He thrust against his hand
where it covered her mound and the solution dawned on
her.

He wanted to bite
her.

She didn’t need to make
him.

She only had to let him
know that she wanted it too.

There was something else
that she wanted first. She wanted this torture to end and him
inside her. Her hands skimmed down his back to his buttocks and she
slid them around to the front of his trousers. He lightly bit her
neck as she undid the front ties of his trousers and her heart
thumped hard against her chest when she swallowed her nerves and
slid her hand inside. The feel of his hard shaft in her hand was
electrifying. She licked her lips as her mind raced to imagine it
inside her, stretching her body and making it his. She ached for
that moment.

He ground his length
against her hand and she instinctively wrapped her fingers around
it, gripping it. A groan left him when he thrust again, his length
pushing through the tight circle of her fingers. His tongue traced
a line along her throat that left her tingling. Insensitive. Was
this why the patch around his bite mark on her leg felt numb? Could
he anaesthetise the area that he was going to bite? It explained
how she hadn’t felt any pain earlier when he had bitten her thigh.
She had felt only pleasure.

His finger slid free of
her body and he removed her hand from his length. She swallowed her
pounding heart as he moved between her legs and the head of his
shaft pressed into her. Closing her eyes, she waited with bated
breath. It was torn from her throat in a deep sigh as he pushed
into her, filling her body with his own. She licked her lips again
and clung to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and
pushing her fingers into his hair. He thrust into her, slow and
deep, taking her out of her mind as her body hummed and tingled
with each plunge of his length. He moaned against her throat and
then growled. Before she could even think about reacting, his fangs
penetrated her neck and he pulled on her blood. Her entire body
arched into his as a wave of heat crashed through her followed by a
shockwave of pleasure. This time, she bit back the scream as she
climaxed.

Regis growled and
continued to thrust into her, drawing on her blood at the same
time. She held his head to her, not wanting him to stop drinking.
He didn’t. He drank deeper, biting hard enough that she felt it
this time. It hurt, but the intense feelings of arousal and desire
that it brought with it made the pain seem a small price to pay.
His hand went to her breasts and he growled into her throat as he
sliced the front of her corset open. She gasped at the cool air as
it washed over her body and then at the feel of his bare chest
against hers. She wished they were fully naked, but didn’t want him
to leave her. She wanted him to stay inside her. Wanted to feel
him.

He thrust deeper inside
her and she raised her pelvis up, drawing a moan from him. His
drinking slowed but remained deep enough that her head spun with
each mouthful he took from her. Her thighs trembled against his as
warmth coiled tight in the depth of her stomach again. His pelvis
slammed against her clit with each frantic plunge of his length
into her and before she knew what was happening, heat exploded
through her again. Her body convulsed around his, milking his shaft
and this time sending him crashing over the edge with her. He
jerked up hard inside her and shuddered as he spilled himself. Her
harsh breathing was joined by his own as his fangs left her throat
and he licked the wound, pressing kisses against it
occasionally.

Her eyes widened when he
rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she was lying on top
of him, and then closed when he wrapped his arms around her. She
drifted off to sleep as Regis whispered words to her that sounded a
lot like the song he had been singing to the moons.

***

Sophia sighed as she woke
and then smiled when she saw Regis lying beside her, half dressed
and looking as wanton as she probably did. She reached out to push
the long strands of his black hair away from his face so she could
see it better and then paused as it hit her.

She would have to marry
him now. In her haste to have him, she hadn’t thought about the
consequences. She hadn’t thought about protecting herself. He
murmured something in his sleep and smiled. He had a beautiful
smile. If they had a child, perhaps it would also have his smile.
In a way, she hoped it would have his eyes too. Now that she was
used to them, his eyes were stunning.

She brushed his hair away
from his neck and ears, and smiled too as she mused what life would
be like with him. Her smile faltered when she realised that she
might not have a life with him. Her father hadn’t consented to the
match and Regis might not want to live on Lyra Prime. What if her
haste had left her pregnant and Regis didn’t want to stay with her?
What if he didn’t love her enough or still refused to believe that
he could love?

He could. Her mother was
right. Everything Regis had done had proven that he loved her. She
had felt all the feelings in him, everything that she had been
feeling herself. He couldn’t deny that he loved her. Would it be
enough to make him stay on a planet that didn’t suit him
though?

Or was her love for him
enough to make her leave Lyra Prime for a world and a species that
she knew hardly anything about?

A place where the
brightest the day got was evening light?

Her fingers traced the
black band of marks that started just behind his ear and followed
them down his throat and over his shoulder. They were so
familiar.

It dawned on her where she
had seen them before.

They had been in one of
the books from the palace library.

Pulling her clothes closed
around her as best she could, she rushed from the room intent on
reaching hers unseen.

There was something
important about the marks.

Something very
important.

She had to know
what.

****

Chapter
7

Regis smiled up at the hot
Lyran sun through his visor. It warmed him to the bone but it
wasn’t the reason that he was smiling. He lowered his gaze to the
garden and his smile widened as he saw Sophia. She was beautiful in
her flowing sky blue empire-line gown, her wavy black hair tumbling
around her smooth graceful shoulders. He laughed with her as she
danced around, her smile broad and infectious. The laughter of the
two small children joined theirs and he stopped to watch them
again, fascinated by the sight of her and the
younglings.