Sons of Lyra: Runaway Hearts (3 page)

On the other side, she
stopped and looked at her ticket. The ship was in dock five. She
followed the signs around the curved arched walkway, looking for
the right dock. When they reached it, she stepped through the open
archway and her brows rose. If the man hadn’t liked the fact it was
bound for Acturus, he was going to be even more annoyed when he saw
the ship.

Sebastian looked up to see
the ship in front of him. It was large. It was dark. It was
Minervan.

There was no way he could
set foot on that ship. He grabbed the woman by her upper arms and
shook her.

“
You didn’t
mention it was a Minervan freighter!” He almost growled the
words.

She flinched away, leaving
him feeling guilty. He frowned at the ship. He couldn’t fly on
that. It was too dangerous. It had been bad enough when she’d
chosen a ship whose final destination had been a Minervan military
port. That had been running a risk. This was just madness. The ship
would have Minervans on its crew and Minervan passengers. What if
they recognised him?

“
It’s just a
ship... you didn’t specify the type!” She jerked out of his arms
and glared at him. “Do you have something against
Minervans?”

He stared at her. She
placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes narrowed into dark
slits.

There was something
terribly appealing about her when she was angry. It made her dark
eyes even darker and her blush lips pouted slightly, drawing his
attention to them. A hint of rose touched her pale soft cheeks. Her
black eyebrows met in a frown. The irritation radiating from her
was alluring. It made him want to argue with her even more, to keep
pushing.

A call from the direction
of the ship announced that it was preparing to leave.

He looked at the ship.
Minervan or not, he had to get on it and get away from Lyra Prime.
It was only a matter of time before someone discovered that he was
gone. It would be too much of a risk to wait for a different
passenger freighter.

The woman was still
glaring at him. Perhaps she wanted an answer to her question. She
wasn’t going to get one. He grabbed her wrist and strode past her.
She protested and tried to pull away from him. Turning on her, he
used his superior height to look down at her, his own anger rising.
She stilled, her eyes wide and laced with fear. He relented when he
saw it and loosened his grip so he was no longer hurting
her.

“
We must
leave,” he said and she stared at him for a minute, right into his
eyes, before nodding.

She’d done that before. He
started walking towards the ship with her. Earlier, she’d stared
into his eyes like that. It had felt as though she was looking
right down into his soul and could see everything there.
Afterwards, she’d changed slightly, just as she had this time.
Whatever she thought she’d seen in his eyes had made her calm and
compliant. He hoped she remained that way until they were on the
ship.

The metal gangplank echoed
under his heavy footsteps. The sound of hers was lighter, softer.
Everything about her seemed soft. He glanced furtively out of the
corner of his eye at her. She swept her deep blue cloak over her
shoulders with her free hand and then fixed her hair, smoothing the
long black locks into place in the elaborate bun at the back of her
head. Some of the strands fell back down. His gaze fell to the
smooth white column of her throat and her graceful shoulders. She
moved slightly in front of him and he openly looked at her now. His
eyes followed the sweeping curve of her back to where it narrowed
at her waist and blossomed out into full hips that begged to be
touched. He swallowed and his jaw muscle twitched when he looked at
her long legs. The floor-length rich green dress she wore was slit
up the side to reveal her thighs as she walked. He noticed the
skin-coloured band around her right thigh. She was carrying a
weapon. The thought of that turned him on for some reason. It
whispered of danger and adventure, with her.

Something else about her
whispered to him. It spoke of the fact she didn’t look like a
common thief. Her clothes were too fine, her body too well looked
after, to be a beggar or pickpocket. She looked as though she was
running away from a rich family.

He pushed his cloak over
his shoulders as they entered the ship. With such a fine looking
woman on his arm, he no longer felt the need to look rough and
dirty to fit in. If someone saw them together, they would presume
they were man and wife, heading off to some distant planet. No one
would associate him with a woman.

A stewardess dressed in a
tight black top that covered her to her jaw and tight black
trousers took the tickets from the woman. She checked them and then
intimated a corridor to her left. The woman followed the
stewardess, her hand leaving his. He walked along behind her, eyes
scanning the interior of the ship, thankful that she couldn’t see
him and his fascination. He didn’t want her to think he’d never
travelled before.

The ship was incredible
and far larger than they looked from his balcony as they flew in
and out of port. The interior was black and silver, with strips of
lights underneath his feet and above his head. The exterior had
been sleek but bulky, tapering from the front to a wide flat set of
thrusters at the back. He wished that they’d had more time. He
would have liked to have walked around the outside of the ship to
get a real look at her.

They passed a row of
square windows. Opposite them were open rooms crammed with people.
This was obviously the deck of the ship where the cheapest seats
were. He peered into one of the rooms. People were sitting in
groups, drinking and laughing. It looked like fun.

When he turned to continue
walking, he came face to face with a man. The man stared at him,
black hair and eyes giving him a sinister appearance in the strange
half-light. He smiled to reveal sharpened teeth.

Sebastian’s heart pounded.
He squeezed past the Minervan, keeping his head down, and hurried
after the woman and the stewardess. He saw them just before they
turned a corner halfway along the corridor. By the time he’d caught
up, they were entering a lift. He slid in behind them and smiled
briefly.

Too close.

He should have been more
cautious. Of course there would be Minervan crew on the ship. The
man had been wearing a similar uniform to the female showing them
to their seats. His eyes strayed to her as she pressed a button and
the lift began to move upwards. Perhaps she was Minervan
too.

“
This way
please,” the stewardess said as the doors opened again.

He followed the woman down
a long corridor. At the end was the hull of the ship. The windows
here were larger, reaching from floor to ceiling. The stewardess
turned right before she reached the end of the corridor, leading
them down another that was just as wide and elaborately decorated.
There was a definite difference between the lower deck and this
one. No strip lights lit the hall here. On the walls were beautiful
lamps that glowed softly. The floor was carpeted with a silvery
cloth. The walls were decorated with silver scroll work that marked
a rich contrast against the black metal.

The stewardess stopped in
front of a door and swiped their tickets over a circular panel
beside it on the wall. The door swished open to reveal a large
room. Along the wide rectangular window was a bench seat covered in
silver velvet that matched the curtains that hung either side of
the glass. He stepped into the room, following the two women, and
looked around. There was a smaller room off to his right. It looked
like a bathroom. He ignored it and took in the main room. It was
bigger than he’d expected. The tickets must have been
expensive.

He listened to the woman’s
conversation with the stewardess while he investigated the large
panel on the wall. It was displaying the weather at their
destination, as well as current news from across the universe and
other information. He was glad that his face wasn’t up there.
Perhaps his parents hadn’t discovered he was gone yet, or maybe
they were keeping it quiet for now while the palace guard search
for him. Either way, the longer the galaxy didn’t know he was
missing the better. That way he could travel with more ease and get
further out into space.

The stewardess mentioned
meals and then went to the door. He frowned when she pressed a
button and a black shutter eased across the window. She explained
that the shutters had to remain closed until they had left the
atmosphere and then bowed before leaving the room.

The door swished
shut.

He looked at the
woman.

She didn’t look happy to
be alone with him. He walked towards her and she sat on the bench
seat in front of the black window. He watched her long slender
fingers work to untie the thick silver ribbons holding her cloak
around her neck and was fascinated when she carefully folded it. He
swallowed. The front of her dress was rather revealing. The
material scooped low to show the curve of her breasts and met in a
V in front of them. He tore his eyes away and looked at the display
panel. It changed to show information about the ship. He focused
there, forcing himself to read it so he wouldn’t stare at her. He’d
been rude enough to her already without gawping at her like a naive
boy.

The ship shuddered and he
held his arms out to steady himself.

“
What was
that?” he said automatically, panic in his voice, and her look said
everything.

Now she knew that he’d
never been on ship before, at least not one this size.

“
The engines,”
she said in a soft voice. It held a smile.

She thought he was green.
His eyes fell to her breasts. Desire coiled tight inside
him.

By Iskara’s wings if she
gave him half a chance he’d prove he wasn’t.

She patted the seat beside
her. “Sit. We’ll be taking off soon and the ride can get bumpy when
the ship hits full speed.”

“
Sub-space?”

She laughed at him and
looked around the room. “A ship like this, with sub-space? Only a
handful of ships have those engines and the capability to use them.
This ship would be torn apart.”

Now he really did look
naive. He should’ve listened to his brothers more when they’d
talked of ships. He should’ve asked all those questions he’d always
wanted to. Silently cursing himself, he sat down beside her and
frowned when she leaned across his lap. His eyes widened when he
saw right down her top.

“
What are you—”
He kept the panic from his voice but could do nothing to stop the
stirring in his loins.

“
Relax. I just
thought you might need help getting strapped in.” She clicked the
safety belt across his waist and then reached over his
shoulder.

Her breasts brushed his
arm. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, willing himself not to
look at them. He didn’t want to find out what she’d do if she
caught him staring at her body. Another click and she moved again,
away from him. Her arm grazed his neck, sending a shiver down his
spine. He breathed deep through his nose to steady himself. The
warm flowery scent of her filled his mind, wrapping him up as
though her arms were around him, holding him. He tilted his head
towards her, wanting more contact. Another click and she
stilled.

“
I don’t know
your name,” she whispered, incredibly close to his ear. Her breath
was soft against his cheek.

He swallowed again, harder
this time, and tried to regain control of his senses and his
body.

“
Sebastian,” he
whispered back at her and opened his eyes. They met hers. They were
as dark as his own, as black as deep space. They sparkled at him
and he realised she was smiling.

His eyes lowered to her
mouth, to the sensual curve of her satin pink lips.

“
Terea,” she
said and moved away, leaving him feeling bereft and
confused.

She strapped herself in
while he fought to clear his head and gather himself. Questions
crowded his mind, confusing him further. How had she made him feel
so much by doing so little? Her proximity was enough to addle his
senses. Her touch drove him out of his mind.

Did she have some kind of
power over men? Or was it just him?

He stared down at the
straps holding him in, restraining his shoulders and waist. What
were these feelings?

There was a lurching
sensation, a jolt that made his stomach turn, and then a shudder
that shook every bone in his body. He could almost feel the
struggle as the engines and thrusters tried to lift the ship out of
the dock. The force of them vibrated through him, sending his
vision wobbling so much that he had to close his eyes. Everything
in the room shook, rattling as loudly as his teeth as they hit
against each other. He gritted them.

Surely all take offs
couldn’t be this rough. If they were, his brothers must have
sterner stomachs than his own. If the shuddering continued much
longer he was liable to lose what little dinner he’d eaten. He
didn’t want that. It would perfectly complete the picture of
naivety he’d so far painted himself as to the woman.
Terea.