Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Mercenary Read Free Page A

marks on her throat, he frowned.
Nostra had put the collar on too tight. Kosen reached around her to
loosen it. Damaged goods sold for less.

    The moment his body
touched hers, she moved back as far as possible. He rolled his eyes
and waited for her to spit at him again. As though he would
intentionally press himself against her. He wasn’t
Sasue.

    “ Keep still,”
Kosen said and moved the collar onto the next latch, giving her
more room. “There.”

    She was frowning when he
stepped away.

    “ Why were you
sick?” He studied her. She was paler than when he had first seen
her. She needed to eat, but he knew without trying that she would
refuse the protein pack if he offered it to her again.

    “ Sub-space.”

    That one word made him
frown along with her. When they had boarded her vessel, she had
been in cryo-sleep. Their contact had mentioned that they would
find her there. Had she been in cryo-sleep because they had been
travelling in sub-space?

    “ We’re
stationary now.” He stopped himself before he mentioned their
location. The less she knew, the better.

    “ I know,” she
whispered and closed her eyes, swallowing hard as though she was
trying to stop herself from vomiting again. “Others with
me.”

    “ Don’t think
about them.”

    Kosen went to the crate
and placed the cloth down. His gaze slid to the protein pack. It
was worth a try. He was here to get her to eat after all. He picked
it up and walked back to her.

    “ Will you
eat?”

    She shook her head. This
wasn’t good. If he failed to convince her to eat, Nostra would kill
him. They had elected him with this female because he was the
youngest and nearest to her age in relative terms, and the safest
option. If she didn’t eat, she would lose weight. As it was, she
was already borderline. Bags of bones didn’t sell well. In fact,
they made less money than damaged goods.

    “ They’re dead,”
she said, her voice a broken whisper. Her dark eyes were full of
tears.

    This wasn’t what he
needed. Crying females were impossible to deal with and difficult
to keep emotional distance from.

    Normally, he left the
room.

    He couldn’t leave her
though.

    With a long sigh, Kosen
went over to the crate and picked up a clean cloth. He went back to
her and tried to wipe her tears away but she lowered her head and
turned it away from him. He tried again and she turned her face the
other way. He growled in frustration and ground his teeth, his jaw
tensing so hard that his teeth creaked.

    He offered the protein
pack. She shook her head and kept it hung forwards. Nostra had
ordered him to remain with her until she had eaten. At this rate,
he wasn’t going to be getting off the ship before they left dock in
a day’s time.

    He dragged a crate across
the room and sat down on it. There were supplies that he needed to
get before they broke port, but he was willing to wait for her to
become hungry. It couldn’t take that long. As far as he knew,
Lyrans ate quite frequently. With her stomach empty, she would soon
be asking for the food. He picked his nails to pass the time and
then toyed with the protein pack, shifting the black liquid
contents from one end of the rubbery casing to the other. It amused
him for a few minutes at best. Next, he tapped out a rhythm on the
crate beneath him, trying to recall a tune from his
youth.

    Slowly, she raised her
head again and looked at him. Kosen could feel her eyes on him,
studying. He let her drink her fill of him and take him all in. He
wasn’t much to look at. Probably just another bastard Minervan to
her. Regardless of the fact that her queen was Minervan, she would
still hate his kind. Lyrans had always hated them. Minervans had
always hated Lyrans in return. Nothing would change
that.

    “ Did you kill
them?” she whispered.

    His gaze shifted to
her.

    He wasn’t going to lie to
her. Perhaps if she knew the truth, she would be more cooperative.
The quicker that she lost hope of being rescued the better.