Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Assassin Read Free Page B

first
princess of the family, she should have remained on Lyra Five and
attended to her duties.

    Being an elite member of
the royal guard gave him access privileges to the family’s
schedule.

    All of the appointments
that were assigned to her brothers and sister, Natalia attended.
She went to all of the ceremonies and receptions, and read through
most of the invitations and letters that came to the
palace.

    Her brothers and sister
could learn a lot from Natalia.

    Her schedule was punishing
but she endured it because she felt a responsibility towards her
people. A true princess—kind, warm hearted, open and
beautiful.

    Aiden bumped into him.
Ixion gritted his teeth and pushed him away, barely stopping
himself from hitting him as he desired to. He sighed and looked up
at the patch of sky again, willing the time to pass so he could
escape to somewhere quiet where he could be alone with his
thoughts.

    “ Again. From
the top. The moves that I showed you, if you please, my lords.” His
words gained a sharp edge at the last, his frustration getting the
better of him.

    He had never had direct
contact with Aiden and Ciel before, but had heard about their
disrespect towards the palace staff. Having witnessed it firsthand,
he found himself struck by a longing to beat some manners into
them.

    Just at that moment, a
breath of fresh air swept through the room.

    Natalia.

    She looked at him with
wide startled eyes and then lowered her gaze and hurried forwards.
Beautiful Natalia. His impossible dream. He had allowed her to see
him once when she was eighteen and could still remember how she had
looked at him—frightened but fascinated. He had guarded her ever
since, although she hadn’t been aware of it. When she had started
sneaking down into the city last year, he had considered stopping
her straight away but then he had seen how happy it made her to
sing and he hadn’t been able to through with it. Things were
different now though. Back then, it hadn’t been dangerous for her
to be out alone at night. Now she was attracting attention from the
wrong crowd—the kind who would kill her if they realised who she
was.

    “ Where are we
scurrying of to?” Aiden stepped in front of Natalia. She frowned up
at him and tried to pass but he blocked whichever direction she
went.

    She turned around and
swept the two long strands of hair that framed her beautiful face
out of her eyes.

    Ciel stood behind her, his
sword resting on his shoulder and a wide grin on his
face.

    “ I’m busy,”
Natalia said on a sigh. “Just get out of the way.”

    There was a tired edge to
her voice that spoke of stress. Ixion had seen her schedule for
today and it was as gruelling as ever. By now, she would have been
working straight for six hours and would have travelled down into
the city for a council meeting about the festival. Her brothers
were being nothing but cruel by delaying her.

    “ Don’t go,”
Ciel said and grabbed her around the waist from behind. He lifted
her off the floor and she slid downward in her pale pink accented
white empire-line dress. It rode upwards, exposing her legs to the
thigh. “Play a while.”

    Ixion swallowed hard.
Iskara. It was wrong of him but he was thankful to Ciel.

    Natalia struggled,
flailing her legs, and Ixion couldn’t take his eyes off them. The
white stockings she wore made his heart thunder. His elusive
princess.

    He looked away, berating
himself for taking such liberties. Natalia was a princess. It was
wrong of him, a lowly assassin, to look at her like
that.

    A dull ache settled in his
chest.

    It was wrong of him to
love her.

    It was torture.

    “ Get off me,”
Natalia said and then Ciel cried out in pain.

    Ixion’s head snapped
around. Ciel was clutching his shin, hopping around the courtyard
as Aiden laughed. Natalia stood with her hands on her hips, glaring
at both of her brothers. She huffed and straightened out the loose
knot of black hair at the back of her hair and