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

sang.

    ***

    Sophia sat cross-legged on
her expansive bed, hungrily devouring the information in the
computer pad about Varka that the emperor had given to her. Much of
what she had read so far had contradicted that in the Lyran
archives. Apparently, Varka Two rotated like her planet, with equal
day and night across the sphere. It was the planet they were
offering Lyra in exchange for her. The planet where her uncle had
fought twice and almost died both times. Her family told her not to
concern herself with such things, but she couldn’t help it. She
knew there was peace between Lyra and Varka now, but she couldn’t
forget their bloody history.

    She paused and her breath
hitched in her throat when she moved to the next page of
information on the pad.

    Varka Prime was stunning.
The sight of it sent chills chasing over her arms and down her
spine. The picture was of a city with beautiful pale cream towers
decorated with jade and gold, or blue and silver. Intricate
patterns of those colours surrounded the windows and doors, and
adorned the bridges in the foreground. A wide river snaked through
the city. Her eyes followed it into the picture and stopped when
she saw a building in the centre of the city, high above everything
else on a hill. A waterfall spilled from arches where the building
met the hill and the water cascaded down into the city. Flying
buttresses supported its tall spiked towers. She had never seen
anything so beautiful. It even surpassed her Uncle Balt and Aunt
Kayla’s home on Lyra Five. It was breathtaking.

    Sophia eagerly read the
passage of text below it and frowned when she realised that the
building was the emperor’s palace.

    Her frown increased when a
lilting male voice drifted through her window, singing in a
language she didn’t recognise. She tapped the translator in her ear
and wondered if it was working. The song was beautiful, so soft and
melodious that she needed to hear it clearer. She slipped from her
bed, leaving the computer pad there, and crossed her room to the
balcony.

    The sky was stunning
tonight, the moons shining so bright that they lit the world in
silver. She looked down at the garden and her frown melted away
when she saw who was singing. It couldn’t be. The Count of
Sagres?

    Her gaze followed him as
he walked slowly through the garden, seemingly oblivious to
everything, even her.

    His song was like that of
the Sonaran, a mythical sea creature that lived on Lyra Seven, her
system’s outermost planet. Apparently, its song lured you to a
sweet death. His song lured her.

    Conscious of her bare feet
and nightdress but not caring about either, Sophia snuck through
the palace and out into the garden. She needed to hear it closer.
She had never heard such a sombre but beautiful song.

    Her footsteps were silent
on the pale stone path that wound through the garden. She
approached the count from behind, slow and cautious, remembering
how the Varkans had reacted earlier today when she had moved too
quickly. His hand drifted out to brush the pale blue rose heads as
he passed and he raised his face to the moons. It felt as though he
was singing to them.

    He was stunning even in
the low light, his uniform cut to show his figure. The jaw length
strands of his black hair shifted in the breeze, the moonlight
making them shine. She wanted to look into his eyes again, to see
his handsome face.

    The small white pebbles of
the path near the fountain scrunched when she stepped on them and
she lifted her foot, cringing at the noise. Too late. The singing
had stopped and she could feel him looking at her.

    “ Please, don’t
stop,” Sophia said and smiled her apology into his eyes. “Continue.
Do continue.”

    He shook his head, the jaw
length dark ribbons of his hair moving with the motion. In this
light, he looked even paler and his eyes were pools of
midnight.

    “ I apologise
for disturbing you, your highness.” His voice was as deep and
smooth as she remembered it from his