Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Prince (11 page)

He slung the strap of the
rifle over his head so it fell across his body and turned to face
Rezic. The Lyran was holding Renie close to him. Shielding her was
pointless now, unless Rezic was intending to protect her from
himself. He walked towards the male and crouched beside
Renie.

“
She will be
unconscious for a while. The rifle was set to stun. Thankfully she
is too valuable to kill.” Tres stroked her forehead and frowned at
her, his anger still bubbling like an undercurrent through him,
affecting him in a way he was barely conscious of. He only knew
that he wanted to kill the commander of this vessel and everyone on
it as vengeance for what had happened to Renie. “We must get her
away from here.”

Rezic went to protest when
Tres moved to pick Renie up but he silenced him with a
look.

The Lyran wasn’t strong
enough to be carrying such precious cargo. He would ensure she was
safe from harm. He had failed her once. It wouldn’t happen
again.

Cradling her in his arms,
Tres held her tight and close. Rezic moved to the door and picked
up the other gun. Tres nodded when Rezic pointed to the switch on
the side that would move the rifle off the stun setting. They moved
together out into the hall and then ran. The alarms were still
sounding and it was only a matter of time before someone came to
check on Rezic. They would know that Renie would come
here.

Tres led the way through
the ship, trying not to jostle Renie too much as he ran. Rezic
brought up the rear as they moved through corridor after corridor,
heading slowly down towards the docking bay. The journey there was
hindered several times by having to hide from soldiers, but it
wasn’t long before they were standing before the twin doors of the
docking bay.

The doors slid
open.

“
That one,”
Tres said, pointing to the one nearest the shielded opening that
led to space. Vegan fighter vessels were small but fast. It would
carry them out of here quickly and he could easily make it through
the barrier before they had a chance to stop him.

They ran towards it and
were under fire the moment they came out from between some stacks
of cargo. Tres unfurled his wings, wrapping them around Renie in an
effort to protect her as he dodged and ducked, avoiding the shots.
They would only stun him, but he had to see her to safety. He
couldn’t let Vega ransom her and her brother. The consequences if
it should happen were too terrible to imagine. He couldn’t allow
another war to start.

The fighter door was
open.

Tres looked over his
shoulder at Rezic as he returned fire, covering them. In the
distance, twenty soldiers stalked towards them and were closing in
fast. They wouldn’t have time to get out before the soldiers
reached the ship.

He looked down at
Renie.

He had to protect
her.

Pressing a kiss to her
lips, he silently promised to see her safely out of the Black Zone.
Whatever it took, he would do it. He would kill every soldier on
the ship if he had to.

He would protect
her.

“
Rezic,” he
said and her brother moved backwards towards him. In the shadow of
the wings of the fighter, Rezic turned to face him. Tres held Renie
out to him. “Take her and get out of here.”

“
What about
you?” Rezic said as he dropped the rifle and took Renie.

“
I am
unimportant. Take her. I will hold them off while you
escape.”

“
But—”

“
Take her!”
Tres snapped and flung his arm towards the fighter’s door. “Now.
Get out of here.”

Rezic stared at him and
then walked past him towards the ship.

“
Rezic,” Tres
said and Rezic looked back at him. Tres frowned at Renie, wishing
it didn’t have to be this way. She had given him the courage to do
what was right though and he had to go through with it, even if it
meant he never saw her again. He looked at her brother. His brow
furrowed. “Take care of her.”

Rezic nodded and went into
the ship. The door closed and Tres stepped out from the path of the
fighter. He stared at the approaching soldiers. The small vessel’s
engines fired.

Tres took hold of his
rifle and aimed it at the soldiers.

The ship shot past him
towards the shield.

He looked down the sight
of the rifle.

“
I will not let
you near her.”

****

Chapter
8

Someone was stroking her
forehead. The motion was soothing, comforting and warming. It
lifted the strange black haze from her mind and called her up from
the dark depths towards a lighter world. A male voice whispered
words to her, encouragement, tenderness, and everything that made
her feel safe.

“
Tres?” Renie
whispered sleepily and opened her eyes. The man slowly came into
focus. She frowned. “Rezic?”

She looked around them at
the small bunk she was laying on and the empty one opposite. The
ship wasn’t familiar. It was dark and definitely not the one she
and her brother owned.

“
Where’s Tres?”
She had expected it to be him comforting her, sitting with her, not
her brother. The cramped quarters and unfamiliar surroundings had
to mean they were off the large Vegan ship and on a smaller one.
Perhaps Tres was busy flying it. He would want to know she was
conscious, although her head was killing her.

“
Renie,” her
brother said in such a solemn tone that her heart clenched and she
grabbed his arm.

“
Where is he?
Is he hurt?”

Was he dead? She couldn’t
bring herself to ask that question for fear of his
answer.

Rezic continued to calmly
stroke her forehead.

“
The docking
bay was crawling with soldiers,” he said and took hold of her hand,
peeling it away from his arm. He held it. “He told me to take you
and leave. He fought the soldiers to give us a chance to
escape.”

“
No!” Renie
said and pushed him away. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring her
spinning head and the way her vision wobbled, and ran blindly
forward. “We have to go back for him.”

She made it a few paces
before Rezic caught her arm. She collapsed backwards into him as
her knees gave out.

“
You’re in no
condition to be moving around.” He picked her up and she rained her
fists down on his shoulders, trying to make him let her
go.

“
Rezic...
please... we have to go back.” She gave up when her head ached and
white spots danced across her vision. Slumping with her head
against his shoulder, she furrowed her brow. Tears gathered and
tumbled from her lashes, hot against her cold skin. They reminded
her of Tres, of how cool he was to the touch compared to her. “We
have to.”

“
We’re no match
for them,” Rezic said and held her. She sobbed into his neck and
her throat constricted with her tears, making it impossible to
speak. He rubbed her back. “Perhaps when we meet up with father’s
ship—”

“
Father’s
ship!” It lit a spark of hope inside her that chased away her
sadness. Pushing herself up, she looked at her brother. “He’ll come
on the Nexus-Lyra, won’t he?”

Rezic nodded.

The Nexus-Lyra was one of
the biggest ships in the entire Lyran Imperial Army fleet. Her
father, General Lyra II, commanded it. She was sure it was as big,
if not bigger than the Vegan ship had been. When they met up with
it, she could convince her father to return to the Black Zone with
her and rescue Tres.

“
How long have
I been unconscious?” she said and Rezic sat her back down on the
bunk. She stayed there, knowing from his unimpressed look that
attempting to leave it again would be unwise. Not only would it
anger him, but she would only end up falling flat on her backside.
Her head was still spinning after all and she really was in no
condition to be running around.

Not even when she wanted
to.

She had to get back to
Tres and help him out. She wasn’t sure what would happen to him.
The guards had evidently stunned her. Would they stun him too or
would they kill him?

She prayed to Iskara that
they would only stun him.

“
Over a day,”
Rezic said and her heart dropped. “We have been in sub-space for
much of that. This ship is little and fast.”

“
How fast?” she
said, desperate to hear that her father’s ship wasn’t far away. She
had been asleep for over a day. Anything could have happened to
Tres in that time.

“
Fast enough
that the computer picked up a Lyran vessel within two hundred
thousand leagues around an hour ago.” Rezic crouched down in front
of her and held her hands. “Don’t worry Renie. I’m sure that Tres
survived. The Vegans didn’t seem to want to kill us... but when you
were hurt... Tres killed the guards.”

Her eyes grew wide. “He
killed them?”

Her brother
nodded.

Had it been some kind of
reaction to seeing her hurt, some desire to get revenge and protect
her? Her heart warmed at that thought. He had promised to protect
her. He had protected her. He had helped her escape but at what
price?

“
Rezic?” Renie
said, her eyes filling with tears again. He pulled her into his
arms and held her, rubbing her back. “I need father.”

The moment Rezic released
her, she stood and stumbled along the narrow corridor. Rezic caught
her again and she thought he was going to make her sit back down.
Instead, he turned her around.

“
As usual,
you’re going the wrong way.”

Renie gave him a grateful
smile and held on to the wall as she walked. Her legs were feeling
better but her head was still a riot of pain and her vision wobbled
if she moved too fast.

The door at the end of the
corridor opened to reveal a small bridge. Everything was made of
dark metal edged with silver. She looked around, wishing she knew
how to read Vegan.

“
I think this
is what you’re looking for,” Rezic said and she turned to see him
pointing at something.

She pressed the small
square patch on the display.

The room filled with a
hissing sound. It was promising.

“
This is Renie
Lyra calling for assistance.”

She waited. Rezic came and
stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder. She looked out of the
front window of the small ship at the infinite space. There was no
sign of a ship.

“
This is Renie
Lyra and Lyra V, calling for assistance. Any Lyran vessel in the
vicinity, please respond.”

A crackling noise made her
heart jump.

“
This is
General Lyra II. I have your coordinates. We will be with you
shortly.” A pause. “You do not know how good it is to hear your
voice.”

Tears streaked Renie’s
cheeks. She knew how good it felt.

***

Renie raced through the
Nexus-Lyra. The moment Rezic had landed the ship, she had bolted
out of the door. She dodged past the crew walking along the
corridors and burst onto the bridge.

“
Father!” she
said.

He turned, his smile wide
and his arms opening to her. She ran down the steps to where he
stood at the helm of the ship and threw herself into his
arms.

“
Renie,” he
whispered and held her tight. “Is Rezic safe?”

She nodded, unable to
speak. It felt so good to be back on a Lyran vessel and with her
father.

“
We have to go
back,” she said and he peeled her off him.

He raised an eyebrow at
her.

“
Go back?” he
said with an air of incredulity, his handsome face a mask of
confusion. “I have just got you back. I am not going to go anywhere
near Vegan space.”

“
Please!” She
pulled on his arms. “We have to go back.”

The door to the bridge
opened again and Rezic strolled in.

“
Do you know
what she’s talking about?” her father said with a frown, his black
eyebrows knitting tight above equally dark eyes. “She’s asking me
to go back to the Black Zone.”

Rezic stopped beside her.
“A male, a Vegan, helped us escape. He was going to come with us
but stayed to fight the Vegans and give us a chance to get away.
Renie desires to go back for him.”

“
Does she?” her
father said and looked down at her. “You want to return to the
Black Zone for a Vegan?”

Renie swallowed. It didn’t
sound good when he said it like that. She knew that having feelings
for a Vegan would always be taboo, but her family were judging Tres
before they really knew him. Her father especially and he wasn’t
one to talk. He had fallen for a Terran, the one species that
definitely had a grudge against Lyra and the royal family since it
had destroyed their system.

“
Please?” She
pulled on his arms again and gave him her best pout. She hated to
resort to such female tactics but she could see he wasn’t going to
budge on his decision unless she gave it her all.