Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Emperor (2 page)

When the Count of Sagres
had disappeared around a corner, she noticed that her parents had
also gone. Behind her, excited chatter burst into life, shattering
the silence in the hall.

Sophia sighed and turned
to face her other two attendants, Alexa and Zalina.

“
What is it
now?” she said, relieved that she would have a few hours peace
before yet another courtship began.

“
Nothing,
miss.” Alexa curtseyed, holding the skirt of her corseted deep blue
dress and lowering her head. The equally dark blue veil covering
her hair fell forwards to mask her face. She pushed it back and
rose.

“
Nothing?” Why
didn’t she believe that? She looked at Zalina, knowing the younger
girl had no skill at lying.

“
Nothing—the
Varkans are handsome.” Zalina covered her mouth, her tanned cheeks
darkening and ringlets of her brown hair falling down across her
face when she shook her head.

Sophia laughed and looked
along the corridor in the direction that the Count of Sagres had
gone.

“
They certainly
are.”

***

Sophia smoothed her black
hair back into the bun that her mother had helped fix it in and
then toyed with the two long braids she had insisted on keeping.
She hadn’t been able to find the peace she had wanted before the
meeting. Her attendants had insisted on getting her ready early,
plastering her face with pale make up that she abhorred and
painting her lips ruby red. The colour of blood. Blood. She frowned
as she remembered the Count of Sagres’s eyes. Against his dark
lashes and pale skin, they had been startling. Perhaps his species
truly had a bloodlust as the books said.

She straightened her dress
out, pulling the top half about so it covered her ample breasts a
little more and making sure that the high waistband sat underneath
them. Her attendants had tried to make her wear black, but she had
changed out of the dress the moment they were gone and had put her
empire-line sky blue one back on. She was a princess of Lyra. She
was going to wear the colour of Lyra.

Minutes passed and she
fidgeted on the long deep blue couch, wondering if the emperor was
planning to make an appearance. She glanced around the expansive
cream room and then at the rich dark wooden door. Perhaps it was
still the fashion to be late on Varka. On Lyra, it was
rude.

The door opened and she
shot to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw it was the Count of
Sagres. He stood on the threshold of the room, his hand still on
the door handle. Her heart leapt and pounded. There was no denying
the attraction she felt to him. Her mind had been constantly on him
from the moment they had met and now that he was before her again,
she wanted nothing more than to look at him, to drink her fill of
his handsome face and those stunning red eyes. She blinked, looking
into his eyes, wondering what he was thinking as he stared at her.
He looked at her a moment longer and then stepped to one side.
Emperor Varka passed him and paused.

“
You may leave.
I will report in before retiring,” he said and the Count of Sagres
nodded before closing the door, leaving them alone.

Her shoulders slumped. For
one happy moment, she had thought the Count of Sagres would be
staying.

She forced a smile for the
emperor when he took her hand and kissed the back of it. Sitting
back down, she held her hand out, intimating the couch opposite
hers and fearing that he would choose to sit next to her instead
like some of her suitors had.

Thankfully, he took the
desired seat. She smiled again, unsure what to say to break the
dreadful silence. By Iskara’s wings, her father was going to pay
for this torture. Hadn’t he learnt anything when his parents had
arranged his wedding? Perhaps she could run away as he had. She
grinned inside. The shock and worry would probably kill
him.

Perhaps she could run off
with the Count of Sagres.

Her eyes widened again,
that thought shocking her. Did she want to run away with the count?
The idea flustered her enough that her cheeks burned.

“
Is something
the matter?” Emperor Varka said with a slight echo to his words.
Sophia stared at him, shaking her head. “You look ill.”

“
No, I am fine,
thank you.” She straightened up and smiled again. “A little too
much sun today perhaps.”

“
It is
dreadful,” he said, voice droning enough that she clearly got the
message that he didn’t like her sunny planet.

“
It’s
beautiful,” she countered, ready for an argument if he overstepped
the mark. Emperor or not, she wouldn’t let anyone insult her home
world.

“
You must
understand, little one, that Varkans are not accustomed to such
strong sunlight. I merely meant that it was painful for me, not
that it is not beautiful, in short spells.”

Short spells? She could
spend the entire day lazing in the gardens under that strong
sunlight. It did explain the visors though. She had read that none
of the planets in the Varka system rotated like hers. On one side
of each was permanent daylight. On the other side was permanent
darkness. She was beginning to get the impression that Varkans were
from that side.

She could ask the emperor,
but for some reason she didn’t want to. Her gaze drifted to the
door and her thoughts to how handsome the Count of Sagres had
looked. Shocked too. He had hidden it well, but something about
either the room or her had surprised him. It was probably the awful
make up she was wearing. It dawned on her that she didn’t want to
talk to the emperor.

She wanted to speak to the
Count of Sagres.

“
You are as
beautiful as your planet,” Emperor Varka murmured, his voice so low
that it sent a shudder down her spine. She dragged her eyes away
from the door and smiled at him, taking his flattery even when it
revolted her. As a princess, she had grown accustomed to disgusting
men fawning over her and seeking her attention. “Although I hear
that you have had many suitors in the past, I can assure you that
none of them can offer you what Varka can.”

A frown threatened to
crease her brow. She held her smile. Did he honestly think that he
could haggle for her hand in marriage? She wasn’t interested in how
many planets her future husband had, or how rich and powerful he
was. The only man she would marry was the one who loved her, and
whom she loved.

Relaxing a little, she
settled in for a conversation that she knew was going to feel like
an eternity rather than a few hours.

There was only one thing
keeping her remotely interested in the emperor as he told her of
his wealth and the might of the Varkan Empire.

He knew the Count of
Sagres.

Her gaze drifted to the
door.

She wanted to know him
too.

****

Chapter
2

Regis, Count of Sagres,
walked out onto the balcony of his room. The palace gardens
stretched below him, white paths glowing ethereally in the evening
light. A light breeze blew across them, washing his face with the
lingering warmth of day and carrying the scent of roses. Far to his
left he could see the port where they had docked. If he leaned
forward, he could see the square where the royal family had greeted
them.

Where Princess Sophia had
greeted him.

Her lack of knowledge
about his species had been evident the second she had thought to
approach a Varkan emperor without warning. Still, it was
understandable. His kind never had been ones to tell the universe
about themselves. They were feared enough already.

Regis leaned against the
white stone wall of the balcony and stared at the distant city.
Tall pale spire-like buildings rose at the centre of it. The
financial district was the closest group. Beyond that, even taller
buildings pierced the sky. The Lyran parliament. His fingers flexed
and he clenched his fists. They ran the military. How many of his
kin had he lost to Lyra? His hand fell to the sword hanging at his
waist. The feel of its hilt beneath his fingers was comforting. The
war was over now. A tentative peace bridged the gap between his
species and the Lyrans. They were here to strengthen that peace
through marriage.

A sigh escaped him when a
full moon broke the horizon, blood red but slowly turning to white
as it rose. He watched its progress and then smiled when another
moon appeared a distance away from the first, this one crescent. He
studied them both and realised that the first moon partially
eclipsed the second. It was beautiful. It added a strange sense of
magic to the falling night.

He missed the moon of
Varka Prime. It glowed purple, a pale lilac that reminded him of
the flowers his mother and sister had preferred. It had been long
decades since their passing.

In all that time, he had
never left Varka Prime. His duty had been to the people and the
struggle for peace for his species, while his friend Van, Count of
Aeris, had left to join the military. Regis wished that he could
have that freedom too, but knew that it wasn’t possible. He had a
duty to do.

The darkening sky lured
his attention to how quiet it was on this planet at night. He
looked down at the garden where it sprawled thirty metres below him
and then leapt over the wall, landing silently in a crouching
position on the balcony above the garden. He straightened and
walked to the top of the steps that led down into the maze of paths
and flowers. It was a beautiful night for a walk. It had been some
time since he had felt so relaxed and at peace with the
universe.

Regis followed the steps
down into the garden and let his feet find their own route amongst
the winding paths. The flowers were beautiful, especially so when
the moonlight touched them. He gave a brief thought to the fact
that the emperor hadn’t reported back and that he might miss him,
and then shrugged it off. He wanted to walk the garden. If he
needed him, the emperor would easily be able to sense him
here.

Perhaps he was still
speaking to the princess. Regis frowned at that thought. It had
been several hours since he had left them alone together. Maybe the
offer his species had laid on her table was palatable. A firm peace
between their species, the technology of Varka at their disposal,
and a marriage that would connect them with other species of
similar prosperity. Not to mention the fact that Varka were
offering Lyra the second planet in their system for a military base
station. Varka Two was a deal breaker. The Lyrans had desired a
presence in the Varka system for nearing a century and had fought
hard to win one.

Unfortunately for them,
his species had fought harder.

The Lyran Imperial Army
were no match for them.

Regis stopped and looked
back at the palace. It was bright in the moonlight, the white stone
glittering. Most of the windows glowed warm and amber from the
lights inside. A few of the balcony rooms were in darkness. Without
thinking, he reached out with his senses and focused on each room.
The unlit ones weren’t all empty. Their occupants were sleeping.
The lit ones contained one or two signatures. A light sweet perfume
of Lyran lilies came from one, carried down to him on the cool
night breeze.

The princess.

Her room was distant from
his, close to the rear of the palace, near to where he was now in
the garden. He knew it was her. Her scent was unique in the castle
and had stayed with him all day. He stared up at her window, a part
of him willing her to come out onto her balcony. He had read Terran
literature about a star-crossed match and their tender balcony
scene. He had read a lot about love in an effort to understand
it.

Looking back at the moons
and the myriad of twinkling stars, Regis took a deep breath of
night air that filled his heart with warmth and did something he
hadn’t done since his beloved mother and sister had
died.

He 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.