Daughters of Lyra: Heart of an Emperor Read Online Free PDF Page A

lips to let it
pass, her own coming to meet it. He backed her into the wall, his
body against hers, the pressure of it making every inch of her burn
with desire. No one had ever kissed her like this. It was intense,
mind-blowing, and even though she knew that she should stop him,
she couldn’t bring herself to push him away.

    She wanted to cling to
him, to hold him and beg him to never let her go. She could kiss
him forever.

    Her tongue brushed his
canines and she flinched at their sharpness.

    His fingers closed around
her upper arms, pressing in and gripping them so tight that it
hurt. She wriggled against him but he deepened the kiss and pushed
her against the wall so hard that she struggled to
breathe.

    A metallic taste filled
her mouth.

    Blood.

    She couldn’t
breathe.

    Her heart exploded with
panic, thundering at the thought that she was running out of air
and Regis wasn’t letting her go. She released his arms and pushed
her hands against his chest, trying to shove him off her. His grip
tightened again and she whimpered in pain. His mouth didn’t leave
hers. She shoved him again, closing her eyes so tight that a tear
ran down her cheek. With one final push, he stumbled
backwards.

    Sophia choked on the air
as she breathed deep, her heart still pounding with
fear.

    Before she could say
anything, Regis pulled her back into his arms, holding her so
gently that it confused her. He said something that she didn’t
understand, a language similar to the one he had sung in, and
stroked her cheek. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head against
his chest, too tired to fight him again. Her head felt light but
heavy at the same time. It spun occasionally, making her legs feel
weak. She had never been so frightened.

    “ I am sorry,
your highness,” he whispered into her hair, his fingers still
caressing her jaw and hair. “I was not in control of
myself.”

    Sophia coughed and drew
another lungful of air as she thought about what he had said. He
wasn’t talking about the kiss. It was what had happened afterwards.
It was her blood.

    “ Understand
that I would never consciously hurt you,” he said and she
frowned.

    Stepping out of his
embrace, she reached out behind her and touched the control panel
beside the door. The lights slowly came on.

    Regis flinched away but
not before she saw how red his eyes were. Crimson. Not the dark red
they had been before. She continued to frown, wondering what had
happened to him to make him almost hurt her.

    He turned away. “Do not
look at me like that... do not look at me at all!”

    Suddenly, he was gone. The
window was open and the warm midday breeze was drifting in,
tousling the long thin curtains and washing over her.

    She hadn’t even seen him
move.

    Her hand rose. Her fingers
pressed against her lips. He had kissed her and it had been nice,
more than nice, until she had cut her tongue on his teeth and
everything had changed. He had changed. Her blood had altered him.
Could this be the bloodlust that the books and computer spoke of?
She’d thought it was just a figure of speech, something to sum up
their violent nature in battle. Did it mean something else? She
didn’t understand.

    Sophia went to the window
and looked out at the bright square below, but couldn’t see Regis
anywhere. There was so many questions that she wanted to ask him.
He had to be back in the palace somewhere. The Lyran sun was too
strong for him without his visor. She was about to go to find him
again when she thought the better of it.

    He had told her not to
look at him.

    She had felt his shame and
horror. A moment before she had broken free of his arms, she had
felt his remorse. And before that, when he had been kissing her,
she had tasted his hunger.

    If she went to him now,
while he was still feeling such muddled emotions, he would turn her
away. She needed to give him some time alone. She needed to find
someone else to answer the question burning within her.

    Looking back out of