Sons of Lyra: Runaway Hearts (2 page)

A wide square opened in
front of him. Directly across it was a long building with rows of
arches along the front and tall arched windows above them. The
white roof was a series of domes. A ship appeared from behind it
and lumbered into the air, chugging towards an unknown destination.
It had to be the port.

He walked towards it and
then realised that he’d have to navigate a market in order to reach
it. The square was packed with stalls selling goods even more
fascinating than those in the shops. It was as though traders that
had just landed from distant planets had unpacked their wares and
were selling them to anyone interested. He stopped at a few stalls
and looked at some of the items on sale. At one of them, he picked
up an object that he recognised. He’d seen Acer with something
similar last year, but couldn’t recall what it was. Acer had only
told him that it was something he was fixing for his ship, the
Nephis-Lyra. The trader spoke to him, babbling on about prices and
trying to get him to haggle for the object. He shook his head and
placed it back down.

A group of children ran
past him, laughing as they wove through the crowds. He kept a hand
over his money, aware that even on a planet as rich as Lyra Prime,
there were still those that needed to pickpocket in order to feed
themselves or their families.

The port loomed ahead of
him. He slipped through the last of the crowd and out into an empty
strip of square. He watched the constant line of people entering
and leaving the port. This was it.

He stepped
forwards.

Someone bumped into him,
almost knocking him to the ground. They fell at his feet with a
muffled noise of pain. He looked down to see a small woman kneeling
on the hard cobbles. Stooping, he caught her arm and helped her to
her feet.

“
Are you
alright?” he said and looked her over.

She wrapped her dark blue
cloak around her and nodded. She looked shaken and he got the
impression she was scared when she looked over her shoulder towards
the market. Was someone following her? He looked there too and then
back at her. She was staring at him now. He was glad she didn’t
seem to recognise him. Perhaps she wasn’t from Lyra.

“
Are you sure
you are alright?” he asked again.

She nodded. “I’m fine...
if you’d just release me.”

She was speaking Lyran
though. Maybe she was from his system. She gave an impatient look
to his hand where it gripped her upper arm.

He released it and she
hurried off. He looked over his shoulder at the market again and
then back at her. He frowned. His eyes widened. His hand flew to
his pocket. The money was gone.

By Iskara’s wings, she had
nerve.

He sprinted after her. The
moment she saw he was giving chase, she broke into a run and headed
for the port. He had to catch her before she made it into the
building. He’d lose her in there.

He increased his speed
until he was closing in on her. She looked over her shoulder and
gave him a pained look. She slipped on the cobbles just as he
lunged for her arm and he fell with her, landing beneath her on the
ground. He caught her wrists as she struggled and wriggled, and
wrestled with her until she was trapped beneath him.

Terea breathed hard and
her face screwed up with effort as she tried to get the man off
her. He pressed her wrists into the cold cobbles, trapping them,
and frowned at her. There was such darkness in his black eyes. She
tried to get her knees free so she could kick him in the balls. He
shifted, pinning her legs to the ground with his. Damn it. This
wasn’t what she needed.

“
Let me go,”
she said and struggled again. He held her wrists tighter. Her hands
hurt and her bones ached. She stilled, fearing he’d break her
wrists if she continued to fight him. “I will return your money if
you let me go.”

“
Why did you
take it?” he said, his breath sweet and moist against her face. A
look of curiosity entered his eyes, chasing away the blackness. He
was filthy. From a distance, he’d looked rich and noble. Up close,
he looked nothing more than a common beggar. He probably didn’t
have any money in the purse anyway.

“
I need to get
off this planet... I only needed a little money.”

He visibly swallowed and
the pressure on her wrists decreased. He was giving her a funny
look. Was it something she’d said? She opened her hand and looked
at it, indicating his purse. He snatched it and shoved it into his
pocket. He didn’t let her go.

She whimpered when he
dragged her onto her feet, his hand locked tight around her wrist.
No matter how much she tried to prise his fingers off her, he
wouldn’t let go. She kicked him in the shin. He frowned at her
again.

“
Why do you
need to leave?” he said, the curiosity still in his eyes. “Is
someone after you?”

“
It’s hard to
explain. I just need to get away.” She tugged on her arm. He
tightened his grip. Her bones ached. He was going to snap her arm
if he kept going. She dropped to her knees again, her eyes closed
against the pain. He hauled her back onto her feet and towered over
her. “Let me go... I won’t bother you again.”

“
Where are you
going?”

Damn he was full of
questions. She wished she’d never mentioned why she’d been robbing
him. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Didn’t the
people of this planet understand that?

She kicked him again. He
cursed in Lyran, voice rich and deep, and then slapped her so hard
her head turned to the side. She stood there with her eyes wide and
mouth open as she waited for her cheek to stop stinging and her
head to stop spinning. She’d never been hit before. She couldn’t
say that she liked the experience.

“
Answer me,” he
said and she looked at him. It was too dark in the square to see
his face properly, but she could hear all the hardness in his
voice. He was used to getting answers when he asked a question and
she was starting to anger him. He sounded like her
father.

“
Anywhere,” she
whispered and her brow furrowed. “Just somewhere away from
here.”

He went quiet for a moment
and then his look changed. All the anger disappeared, leaving a
sense of calm behind. She reached out a little with her mind,
testing the waters. He was calm, interested. There was a sense of
hope and relief about him and something else.
Understanding.

“
Have you used
transport before?” he asked.

She nodded. She’d used it
a few times in her life. Getting passage here couldn’t be any
different to those times. Most space ports worked the same
way.

“
Then I’ll pay
for your passage, but on one condition.”

“
Name it,” she
said quickly, not wanting him to change his mind.

“
I will be
coming with you.”

She stared at him but
before she could say anything, he was dragging her towards the
port. He was coming with her? Was this the understanding she’d
felt? He wanted to leave this planet too.

He had been heading
towards the port when she’d stolen his money.

His hand slid into hers
when they entered the port. She looked down at them, frowning at
the way he thought he could do as he wanted with her. He couldn’t.
She tried to get her hand free but his grip tightened and he
stopped to look at her.

“
If you cannot
play along, I will leave you on this planet.” He stepped close to
her, his voice a silken purr in her ear.

She closed her eyes a
moment to savour the strange sensations he’d stirred in her and
then opened them again when he stepped away.

The light was better here
and she could see him properly. He was handsome. No amount of dirt
could hide that from her notice. His almond eyes spoke to her of
his feelings, telling her everything he was trying to hide from the
world. He did want to leave this planet. She wondered why. A slight
frown creased his dark brows and she realised he wanted an answer
from her.

“
Whatever gets
me off this hellish rock,” she whispered up at him, her eyes still
locked with his.

They narrowed and her gaze
fell to his mouth. A smile curved his full sensual lips. She looked
away, cursing the blush that burned her cheeks when her thoughts
got the better of her. So what if he was handsome. He was rough and
a little arrogant too. Those two qualities were enough to make her
think the worst of him. As soon as they were onboard the ship,
she’d part ways with him and continue with her plan.

He started walking again,
his palm pressed into hers and fingers locked tightly against her
knuckles. She followed him in silence. The crowd was suffocating
and she couldn’t see above them. She was too short. She looked up
at the man. He was a full head above the people around them. She
wondered if the universe looked different from up there. Perhaps it
didn’t. They were both running away from something after
all.

They reached the rows of
desks near the barriers that blocked the way to the ships. She
noticed the guards and then noticed that the man turned his back to
them when he did too. Had he done something wrong on this planet?
Perhaps he was a criminal and did have money.

“
Where are you
going?” he said, close to her. She looked around, hoping a
destination would present itself.

“
Somewhere out
of this system,” she said and tried to remember the route they’d
taken to get to it. She scanned the names on the boards above the
desks. Each desk had a different destination. She smiled.
“Acturus.”

He frowned at her.
“Acturus?”

She nodded, still beaming.
She swore they’d passed through there on their way to this
system.

“
Acturus is a
military base station in space.” He released her hand and fixed her
with a hard look. “It belongs to the Minervans.”

There wasn’t just distrust
and anger in his eyes, there was fear too. Was it the military
factor or the Minervan? She hoped it was the former not the latter
and then reminded herself that it didn’t matter what he thought. As
soon as they were on the ship, she was going to ditch him. A lot of
the freighters had women only compartments. She’d hide in one of
those and hope that he forgot her.

“
It stops at
Dliaer before it reaches Acturus.” She pointed to the board above
the respective desk. “You can alight there. Dliaer is a big port
about a day from here. From there you can go anywhere.”

He seemed pleased by that.
He took hold of her hand again and dragged her towards that desk.
She was growing tired of his pulling her around as though she was a
ragdoll. Either he had no respect for women or he had little
experience of handling them. She glanced at him out of the corner
of her eye. He was so handsome that she doubted he had little
experience. Women were probably falling over backwards to get his
attention. Not her though. She’d had it with men.

She was roused from her
thoughts when he shoved his purse into her hands.

“
Get us
passage,” he said and pushed her forwards. His hand remained
against her back the whole time they walked to the desk. She got
the impression that he was wary of letting her out of arm’s reach
with his money.

When she reached the desk
and opened the purse, she could see why.

There were at least
fifteen gold Lynans in it. She could buy a small ship with this
much. She swallowed and her heart jumped when he pressed harder
against her back, urging her forwards. For a moment, she’d
forgotten he was there. She’d been lost in the fantasy the sight of
so much money had given her. With this much, she could run away and
set up a shop or something somewhere where her father and family
would never find her.

She bartered with the
woman behind the desk, ignoring the obscene amount of cleavage her
uniform exposed. This world had no breeding. She was glad she’d
managed to get away and was one step closer to escaping
completely.

She rummaged in the purse
for the money when the woman told her the price. The second the
woman saw the money, she babbled something about lack of
availability and a lot of people travelling to Dliaer. Terea
sighed. She should’ve hidden the money better.

“
She says they
only have premier passage available.” She turned to the man. He
didn’t seem at all bothered by this news. He just shrugged and
waved her back towards the woman, keeping his back to her all the
time. Was he scared of the woman recognising him too? She looked at
the woman and handed over a single gold Lynan. “Fine.”

The woman smiled sweetly
and handed her the tickets and the five hundred silver Lynans
change. Terea glanced at the man to see if he’d been paying
attention and when she realised he hadn’t, she pocketed the silver
Lynans. She’d need some money for the next part of her trip,
wherever that took her.

She touched the man’s arm
and he took the purse from her and then grabbed her hand. He led
the way through the crowd towards the gates into the departures
area. When they reached it, she noticed he dropped back and covered
part of his face with his cloak. She showed the tickets to the
guards and then walked through the gates when they opened. The man
followed her.