Sons of Lyra: Slave Princess by Felicity Heaton Page B

that he was happy to see his son in
love.

    “ Lyra Five is
yours, to rule together.”

    ***

    Kayla stood on the
colourful tiled balcony, the warm breeze tousling her hair and the
strong sun heating her skin. She listened to the waterfall
thundering to the ground almost one hundred feet below her. The
hills of this new world, her new Earth, stretched out before her,
rising to mountains in the east and lowering to the sea in the
west. This was her favourite place to be in all the world. She
loved nothing more than to stand here, passing the hours and
watching the ships as they came into port in the city
below.

    Another freighter landed,
blowing dust up into the air. It had been six months since the
Lyrans had given her species this planet, and people had been
arriving every day. The population was growing steadily.
Settlements had been given to those who knew how to farm, and the
Lyrans were instructing others on how to tend to the land and how
to work metal and other materials.

    A smaller ship entered the
atmosphere and passed the palace. It had been four months since
she’d seen that one, and she’d been waiting every day for its
return.

    She smiled as she heard
quick footsteps in the room behind her and sighed when his hands
claimed her hips. He always knew where to find her. He stepped up
close behind her, moulding her back against his front and placing a
kiss on her neck. It felt like eternity since she’d seen him. She
closed her eyes and leaned into his kisses, savouring his touch and
how good it felt to be in his arms again.

    His hands shifted to her
stomach and he tensed. She couldn’t contain her grin as he turned
her in his arms and stared down into her eyes, his own full of one
question.

    She placed her hands over
his where they rested on her swollen belly and he smiled. She’d
never seen him look so happy.

    “ How long?” he
said, a tremble in his voice.

    “ A little over
four months. I didn’t realise until you were gone.”

    “ Why didn’t you
send word? I would have come home.” He frowned at her now, deadly
serious again.

    She raised her hand to his
face and brushed her fingers across his cheek. “It’s far more fun
to surprise you with these things. You get so wonderfully
serious.”

    “ I do not,” he
said, his frown intensifying. She moved her fingers up and smoothed
the frown away. He smiled. “Perhaps I do... but this is worthy of
being serious.”

    She shrugged and ran her
hands over her stomach, staring at it. The first few weeks of
knowing she was pregnant had been hard. She’d wanted to break down
and tell him, wanting him to come straight back to her and tell her
that he loved her like he had that day on Lyra Prime. It was more
fun this way though. She did love to surprise him.

    “ I think this
is something to smile about rather than frown,” she teased him, a
smile still fixed on her lips. She covered his hands again with
hers, keeping them against her stomach. “Perfect for Terran-Lyran
relations.”

    He frowned again. “Our
child is not an instrument of improving—”

    She cut him off with a
kiss. It had been too long since she’d seen him and there was far
too much talk for her liking. He kissed her a moment and then
gently prised her off him.

    “ Does everyone
know?” he said, a little breathless.

    She kissed him again, her
tongue tangling with his this time. She didn’t want to talk about
all the formalities of having a baby now that she was truly
royalty. She just wanted to stay here in the palace with him and
drink her fill of him.

    “ Kayla,” he
said and pushed her off him again. “Do they know?”

    She shook her head. “I
wanted you to be first... do we have to talk about this right
now?”

    He looked serious for a
moment and then his eyes darkened with hunger. “What would you like
to talk about?”

    She grinned and pulled him
back to her, peppering kisses across his cheek as she spoke. “I
don’t want to talk at all. I want to kiss