Bonds of Blood [Lords of the Expanse] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Walking out of the bathing chamber, Andries looked to his wife and daughter and let out a sigh. Padding toward them, he touched Andria’s face lightly and pulled her up into his arms. Hugging her close to him, he kissed the top of her head. “Will you go and let the staff know we won’t be dining tonight, sweets?” he asked gently.

  Andria nodded and hugged her father back. “I’m sorry, Daddy, Mother.” She squeezed her mother’s hand and nodded. “I will let them know.” She would deliver the heartbreaking news to the staff, and it would take a part of her with it. Moving from her parents, she left them alone to deal with their grief.

  Xandra looked up at Andries, her eyes red from tears. “Will you hold me, Andries?” She felt a failure. She had lost their babe. It was her fault their child died, and she was feeling the pain from that loss deeply.

  Stripping down once Andria was gone, he slid into bed with her and pulled her in close. “It wasn’t your fault, love,” he whispered softly. “It wasn’t meant to be, Xandra.” He had to think that or he’d blame himself for what had happened. He’d taken her, not all that gently, and he knew he should have taken more care with her.

  “You aren’t to blame for our losing our child if I’m not,” Xandra whispered with tears in her eyes as she watched him and hugged him close. “I love you, Andries, and if I’m not to blame, then neither are you.” It was that simple. “I love you, Andries.”

  “I love you, too, my lady wife,” he whispered, leaning his forehead to hers as he rubbed at her back gently. “You are most definitely not to blame.” Which meant he would have to keep his own self blame to himself.

  “We will work past this, won’t we, Andries?” Xandra asked quietly as she looked up at her soul tie. “If you tell me that we will get over this, if you tell me that we will work past this, I will believe you.”

  “We will work past this, love,” he said softly, stroking her skin slowly and gently. “We will work past this and we will be able to live again. We won’t ever forget. We’re not that kind of people. We will never forget, but we will move forward and live.”

  “We will, Andries, but only if we stay together, stay strong, and love each other all through it,” Xandra whispered softly. “I do love you, Andries. No matter what else, I love you always from now and beyond.”

  “I love you, too, Xandra, always,” he murmured, hugging her tight. “I’m not going anywhere at all, my love. I will be right here with you for all time. You are mine and I need you in my life. You’re my heart.”

  THE END

  WWW.HONOR-JAMES.NET

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Born in the mid-seventies, this thirty-something woman has only been writing for the last six years of her life, faithfully that is. Honor has always been scribbling a phrase, a curious word, or the oddest of thoughts down on anything she could find laying about. Now she piles them up before her and, if one catches her fancy, she further explores it to whatever its end might be.

  A lover of books, her reading material spans from Shakespeare to mysteries and all the way to the erotic. Anything and everything she can lay her hands on she’ll read. Though, these days, she leans more toward the paranormal than anything else.

  Poetry was her first love, lasting about three solid years. Don’t ask. She won’t show many of them to anyone. Then short stories became the focus, and finally she began to write for more than just writing what came to mind. She started to write for pleasure and to tell the story that begged to be told.

  Life and family came next. Working full-time as a customer service representative and raising two children got in the way, and the writing that she so loved as a teenager seemed to be pushed off to the back burner of everything.

  So several years passed and her children turned into more than the babies that demanded her attention and into young children and then teenagers with different demands, ones that allowed her to once more spread her imagination to the wind and ask for more, want more.

  As with all great things, the door to her notebook-written word might have been closed and placed on hold, but where a door closes another one opens, and in this case it was with the advent of buying a computer.

  Honor spends many a sleepless night pounding at the keyboards. She is a consummate professional in her daytime career. However, at night her visions swing to the fantastical and in those long hours after the children and husband are in bed, she weaves together words and blends up stories that not only bring a whole new meaning to romance, but sizzle the pages with a heat that will have the readers begging for more.

  For all titles by Honor James, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/honor-james

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com