LIORAN
860 Words
I did not notice him at first.
That was the strange part.
The courtyard was crowded as it usually was between class sessions, voices overlapping, shuffling footsteps, and the air carrying that low hum of familiarity that comes from too many bodies sharing the same routine.
I was half-heartedly listening to Elowen talk about a lecture she’d barely survived when the noise shifted.
The entire courtyard erupted in excitement, and everyone began mumbling in hushed tones nonstop.
Some ladies were even giggling.
It felt like the courtyard had landed in another universe and timeline.
I looked up to see the source for the change.
Then I saw him.
He was too conspicuous for me not to have noticed him immediately.
Not with his gaze locked on me with startling precision.
He stood at the far end of the courtyard, framed by the archway, like someone placed there on purpose.
He was tall and broad-shouldered. His dark hair was pulled back loosely and carefully, as if he’d never learned the habit of trying to appear less than he was.
His presence pressed against the surrounding space, not aggressively, but undeniably.
People were pointing at him with gusto, and girls kept blushing and screaming at his sight.
He wasn’t looking at anyone else. His piercing blue eyes followed all my movements.
My steps slowed. Elowen’s voice faded into background noise.
I expected something drastic to happen. A spark. Or a sense of recognition.
But nothing came.
Instead, a tight pressure bloomed behind my eyes. It wasn’t pain. More like resistance. As if my mind had reached out for something but found glass where there should have been air.
The man’s lips parted.
“Arwenna.”
That was the only word he said.
It hit me harder than it should have.
My name sounded wrong in his voice. Not mispronounced. But unfamiliar.
The surrounding clamour died into silence.
Then, almost immediately, whispers sparked to life like a flint.
Eyes followed the invisible line between us. I felt suddenly exposed, as if I had stepped into a wolf den full of a wolf pack.
Elowen stiffened beside me.
“That’s Lioran Aves,” she whispered, barely audible. “He is the alpha heir to the biggest pack in Elyandra. The Winged Wolf pack.”
I swallowed. The pressure behind my eyes deepened.
“I get his importance, but why is he staring at me like that?” I whispered back to her.
Elowen shrugged her shoulders. Spreading her palms outwards.
Lioran took a step forward, then stopped. His dark brows drew together, confusion flickering across his face before something darker replaced it.
He waited. Studying me.
I realised, with a faint sense of distress, that he was waiting for me to react.
I didn’t know how.
“I don’t...” The words stuck. I cleared my throat. “Do I know you?” I demanded.
The question landed like a blade.
His jaw tightened. For a moment, I thought he might punch me or something. His hands curled instead, fingers flexing as if gripping something invisible.
I looked at him with apprehension.
“No,” he said at last.
Well, that didn’t sound like the truth.
I could see the familiarity behind his gaze.
Behind him, I felt it before I saw it. That familiar shift in the air.
It felt like the world aligning itself around a single presence.
Kaelith.
He stood just beyond the courtyard, the black coat he wore unmoved by the breeze, eyes cold and unreadable.
His dark gaze flicked to Lioran, sharp and assessing, then to me.
Something in his posture softened almost imperceptibly.
I should have questioned his presence at this exact moment, but instead, I felt something sweet spread in my chest.
The pressure in my head eased.
Not vanished. Just steadied.
Lioran noticed him, too.
His attention snapped to Kaelith, his confusion sharpened into something wary.
Their eyes met, and the air between them tightened, coiled like a viper ready to strike its prey.
Liriel watched from one of the smaller arched entrances of the courtyard.
I caught sight of her by accident from the corner of my eye. I saw her expression. The smug curve of her lips. The calculating light in her eyes and the satisfaction right behind it.
That moment made me realise something. This appeared to be her machinations.
Lioran’s gaze returned to me one last time. It was so intense it made my skin prickle.
Then he turned sharply and walked away, his strides long and purposeful, the crowd parting instinctively before him.
The noise rushed back in.
I exhaled shakily, not realising I’d been holding my breath.
Elowen stared after him. “That was… strange,” she murmured.
“Yes,” I said, though I couldn’t explain why my hands were trembling.
Kaelith stepped closer, his presence firm at my side.
He held my trembling hands and pecked them.
“Are you well?” he asked quietly.
I nodded, even as I felt fluttering in my stomach. “I think so.”
It wasn’t a lie.
But it wasn’t the truth either.
Because I had turned a shade of crimson.
- Writer
