Chapter 11
1133 Words
Lyra
“Lyra!”Ace’s voice suddenly shattered the air, a booming, panicked shout that cut clean through the music filling the grand hall.
I snapped my head around toward the sound, and a maid was charging directly toward me, slicing through the crowded room. Her eyes were wide, frantic with malice, and her knuckles bled white as she gripped a jagged, shattered piece of glass tightly in her hands.
I knew my face was her target, but panic paralyzed my limbs, leaving me torn between freezing or fleeing.
But a cold, reality-driven realization rooted me to the spot: I was nothing in this court without my beauty.
Even though I loathed myself so deeply, that very beauty was my only shield. I couldn't let her destroy it.
No, don't…… please save me, I begged silently to no one in particular.
Suddenly, an invisible, devastating shockwave erupted through the air. The pressure slammed the maid backward with sickening speed, throwing her violently against the stone wall. The sharp c***k of her bones echoed through the hall as she hit the impact, before she slumped to the ground, dying instantly.
My eyes widened in horror, as I involuntarily followed the crimson trail of blood, and when my gaze landed on her cold, lifeless body, a violent shiver wrecked my frame. My hands wouldn't stop trembling, but before I could fully register the c*****e, my father rushed to my side, stepping between me and the crowd.
“If I hadn't saved my daughter, her face would have been ruined,” he announced loudly.
My face, It was the only thing he was thinking about.
Anger should have flared within me at his shallow words, but my mind was completely numb, trapped in a loop of what had just occurred. I knew my father's capabilities intimately, and I knew with absolute certainty that he wasn't the one who had unleashed that force.
“Elin, am I sick?” I asked immediately, the moment she locked the heavy wooden doors of my bedchamber.
“No, my Lady. If anything, that maid is the sick one,” Elin said, her chest rising and falling rapidly with lingering anger. “Thank the Goddess your father reacted in time to save you.”
“Elin, I don't think my father was the one who did that,” I whispered, my voice still shaking.
Elin didn't say a word Instead, she gently helped me out of my ruined gown and led me into the bathroom. She helped me bathe, washing the tension from my skin, and then dressed me in a soft, silk sleeping robe. Despite the warmth, the tremors in my hands remained.
“My Lady, you should sleep,” she murmured, trying to comfort me as she pulled back the sheets. “When you wake up tomorrow, I will take you out somewhere.”
“Where could you possibly take me?” I asked, sinking onto the mattress. “The only place I am permitted to go is the garden. And after tonight, do you honestly think Draven will let me leave the pack house?”
Before Elin could reply, the sheer exhaustion from the night's terrors pulled me under and my eyes closed heavily, and I drifted into a deep sleep.
“Hmmm,” I yawned, stretching my arms as I sat up in bed the next morning.
Where is Elin? I wondered, sliding off the mattress. I made my way to the bathroom to wash my face, but when I stepped back out into the chamber, I jumped in horror.
Elin was standing there, her face frozen in a mask of pure shock.
“What happened? You scared me,” I breathed, pressing a hand to my chest.
“My Lady…. Lady Selena!” she paused, catching her breath.
“Lady Selena? What happened to her?” I asked, my curiosity instantly piqued.
“I heard the maids gossiping downstairs.
They said that yesterday, right after the failed attack on you, Lady Selena lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs. The fall left a deep cut across her face.” Elin paused, a small, triumphant smile breaking through her shock.
“But some of the other maids are whispering that it's a lie. They claim the last time she was seen, she was with Alpha Ace. Though, others say Alpha Ace could never do something so terrible to her since they are family.”
Elin leaned in closer, her eyes gleaming. “But I'm happy, my Lady, she finally got her karma. She is the only one bitter enough to plot an attack against you.”
“You shouldn't be happy because something terrible happened to someone, no one deserves that,” I scolded softly.
Elin nodded, looking properly chastised.
“You're too good, my Lady,” she said, before turning back to her morning duties.
Once Elin finished dressing me, I sat at my desk and penned a formal letter to Alpha Draven, requesting permission to leave the pack house and visit the town. Elin took the parchment to deliver it immediately.
Restless, I couldn't bear to wait around in the quiet of my chambers, so I made my way down toward the garden.
“Lady Lyra,” a voice called out just as I approached the front courtyard of the pack house.
I froze and turned. Ace was walking toward me.
“Are you okay? What happened yesterday?” he asked, His words sounded worried, but his expression remained entirely blank….. his eyes unblinking and unreadable.
I swallowed hard and nodded anyway. “I am fine.”
“I'm happy you are okay. But you don't have to be afraid anymore,” he said, a slow, eerie smile spreading across his face that made my skin crawl.
“You know that no one can harm you and go scot-free.”
I gulped. What is his problem? What does he even mean by that?!
Before I could step back, he reached out, his long fingers brushing against my skin. I stiffened instantly.
“I loved your dress yesterday,” he murmured, his thumb gently caressing my cheek. “It made you look entirely ethereal.”
He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a low whisper. “You know, I planned on rejecting this bond... but I guess I can't.”
My heart hammered violently against my ribs, the rhythm so loud I feared he could hear it.
Was he completely crazy?! He always spoke in riddles, saying things I couldn't comprehend.
Yet, despite the fear, a strange warmth wrapped around me. My heart felt inexplicably safe in his presence….. so unlike the suffocating, frantic state of flight it entered whenever I was near Draven.
Am I sick? Because what on earth is this feeling?
- Writer
