The Cursed Heir

First gaze

When Lyra reopened her eyes she noticed that the room was almost silent now and for a change she found no one paid her any mind, a welcome surprise. Most of the females in the room were staring behind her, towards the entrance of the dining hall. She had only intended to glance towards the double doors which she had come through minutes before but found her gaze was stuck.

Her hazel eyes bore into icy blue ones. She was frozen, almost in a trance, staring at a stranger. He was tall, even more so than the other boys here, and his skin was a deep olive tone. His hair was curly and black as night, those blue eyes stood out like diamonds. He was beautiful, and she had lost track of the seconds passing by as she stared. He didn’t break his gaze either, their eye contact felt electric, like lightening.

Then her phone rang aloud, lighting up on the table and she felt almost dizzy as she looked away from the boy to answer her father’s call.

“Hello?” Her voice was shaky, disoriented even.

“Lyra, are you well?” Her father asked, she could sense his confusion at her tone.

“Fine, one moment.” She replied, standing to make her way to the quad outside where her conversation would not be overheard. Her guards walked a few steps behind her as she made sure she was out of hearing range.

She fought the urge to turn back towards the blue eyed stranger, focussing instead on her father and why he might call.

“We may speak; no one is listening.” She told him, in a clearer tone.

“How are you, how is the school?” Her father asked.

“I feel as though I’m being punished, this school is like a prison.” Her father sighed down the phone.

“Lyra you are not being punished nor are you imprisoned, I sent you to the school for your own wellbeing.” She laughed.

“My own wellbeing? Surely if you cared for that you would have demanded justice when it was necessary.” Her tone was low but frustrated, angry.

“Had you given the court a chance, justice may have been served and neither of us would be in this position.” Andre too, felt betrayed even though he tried very hard not to show it. He knew how fragile his daughter was at current and he wished for nothing more than to protect her and her mental state.

“And you believe that banishment would have been enough? She took Jason from me, she killed a part of me too and you would have let her walk free, unpunished!” Lyra could no longer keep quiet, she was so close to releasing her wolf now.

“I’m sorry, is that what you want to hear?” He meant it too, but to his daughter his words felt entirely hollow. Jason was dead and she wished he had been too but instead she was left to live in a dark abyss without him, cursed.

“What I wanted was for you to put me first just once!” She felt her eyes sting with tears but blinked them away.

“I was putting you first Lyra. I knew what she did was unforgivable but I didn’t want you to lose your mother too, I didn’t want to be the reason you lost her. You had lost so much already.” Andre’s tone was low, sombre.

Neither spoke for a moment, as Lyra considered what he had said. She wasn’t sure if she truly believed it but his tone was sincere and she had never known her father to be a liar. A part of her yearned for that to be true, for her feelings to have been considered over her father’s duty. Another part of her knew that he would always choose duty over her, as he and his predecessors had always been taught.

“That’s a nice sentiment, but you can’t lose what you never had. All I ever was to her was power and advantage over you, she was never a mother to me.” Her tone was quiet; the anger had dissipated. Almost worse than her fury was her sadness, Andre felt his heart ache for his only child. He felt powerless when it came to her, knowing he could do nothing to heal these wounds.

“I’m sorry, for everything, I never ever wanted this life for you.” He meant that too, Lyra knew the strain of duty on her father and how much he had tried to shield her from his hardships.

“I know, I’m sorry too.” She sighed, defeated, knowing her father was not to blame here.

“Have you made any friends?” His tone was hopeful.

“No one wants to be my friend dad.” She spoke in a matter of fact tone but there was something about her words that saddened him.

“I know that is not true, perhaps you might consider giving your peers a chance.” He replied, hoping she didn’t truly mean what she had said.

“These people don’t see me as their peer, they don’t even see me.” Andre knew what that felt like, after all he had once been the Lebonair heir. Their position bred loneliness and he too had felt it for the majority of his life, even now.

“How would you know if you don’t even try?” He asked, and she supposed he had her there.

“I don’t want to make friends; I just want to come home.” Lyra’s snappy tone was final and he knew there would no more discussion on the subject.

“Soon Lyra, I promise you.” She was unsurprised, knowing the pressure her father was under from the high council.

“I should go; my next class is starting soon.” Not a complete lie, but the conversation had been emotionally draining for the both of them and Lyra needed to clear her head of it.

“Alright, I’ll call you again soon.” They both knew that they would have some variation of this same fight when that time came but there was a comfort in hearing each other’s voices.

“Bye dad.” When she hung up Lyra yearned to return to the dining hall, to catch another glance at the blue eyed boy, but she resisted.

Instead she held her phone out to Michael, who took it silently, and phased into her silver wolf form. She did not spare a thought for her nice clothes, nor her afternoon classes as she ran. Before losing Jason she rarely changed, instead she would separate from her wolf if she ever had need for it. Now, her mind was chaotic and only when she embraced the wolf did she feel some semblance of peace. She let her wolf take over, losing her inhibitions and leaving her human self behind until she was serene.