Chapter 5
1042 Words
Lyra's POV
I heard the metallic screech of the cage unlocking, I knew immediately that we had gotten there.
Where I was going to be sold like an item.
We all froze.
The other girls, thin, bruised, silent, and looked around as if trying to disappear. But there was no place to hide. Not here. Not in this cage, where we had been locked like animals.
I was terrified. I could hear the horses stamping nearby, the murmurs of noblemen.
The door opened.
“ Everybody out,” a guard barked. “Line up. Now.”
I forced myself to move. We stumbled out one after the other, blinking against the harsh sunlight. Some girls had tears streaking their faces. One couldn’t even stand. I helped her up, even though my own legs were trembling.
They lined us up in the clearing beside the camp. Ahead of us, the royal hunt was being prepped. Horses. Weapons. Nobles. And them.
The triplet princes.
I saw them before I was ready.
Kieran stood tall, dressed in sleek black leather armor, a silver dagger strapped to his hip and he kept arrows on his back. His eyes swept across the lineup calm, but unreadable.
But it was the other two who spoke first.
Alaric stepped forward, his lips curling into a smirk. “Is this what we are bringing along this year?” he asked, turning to Jaxson. “I thought we were hunting beasts, not this things.”
Jaxson chuckled, eyes raking over the line of girls. “Honestly, Alaric... looking at some of them, I feel like chasing them instead. Would make the game more exciting.”
Several nobles laughed. One even whistled.
I stared straight ahead, I was frustrated, I wanted to do something, but I kept telling myself not to react.
Don’t flinch. Don’t cry. That’s what they want.
“Maybe we should let them run first,” Alaric said, circling us like we were prey. “See who makes it the fastest.”
“We could pretend they are animals,” Jaxson added, still smiling. “They are almost the same anyways.”
I swallowed hard. My throat burned.
Rage twisted in my chest, but I buried it deep. Deeper than my grief, deeper than the guilt.
Because I had a dream. And this? This wasn’t the end for me.
I closed my eyes briefly. Just for a second.
And I saw them.
My parents.
My mother’s long silver braid swaying as she stirred stew over the fire. My father’s strong arms lifting me up after my first shift. The way they laughed, how proud they were, the way they washed me with praises, I remembered everything.
But then they were gone.
They were framed, betrayed and executed.
Because of a lie.
Because someone feared our power. Our name.
And now here I was. Branded. Shackled. An omega slave paraded before royalty.
I opened my eyes again, and my gaze, like a curse, locked with Kieran’s.
He wasn’t smiling like his brothers. He didn’t look amused.
His eyes were sharp and dark. His brow slightly furrowed, as if he was confused by something he saw.
I dropped my gaze quickly. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
Not now. Not when I had one goal, survive. Escape, and win back everything.
I wouldn’t be distracted by the way his presence made something flutter in my chest.
I didn’t care that he was the only one not laughing.
I didn’t care that I had once dreamed of a bond like the stories, fated mates, pulled together by destiny. I had buried those fantasies along with my parents.
“You,” someone hissed.
I looked up.
A noblewoman stood beside Alaric, her lip curled. “That one. She’s looking too bold.”
Alaric turned toward me, brows lifting. “Ah. A rebel?”
I said nothing.
He took a step forward and raised his hand to my chin.
I moved back instinctively, and a gasp rippled through the line. A guard stepped forward immediately, yanking my arms roughly behind my back.
“Hold,” Kieran’s voice cut through the air.
The tension shifted.
Even Alaric paused, his hand lowering.
Kieran walked forward slowly, stopping just feet away from me. He studied my face with quiet intensity. His eyes were strange, but not soft, not cruel. It was just there.
“She’s too thin to be dangerous,” he said simply, then turned to his brother. “Let it go.”
Alaric scoffed, but didn’t argue.
Jaxson raised a brow. “You interested, Kieran?”
Kieran didn’t answer. His gaze lingered for a heartbeat longer, then he turned away.
The guards released me.
I let out a slow breath, barely keeping my knees from buckling.
“You’ll be assigned to the hunting group,” one of the handlers announced, as if nothing had happened. “You’ll clean, serve, carry, and stay out of the way. If you speak without permission, you’ll be silenced. If you run, you’ll be hunted.”
He didn’t have to explain what hunted meant.
The scars on the back of one girl’s neck were enough of a warning.
We were divided into smaller groups and assigned to separate carriages behind the hunting party. I ended up with three other girls, none of whom spoke. One was barely older than a child.
I stayed at the back, my wrists still aching from the earlier grip. But my eyes stayed forward. On the trail. On the forest.
Something was stirring in the wind. A shift.
I could feel it.
I didn’t know what this hunt would bring.
But I knew I had to be ready.
As the procession moved, I caught one last glance of Kieran.
He was mounting his horse, glancing back at the trail, not at me, but at something unseen, as if he too felt the shadow looming ahead.
We were all heading into the forest.
But not all of us would come back the same.
Not all of us would come back at all.
I just knew it
That somewhere deep into the forest, something waited there.
Something that smelled like blood.
But I need to stay alive,
Surviving wasn't a choice.
Not for myself.
But for my parents.
- Writer
