Chapter Six

Lyra’s POV

“Don't listen to her, Randall. She's a bloody liar,” I protested, finally taking my hand off my stung cheek as Susan hurried over to Randall.

“It was she who hit me. I didn't…”

I paused as I saw that he wasn't even paying attention to me. He was too busy hugging the liar before him to even hear a word I said. 

When they finally broke from the hug, Susan faced me, her left hand on her waist as she pointed her right index finger at me. 

“This is exactly why I told you that this woman needs to be put away,” she said. “She's just as deceitful and heartless as her father. You should have seen how hard she hit me.”

I gasped, shocked at how smoothly she told her lie. Randall kept a straight face, so it was hard to tell if he believed her or not, but I had a feeling he did. 

“You need to put her away, Randall,” she urged him, placing her hand on his broad arm. “She needs to be dealt with. You're not going to let her get away with laying her filthy hand on me, would you?”

Randall's response was silence. 

The room remained cold for nearly a minute as he gazed straight at my window, seemingly disinterested in whatever Susan and I had going on. Then suddenly, he heaved deeply and faced me. 

As soon as our eyes locked, I inhaled deeply. My heart raced a thousand times as I wondered what he was going to do. 

‘No way he believed me, right?’ I wondered. 

“Look, I did nothing wrong. I swear. She came here looking for trouble and when I wouldn't give it to her, she decided to hit me,” I explained. 

“I…”

“That's enough.”

And just like that, I froze, unable to utter any more words. 

He narrowed his eyes at me, his voice sharp. “You have no right to lay a finger on Susan here. Try this again and I'll make you pay dearly for it. Is that clear?”

Yeah. Sure. He believed her. 

I nodded. 

“Is that it?” Susan queried, her voice cracking with disappointment. 

“You're just going to let it slide with a warning we both know she's not going to heed?”

“Susan…”

“No.” She shook her head, shooting me an angry stare before turning back to Randall. “She has to pay for it. You have to punish her.”

“What we need to do is to head over to the throne room for a crucial meeting,” Randall said, his voice much cooler than I had expected. “And we must leave at once.”

Susan's brows contracted as rage brimmed within her but there was very little she could do when Randall had already spoken. 

“This is not the end!” She spat, pointing at me once again. “You will regret this.”

After they left, I sat back on my bed and let out a deep sigh. I felt a lone tear roll down my cheek and quickly wiped it away only for more to follow.

Despite knowing that Randall hated me, I had hoped that for once, he was going to take my side. I mean, it was obvious that I wasn't the aggressor. How could he not see that?

Wiping the tears off my cheeks once again, I consoled myself a little with the fact that he didn't punish me despite Susan's desperate pleas. 

Still, I was hurt that my mate would believe that woman over me, even if he had rejected me. 

Suddenly, a thought flashed in my mind and my eyes popped open. I got off the bed, changed into a short brown gown and headed to the throne room as quickly as I could. 

Halfway through the passageway, I met the guard often stationed by my door, making his way back to my room. 

“And where do you think you're going to?” He asked, scrunching his face. “The chief maid said you won't be working today.”

I paused for a moment, wondering what to say to him. I couldn't let him send me back to my room, not when I was this close to getting what I needed. 

“Uhm… Susan. She– she asked me to meet her at the throne room,” I stuttered. 

“I can head back to my room if you want. I'm only just looking for an excuse to do that,” I added, now wearing a confident smile. 

After thinking for a few seconds, he finally moved out of my way. “Don't be long or I'll come drag you back to your room myself,” he warned. 

“Wouldn't that just be so nice?” I chuckled, before strutting past him. 

‘Damn! That was close.’

A couple of minutes later, I was standing just before the door to the throne room. I exhaled deeply. Eavesdropping on the conversation of an Alpha was a very risky thing to do. One mistake could cost one a life. Not mine, though. Randall wouldn't kill me since he still needed me, but he was surely going to send me back to that dungeon, and I didn't want that. 

Peeking through the peephole, I spotted Randall discussing with a group of strange men and wondered what they were talking about. 

I didn't have to wonder for long. I let my curiosity get the best of me as I placed my ears close to the door. The voices weren't audible but I was able to make out a few words. 

“Alpha Max of the White Moon Pack…”

I strained my ears for more information, but their voices were quite low, so I couldn't quite hear them as clearly as I wanted to. 

But one thing was certain– Those men were up to no good. 

“And what do you think you're doing?”

A soft voice called out from behind me just as I tried to lean closer to the door with my ears and I froze. 

That voice… It sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place my hands on it. 

Slowly, I turned around and to my surprise, it was none other than the maid whom I had threatened to kill the first time I tried to escape. Yes, the very maid whom I held a knife to her throat.

“Damn it!’ I thought. For sure, she was going to expose me. I just stood there like a statue, my eyes locked with hers, waiting for her to call the guards on me. 

But when she wouldn't speak, rather choosing to arch her brow as if she expected a response, I decided to give her one. 

“I… I–” I stuttered. It was the best thing I could offer. What else could I have said? That I was there to spy on her Alpha who wanted me locked up?

Hell nah!

“That's a private meeting going on there,” she said, her voice very flat, almost detached. “You could be severely punished for eavesdropping so I'd advise you to return to your room at once.”

My eyes widened in shock as she turned to leave so I called out to her. “Wait…”

She paused and turned to face me. 

“Why? Why are you helping me?”

She stood in silence for a few seconds before sighing. 

“Maybe I should just tell the Alpha then…”