Chapter 3

Lyra’s POV 

The hall suddenly fell into a pin-drop silence. The questioned gazes from the audience pierced through my skin.

“What… What are you talking about?” My voice shaked. 

I knew Seraphina too well, obviously she was up to one of her mischievous plans again and funny enough she always had her way with it… everyone seemed to always believe her.

Seraphina let out an evil smirk. 

“Oh Lyra dear”, she taunted mockingly. “I see you've always wanted the spotlight so badly, why don't I give that to you.. huh??... Maybe the world can actually get to see who their darling superstar is??”.

My stomach dropped….. “What, what are….”

Before I could finish, the LED screen that was behind us and all other screens at the top of the stage flickered 

And then it played…

A video of me in a hotel room; Dim coloured light. My body curled under the white sheets and my messy hair scattered across the pillow. Then the camera showed the wine bottle and glasses on the nightstand and captured what seemed to be like someone else leaving the bed.

I stood there in shock, I couldn't move, my blood turned to ice.

Gasps rose up from among the crowd, some screamed my name in disbelief, others jeered. 

"Such a shame!"

"Imagine she had been cheating!"

‘Lies!’ I cried out. “No…no that's not what happened” my throat tightened as my breath hitched within the words I could barely utter.

I looked at Dorian… oh Dorian, his jaw clenched as his face was already hardened into something else, filled with anger, betrayal, disgust. I had never seen him this way in my entire life.

“Dorian… Dorian listen to me” I ran over to his spot on falling on my knees with my palms together. “It's not true… I swear to you…. It's all a set up… you know I can never do this”.

“Not true?” his voice came sharp. “So tell me Lyra, what am I supposed to believe, that you have some kind of hidden twin??... Or you just didn't know it was going to leak…. See how much humiliation you've caused me in just one night….. I hate you Lyra…. I really do.” He spat as he walked towards Seraphina who was standing there all this time faking sympathy towards him but the spark of triumph under her eyes was very visible, especially as she let out a soft evil smile her eyes piercing straight into mine as she hugged Dorian gently.

“Dorian, don't do this,” I pleaded, stumbling towards him. 

“Don't you dare come close to me”, he barked, shoving me back. In the process, his hand struck against my stomach… sending a very sharp and immediate wave of pain through my whole system. 

I fell back at once, my hands tightened around my stomach.

The two of them disappeared into the outer wing leaving me alone at the center of the entire chaos. 

I reached the backstage exit as he slid into his car. My palms slammed against the tinted glass. I pounded desperately, crying his name again and again, yet, no answer.

“DORIAN!” my voice cracked as the car shot forward immediately, the tires screeching against the asphalt. 

I tried to run… but the pains crippled me…. I fell, my knees and palms scraping against the rough tarred road.

“He left me…. He actually did”... I cried to myself.

Everything felt like a bad dream to me. How did things skyrocket into something this bad.

How did i not see this coming. I remember that day clearly. It was not actually my fault but how did Seraphina know about it and even had a video of it?

I should have told Dorian about it. But I was too scared and I didn't think much to it. If I had known that my enemy would use it against me someday and in public like that, I would have come clean myself.

Rain started to fall….. slowly at first…. then very heavily….. like the heavens had swore to let out all the frustrations they held against me in this lifetime. It felt like the whole elements of the earth were bitterly against me in just one night.

I tried to move…. But I couldn't….. the rain continued to lash heavily on me, soaking my dress, stinging my wounds…. Mixing with my tears till one could no longer tell them apart, except from the redness of my eyeballs.

I curled myself in the ground, still holding my stomach tightly…. “Please don't…. Don't leave me,” I whispered into the storm. My strength was already slipping…. draining away with every sob.

And then suddenly, the rain stopped falling on my face. An umbrella hovered above me, shielding me from the storm. Slowly, still shaking and shivering, I turned my head. 

There he was … My breath caught in my throat.

A face I had never expected to see in a thousand years.

"You... You..., Li..."

His name trembled on my lips but before I could speak it….. The strength drained from me entirely. My body went limp on his arms as the darkness swallowed me.