Chapter 9

Dorian's POV 

It was already the second week of our tour and so far, sleep had already found its way to being my worst enemy. I spent most of the nights restless, either rolling from one side to the other on the bed or sitting by the wine cellar drowning myself in alcohol as I thought of how fast life could just change in the blink of an eye.

Lyra was an entirely different person now and our collaboration felt more like torture than a tour. It felt like walking on broken bottles on an endless journey.

I was still deep in thoughts and didn't realize when Seraphina had come.

“Dorian?” She called, hitting my left shoulder to get my attention.

“Huh?” I replied, jolting back to reality.

“What have you been thinking about?”

“Nothing important”, I replied tiredly with my voice low.

“Nothing important, but you didn't see me walk in neither did you hear any of the things I said?” she asked, raising her brows.

“Common Dorian, don't tell me you're still sulking over that Lyra girl. The more weakness you show, the more power she feels she has. Be a man, Dorian and…”

“Can you just shut it already?” I snapped holding my temples with my eyes tightly shut. “I said it's nothing, quit the nagging and just let me be for once please”.

She was about to reply when Cassian came in. “You'll be up in 10 minutes, get yourselves together and stop the fuzz”. He ordered nonchalantly and moved to the technical section to fix things up with Theo.

Seraphina rolled her eyes and moved over to one side applying a light retouch to her makeup and just making a few adjustments here and there. 

Just then, Lyra walked in or should I say ‘The Phoenix’, she had her mask on and she walked with so much grace and aura, her presence alone made my throat tighten and my breath hitch.

She walked straight to Cassian, gave him a light hug and shared one or two little talks with him in low voices, laughing out occasionally.

Seeing her smile made my heart skip a few beats. I thought of how I once stole that from her and the guilt of it was eating me up deeply.

Soon, the show host peeped into the backstage and announced that it was our time to come up on stage.

Cassian nodded in agreement and just within a few minutes, we were already on stage with Lyra taking the center stage as usual while I and Sera were by her side and the choreographers behind us.

She began the first verse, and the crowd rose in a wave of cheers, with her voice flowing through the air like light itself, pure and breathtaking, as if a thousand angels were singing through her.

Sera and I joined in for the chorus, the three of us dancing in perfect unison, our voices blending as the crowd cheered. When the bridge came, Sera took the lead, her energy carrying through the stage…. until her mic suddenly went silent.

She tried to keep going, raising her voice to reach the crowd, but the effort pushed her off-key. Just then, the mic came back on, catching the crack in her tone. Most of the audience started booing immediately, others jeered, laughing mockingly.

Without missing a beat, Lyra stepped forward and picked up Sera’s part, and we kept performing, smiling through the noise, pretending nothing had gone wrong.

When we were done, Sera bursted into her room, crying uncontrollably.I followed just behind her, trying to calm her down l. But she wasn't even having any of it.

“That bitch!” She cursed, throwing a lamp stand right at the mirror. “It's her, I know she's the one, I can feel it right in my bones!” She swore, crying and wailing even more, with her eyes bloodshot and her veins popping out by the side of her neck.

“Calm down Sera, you might hurt yourself. Take it easy” I said, trying to hold her down but she wriggled off me immediately.

“Calm down?” She paused, turning towards me and letting out a dry laugh. “You just saw the humiliation that bitch caused me, that idiot turned me into a laughing stock…. those peasants were throwing shades in my face…. and you're asking me to calm down?”

“You can't blame her, you know. The fault came from the mic, you can't tell if she was actually the one behind it or not”. I said, finding it hard to believe my own words.

“What?.... You're still supporting her, even now?” she asked, looking at me with pure disgust and disbelief. 

“Sera, I…”

“Get out!” She said in a low voice cutting my words.

“What?”

“Get the hell out of my room, before I lose it” she thundered this time.

“Okay… okay”. I said raising my hands up with widened eyes. “Get a grip of yourself, you can't think straight like this”. I added, shutting the door behind me.

Later that night, I found myself sitting at the hotel bar.

I just decided to escape the real world… at least for a while. So much was happening around me… so much was crumbling down in less than a week.

 “Rough night?” the bartender asked, pouring another shot without asking.

“Something like that”. I muttered.

The whiskey burned down my throat. But it was still not enough to drown or quiet out Sera's voice.

Obviously Lyra and Cassian were behind all of this. I was sure of it and I knew they weren't going to stop until they had totally ruined our lives.

At this point, I didn't even know what was weighing me down the most. The constant threats from Lyra or the guilt I suddenly started feeling from everything I had ever done to her. I gulped down the whole glass and started drinking directly from the whiskey bottle, the pain was just too much to bear.

The next morning, I woke up with a heavy migraine. I forced myself up, entered the bathroom to freshen up only to come out to meet my manager in the room.

I tried to greet but he dismissed it bluntly. “Where's Sera, we need to talk… urgently”. 

“Let me try reaching out to her”. I said, trying to understand the reason for the hurry.

I finally dressed up, Sera arrived later, we both sat on the bed, both of our attention on the manager who was pacing around the room.

“Someone has been sending anonymous mails and if these get out, it's over for our agency.” He said throwing some documents at us. We looked at each other as we picked up the document to look at what was inside.

Seraphina was the first to let out a gasp when we finally saw the contents.

“How could you guys be so cruel?” The manager asked. “You married her, drugged her, got her pregnant and left her to be with someone else? You guys are so unbelievable.”

Sera and I were too stunned to speak. Whoever sent this left no trace and could not be found. Definitely, it was from Lyra’s team. But that wasn't even the issue…. If this gets out, then it's over for us.

“You guys should find a way to bury all of this and make sure it doesn't leak outside, if not it wouldn't just affect you guys alone but it will definitely spell doom for the entire agency”. The manager said walking out.

I went towards the bedside cabinet to grab my keys. “Where are you going?” Sera asked. “No idea, someone needs to stop Lyra.” I said heading out and shutting the door behind me.