Omega: Reborn Without Becoming Innocent

CHAPTER EIGHT

"What did you just say?" Lyzara suddenly charged.

"You heard me. Don't act like you didn't," Merida said, approaching with a slow, swaying gait. She was still smiling while Lyzara felt like a lead weight had suddenly passed through her chest. Lyzara stepped forward toward Merida, her shadow looming over her.

"You must have forgotten that I am your queen for you to splay your wings like that and speak to me that way."

"You have six months left in your contract with the king. I want to see your face again when your contract ends. Come speak to me then, my queen," Merida said, her smile widening. Lyzara felt like melting ice, struggling to curb the humiliation Merida had just meted out to her. She could not possibly let her have the last word.

"You must be all fired up because you think..."

"I don't think, my queen. We adults don't think; we know," Merida interrupted effortlessly.

"Of course you don't. Lucien loves me, and there is no way he would settle for someone like you."

"Well, sometimes the pack doesn't give someone a choice. I mean, our Lycan King Lucien doesn't have much choice but to obey the council, who wants you out as their queen after the commotion you caused yesterday. Barging in almost half clad looking for someone that was banished out of the palace six years ago because of you... don't you think the universe is working in my favor?"

"I wonder what is feeding your audacity, Merida! Have her kneel before me, now!!!" Lyzara yelled at the top of her voice. Her servants rushed forward. Merida’s maids rushed to guard her, but it was useless. "I am the queen! All order belongs to me before any other act of obedience! Have her kneel at my feet!!" she yelled, and even the guards joined in, forcing Merida down to her feet.

They held her down while she struggled. Lyzara, despite her burning anger, watched her with cold satisfaction.

"Even if I am going to be a queen for the next six months, I will remember today. The day I had you at my feet and you could do nothing about it because I am the authority. I could have them lock you up in the dungeon if you utter one more word that is against me," she continued, while Merida smirked.

"Am I that much of a threat to you? Are you that scared of me, or my future rule, or about Lycan King Lucien? You will never change the fact that I am his fated mate."

"You are nothing but a stupid, delusional pest!" Lyzara yelled, grabbing her by the jaw. "Make sure you don't die early. I may kill you if your tongue runs too hard against your queen. Even Lucien won't save you."

"Take her out of my sight! She is not to stay in this room anymore. She has grown more audacious because my king was generous enough to make her live in luxury. Now she thinks she can dine with the queen? Take her to one of the servant chambers. That is her place as long as I am queen!"

"My queen!!" Merida screamed, but she was being dragged away. "You think this makes you have more power? You think this will make the six month contract go away?" She kept talking until she faded into the distance.

Lyzara tried to contain the anger running through her before she lifted her dress and began to move again. "What happened yesterday after I showed up in front of the council?" she asked her servants, who were scurrying after her as she headed back to her room.

"They argued about... about your misconduct and how the Lycan King always indulged you, though it was in hush tones... they seem to be leaning towards Merida," one of the servants reported. All that she said hit a nerve. Lyzara stopped abruptly, and everyone behind her began to bunch into each other.

She closed her eyes for a moment, almost shaking, but she dared not show it. "You were saying earlier that I had a dinner with the council women of the pack?" she reminded them, whipping back to look at her servants.

"Yes, my queen."

"Have that arranged. I am hosting."

"Yes... yes, my queen," they said, trailing behind as she walked away into her room. They rushed around to prepare her bath while some prepared what she would wear. She bathed as if her life depended on it; she wanted to scrub out the words Merida jabbed at her earlier. Her audacity... there is no way letting her stay at the servant chambers can serve as the only punishment for what she did to her. She came down from the tub and the servants dressed her up.

She sat down and her face was dolled up. "I must really stand out," she told them as she admired her reflection in the mirror.

Then she heard her name. "Lyzara..." Like an echo, she looked around. "Did you just call your queen by her name?" she asked, and everyone paused their activity, lost about what she said.

She relaxed back, seeing the confusion she stirred by her question. "Lyzara..." The name echoed again and she panicked, especially when she looked into her reflection in the mirror.

Navine was staring right back into her face from the depths of the polished glass. "Long time, Lyzara. Did you miss me?"

She gasped, the sound catching in her throat as she almost shook out of her skin. Her breath seemed to be seizing, her lungs refusing to take in the scent of the lavender oils in the room. The world around her blurred, leaving only that haunting, violet eyed reflection pinned to her gaze.

"Navine..." She mumbled, her voice a ghost of its usual tone.

He smiled into her eyes, a slow and cruel curl of his lips that was designed to drive her fear home. It was the smile of a predator who had finally returned to his favorite hunting ground.

"You were looking for me, weren't you?" he whispered from the mirror, his image rippling like water. "You couldn't bear seeing that I am not home anymore. You miss me?"

"Navine!!"

She sprung to her feet so violently that her vanity chair scraped harshly against the stone floor. "I knew for sure that you are back! I knew it! I didn't believe it when they said that you are not in this pack, but I know you are! You sneaky omega!"

She was screaming at the glass, her fingers trembling as she pointed at her own reflection.

"My queen..." the servants collectively said, breaking her out of her reverie.

Lyzara blinked, the violet eyes in the mirror vanishing as quickly as they had appeared, replaced by her own panicked, blue ones. She looked around to catch herself, standing in the middle of the room with her chest heaving. She was frustrated, worn out, and panting heavily while her maids huddled together, their eyes wide with the realization that their queen was shouting at thin air.

And then, a cold, slow whisper drifted directly into her ear, so close she could feel the phantom chill of his breath.

"You are right. I am in the pack, and I dare you to find me."