Midnight #2
Guilt, strong and oppressive, coursed through Luci.
After twenty years at Lyra’s side, she should have known better.
Should have known the way her mind would run with the simple jest. Pity was an emotion that Lyra was well acquainted with and despised.
Her body may have failed her in many ways, but she was strong of mind.
“Archie would do anything for you because he loves you, Ly. There isn’t a soul who has met you who wouldn’t do anything for you.
Not because of this,” Luci gently placed her hand over Lyra’s swollen knee before placing it over her heart.
“But because of this. You are everything good and kind in this world. That’s why. ”
Silver lined Lyra’s eyes as she blinked rapidly.
The emotion clogging Luci’s own throat was making her vision blurry.
She wished more than anything that she could show Lyra the way she saw her.
She has shown her strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
There was no one who deserved happiness more.
“Sometimes it’s hard not to wonder what I would be if I hadn’t been born this way. Would I be dancing at court every night? Would I be in love? A family?” Lyra said, tears streaming freely.
The lines of Luci’s jaw ached with the heaviness that she fought against. It was hard to hear Lyra ask the questions that plagued her.
Not because they weren’t valid, but because Luci’s only wish was to see Lyra happy, but there were some things not even fairy godmothers could do.
Even a happy life surrounded by love would struggle to find peace.
“I know.” Luci wrapped her arms around Lyra and snuggled in closer to her. “I’m sorry, Ly.”
There were so many words that fought to escape her.
To tell her she didn’t need those things or that Luci would never leave her, but they would only comfort her and not her friend.
Luci knew Lyra better than she knew herself.
Sometimes Lyra needed to feel the unfairness of it all.
Luci could only be there for it, for her.
It was a helpless sort of feeling that carved away at her insides till her stomach hurt.
That was the thing about love. Love made you want to do the impossible, but there were some things not even a fairytale could fix.
“It’s fine.” Lyra lay after a few moments. “Court is horrendous anyway. Do you remember the last time we went?”
As well as she remembered her own name. Unwelcome memories washed over Luci, and she shivered dramatically.
“I try very hard not to,” Luci murmured gravely.
A small laugh from Lyra. “What was that girl’s name?”
“Lady Annabeth.” Luci wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Another, more genuine laugh. “She said I smelled like rotten strawberries, and you shoved her into the pond.”
Honestly, she should have done far more than that. Lyra hadn’t heard the other insults the noble girl had strewn across the lush summer grass. The things she had called Lyra. The pond hadn’t been nearly enough.
“Ten years isn’t long enough to be away from that dreadful place. All the nobles preening and prancing. Comparing whose estate was the largest or who was closest to the royal family.”
Luci made a gagging sound.
It usually would have earned her a laugh from Lyra, but today the sorrow of life had found her. It was evident in the long sigh that accompanied the rise and fall of her chest.
“Do you ever wish you weren’t forced to stay with me?” The question was quiet, a whisper in the wind.
Luci shot up and stared at her best friend with incredulity coursing through her like a tempest sea.
“How could you ask me that?”
At least Lyra had the decency to drop her eyes, pale cheeks going crimson, as she reached for her long blond braid nervously.
“I just. I know you love me, but don’t you ever wonder what it would be like to meet someone, fall in love? Have children of your own? See the world? Have an adventure?”
“I’m fairly certain the first few of those would negate the last, but neither way. I am happy with my life. Loving you isn’t a burden, Ly. You are my home.” Luci only wished she could make Lyra understand the truth of it.
It was hard to remember life before she came to Blythe, but what she did remember had been hard.
Life had been cold and unforgiving. Even if she didn’t have those memories, she had seen the Meridian court and found it wanting.
She had been tolerated there only as Lyra’s companion, but everyone looked down their noses at the lowborn girl who had been a gift to the sickly aristocrat.
She heard their whispers and witnessed their sneers.
Not one had tried to see Lyra for the beautiful soul she was.
As for love, Luci had never witnessed a love truer than what she felt for Lyra.
She supposed the only romance she’d seen was between Lyra’s father, Sir Trevion, and her stepmother, Lady Margaret Treveon.
That had hardly been a love match and was more like a business transaction.
Sir Treveon had the land and the title; Lady Margaret had the money to feed his ambition.
Fifteen years later, all they had to show for their marriage was polite inquiries and posturing in public when necessary. It certainly didn’t inspire Luci to go out into the world to find a love of her own. All she needed was right beside her.
Having enough of the conversation, Luci cleared her throat and waved the fairytale book in her hand.
“Let’s see if that overgrown cat can earn his redemption.”
Wrinkling her nose, Lyra shook her head. “Don’t call him a cat, it ruins the allure of him.”
Luci raised an eyebrow, “Oh, what about horns, a tail, and an eight-foot frame covered in fur is exactly alluring to begin with?”
Waving a hand as if Luci couldn’t possibly understand, Lyra settled in against her, warm and familiar.
The small smile that sat on Luci’s lips was proof that this was all she would ever need.
“The fire crackled while Beauty tended to the Beast’s wounds…”