Their Thirst For Pride

Lyra Vered - Five Years Ago

I sat outside on a bench, not very far from the castle. It was the last night of the tenth annual games. A winner had been announced and challengers were sent home. No one could settle down before the final celebration occurred. Of course, no one was required to attend, no one was required to attend anything related to the games but who could resist? My mother was the founder of these games and she was a master at party-making. The lights, the decorations, the activities during the last night of the games were something I grew apart of. I too was pulled to the beauty and fun of it. Was there anything wrong with that? No, why would there be? The only thing wrong was my own doing. And that thing was standing not far from me. Felix Cooper.
I tried to distract myself, watching children play, the flames in lanterns dance, but my eye inevibtily caught his and he stopped in his tracks. He smirked at me before parting from his little sister who he’d been dancing with and began to walk toward me.
He eventually found his way and held his hand out to me. “May I have this dance with you, princess?”
My face grew warm as a glanced back at my parents, worried they would see  us. “Not now. There’s too many people around.”
“Ah, lighten up, Lyra!” He said, taking my hand and pulling me from my seat.
I let out a laugh and was pulled into his arms. We stared up at the moonlight for a few seconds but it felt like hours, being that close to him. He dragged me away into a hiding place. In an alley, we danced together. We laughed together, had fun together. I wanted to live that moment forever.
All of that changed when we heard a lound bang. Everyone went silent. I could hear my heart pounding as I pulled away from him and ran out to the center. My father laid dead on the ground as my mother cried. He’d been assassinated.

I stood in a dark room, watching the rain drip from down the window panes as thunder sounded faintly outside. I was still in my black funeral dress. I tried to block it all out, focusing one drop after another, thinking about other things. Following a soft knock, the door behind me creaked open. I didn’t bother to look. I’d had the same conversation with my mother for a week at that point, what was the point in acknowledging her? As expected, she placed her hand on my shoulder and gently turned me around.
“Lyra, I know you don’t want to talk about this but we are going to find someone for you to marry. This week, actually. One of the suitors is going to be chosen and the wedding will begin to be prepared.”
I didn’t say anything. None of those men interested me and I didn’t want to be engaged especially right after my father’s passing.
“Running this kingdom on your own isn’t going to be easy. To add onto that, you’re still so young. You’ll need a king.”
“Mother, stop acting like you’re going to go directly after him! He just died and you’re already talking about sending me off to some man. What if I don’t want to marry someone you pick?”
This time, she was the one to say nothing. She only stared at me, a clear wave of surprise washing over her face.
“Goodnight, mother.”
She left. I knew it was wrong of me to lash out on her like that but all of it really was unfair. I couldn’t just be content with marrying someone I barely knew solely because he was wealthy. What more did this royal family need?

The next day arrived and I chose to spend it doing little to nothing. I had no responsibilities that day as I was mourning and I was glad of it. For most of it, I lounged around in my bedroom, read books, took a walk at some point.
Eventually, the time became six pm. Dinner time. I was standing alone in my room, doing nothing but staring at myself in the mirror, my eyes nearly emotionless despite all of the emotions I was and had been feeling.
“Let’s go, Lyra.”
I followed Autumn to the dining room. It wasn’t her duty to escort me anywhere but she felt she had to that day. I wouldn’t have gone if it weren’t for her. And mayber that would have been a good thing.
As my mother and I ate, there was a silence unlike any one I'd heard before. We were on bad terms considering everything that was going on. I watched as she finished her drink and reached for the bottle of wine to pour more and stopped her.
“You know, I have something that would make that taste better.”
She looked at me, curiosity and surprise in her blue eyes. “Really?” She said, a smile tugging at her lips.
“You could say it’s a special recipe. I’ll go prepare it now if you’d like me to.”
So she lended me the bottle which I took to the kitchen along with both of our glasses. In the kitchen, I placed the contents onto a counter and poured some wine into both, reaching into the puffy sleeve of my dress when I finished. I pulled a small potion I’d found lying on the ground during my walk. It contained a black liquid. The thing is, the label was missing. I didn’t know what it would do. I assumed something bad. I paused for a moment, contemplating what I was about to do. I went back and forth between a yes and a no until I just poured the liquid into my mother’s glass, squeezing my eyes shut tight. I then went to the window and threw that bottle as far as I possibly could across the garden. It landed by a flowerbad, shattering to pieces and each plant growing there shriveled up and died. My eyes widened. I ran to the sink to wash my hands and prepared to return to the dining room. Before I pick anything up, Autumn walked in.
“Lyra, what are you doing in here?”
I stuttered something before blurting out, “Oh, nothing. Just making a special recipe for my mother and I.”
“Ooh, fun! What is it?” She asked.
My eyes darted around, “I can’t tell you. It’s a secret, my father taught me.”
She nodded, “Makes sense. May I help you bring it to her?”
“No thank you. I can do it myself.”
She left and I grabbed everything, returning to my seat. When I gave her the drink, it dawned on me, what I was about to do. She took the drink in her hand, thanking me, and all I could do was sit there, hoping that I’d somehow mixed up the glasses despite the slightly darker shade the one she held in her hand was.
And then, it happened. I killed her.