Chapter 6 Poisoned Honey

Chapter 6

Lyra’s POV

Poisoned Honey

“Your eyes seem to linger too much than necessary, Cael,” I whispered sweetly, though I was burning with rage within me.

He remained the way he was, not even turning to look at me. His icy blue eyes were focused on another direction, and not on me as it used to be. It was on her...the silver haired manipulative new girl. The one bearing the name, Lira.

I forced a small laugh, briefly brushing my fingers against his, as though it was my right to make eye contact with him. "If you stick to this new habit of staring at her in this manner, it would create an avenue for the Academy to think she's more than just...a recruit that she is."

"Do not tell me where to have my eyes on," Cael said flatly unlike him, and shaking my hand off him like I irritate him.

I smiled at him, but I was dying inside. I took his new attitude in good fate, not ready to create a scene. Ever since my arrival at the Academy, I have commanded respect even without trying. No one had dared dismiss me in such manner before, not even him. I was Lyra Ainsworth, the beautiful daughter of a respected High Council. No one treated me badly without incuring the wrath of my father. Not even Cael. But the very moment Lira arrived, everything changed. I was supposed to train by his side and learn how to be his queen, his only queen. But she stands on the way now.

And while I planned our future together in my head, Cael was busy staring hard at her like I don't exist.

Later that day, I crossed paths with two of my loyal shadows. They were waiting patiently for me outside the dueling yard; Amara and Tessa. Ever since my arrival at the academy, they've trailed me like perfume, always useful in carrying and spreading provoking whispers and venoms.

“You saw everything too,” I hissed the moment I met them alone at our meeting point. "He stared affectionately at her "

Amara frowned as I said that. “The omega?”

I nearly hit her, it was so annoying to call her such. "Don't call her that again. She's definitely no omega. Ever since my days in this Academy, I haven't witnessed any omega who is able and efficient in blocking Cael's strike without shaking. No omega carries herself with such grace, with the charisma of a queen and pretending to bow in the process. No omega has the ability to keep her wolf hidden in such a deep place that no one could scent it."

Tessa, the more dumb one was still not getting it. "Then, what exactly is she then?"

I smirked as I already know what to do, since I can't uncover her identity yet. “A horrible mistake waiting to be erased completely from existence.”

The next day, during strategy class, I had something staged to my advantage.

I leaned forward from my seat, toward Amara as I couldn't trust Tessa to carry out the task efficiently. She also leaned closer so she could hear me. "Ensure to carefully slip this scroll under her desk, but it should be when the instructor isn't looking."

“What’s in it?” she whispered to my hearing.

“Answers to the questions to be asked,” I purred. “But the only pity is that it's the wrong ones.”

I had a very simple plan; when Lira is called upon to deliver, she would proudly come out with her note, only to get herself exposed as fraud, and everyone will see her as a cheater. And when Cael sees this maniplative side of her, he would have no choice other than to crush her as he should have done right from the beginning.

Minutes later, the instructor in charge called for group presentations. The map was different now, glowing faintly with my own marks as it was on Lira's desk.

“Lira,” the instructor suddenly called. "You will take the lead of the demonstration. Give a detailed explanation of the Council revived siege strategy."

That was the moment I have been waiting for, so I leaned back to enjoy the show with a smile. I was overjoyed as her mask would be falling off soon.

Smelling of arrogance, she slowly rose to her feet, her story gray eyes as calm as ever. Just looking at her lips showed how soft it was, and in readiness to present. She picked up the map, unrolled it not knowing what was before her, that the plan had changed.

“You can proceed now,” the instructor ordered.

She lifted her gaze, her eyes scanning the room, smiled before finally starting.

Damn her. She still had to smile even in that tight corner.

"The Council siege tactics has been known to rely solely on predictable choke points," she started, her voice surprisingly smooth like that of silk. "But I would put it to you that predictability only shows weakness. The key isn't to always have to use force to get the enemy where you want them, it is rather to adapt a method that would convince them to get there on their own without stress, or imputing any effort."

My heart dropped on listening to her. Those weren't the notes I had slipped into her desk earlier. How did she end up discarding them completely and still improvised?

She tapped the map confidently, her tiny fingers meticulously tracing routes I'm aware I never wrote. She was obviously creating new strategies right at the spot, a rare brilliance no one had matched with for years.

"The flaw I sighted in the Council's design is nothing but.." she continued like it was already part of her. "... their arrogance. They already have the assumption that enemies won't bother studying them. But if an arm goes as far as predicting their choke points, that would give them the opportunity to redirect, even feign weakness, and finally get the chance to collapse the Council's line right from within."

As she spoke, the room was full of murmuring, some gasped at her level of intelligence.

The most annoying part was watching the instructor's jaw drop in awe, though he feigned annoyance at first. "That isn't the notes you were supposed to deliver."

"No," she agreed without any argument. "but I thought to myself, if Vanguard Academy is to raise notable leaders for the future, should it not be a welcome development to think far beyond the traditional tactics recycled by the Council every year?"

All eyes turned to the instructor, and on Carl's face, there lay the dangerous unusual brightness in his eyes. He wasn't angry that she changed the presentation. He was rather interested to know more about her new tactics. He was interested in her.

I clenched my fists in fury through out our the class, everything she did irritated me till dismissal. Amara and Tessa buzzed around me like bees, but I paid no attention to them, all my focus was on Lira.

“Clever act, right,” I hissed, blocking her path so she can't pass without making a scene. “Very clever act from an ordinary omega.”

She raised a brow, then smirked annoyingly. "You should be thanking me for keeping the class agile with my new information."

I moved a step closer, my blood boiling within me. "Don't think yourself so lucky for outsmarting me just this once. You should know that girls like you are always eaten alive in this place."

With her gaze fixed on mine, she continued. "Maybe that information isn't for me, but for the one who's worried." She replied triumphantly.

My wolf stirred up within me, but before I could act, Cael showed up from behind us.

"That's enough both of you." He ordered coldly, but his eyes on her, his new addiction.

"Of course, Alpha heir. I was only here to congratulate her on the Oscar presentation."

That night, as I got to my dorm, I was still vibrating out of rage.

"He has been looking at her like she mattered lately," I spat, pacing restlessly in front of my mirror, my reflection a shadow of myself. "Why is he lenient with her? Never treated her like another recruit that she is?"

Amara saw how worked up that I was, and tried to soothe me. "She just got lucky today. Next time..."

"There will be no next time!" I snapped, making her flinch in shock at my tone. "Cael is mine alone. The crown belongs to me. If she dares stand on the way, I won't hesitate to crush her beneath my heel."

Tessa on the other hand was calm, but suddenly, she asked. "Why do you think she never manifests her wolf, but hid it so well?"

I froze, completely taken aback by the question.

Her wolf had remained hidden since her arrival. Every wolf always break and reveal itself when subjected under duress, but hers remained cloaked in dark shadows, even Cael could not piece through.

What kind of creature is she hiding, and why?

“Then, it dawned on me. She isn’t an omega as she claimed,” I whispered to no one in particular. “She’s something else, but I'm going to uncover her!"