Greymoor Academy: I Accidentally Bonded With Four Lycan Royals! novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68: 68. Meeting The Lycan Queen I

Maisie

I awoke the next morning with dread in my stomach.

It didn’t matter how hard I tried to think of a way out of the summons, I simply couldn’t, and by the sun was high in the skies and the hallways were filled with students, I was literally dying from anxiety.

"Maisie, it can’t be that bad," Regina said as we waited our turn to be assigned to one of those luxury coaches. It was class by class, and the seniors went in first. "I’m sure it’ll be a walk in the park. From all we’ve heard, the Queen seems pretty... reasonable."

I didn’t know what it was. All day and night yesterday, I couldn’t get rid of the bad feeling that swelled in my chest.

I liked to think I was discerning of bad situations, but I’d had so many terrible things happen to me in the last couple of months that I could no longer tell if this was a bad situation. Or if this was simply protocol.

I mean, the entire reason why Soren had brought Brynn to prepare me was my presentation to the Queen, and the only thing I had ever been warned about was the danger in being disrespectful to the crown.

I sighed, lips parting to tell Regina that meeting a monarch could never be a walk in the park, when I caught sight of a shock of brown hair.

"I’ll be right back," I told my best friends and hurried over to the line of fourth years outside. "Lyon!"

Lyon’s back stiffened. And then, he kept walking, even if I very well knew he’d heard me.

I walked a little faster and grabbed his wrist before he could stalk off. When he turned, my breath got stuck in my chest.

His left eye was purple with a bruise and he had a stitch on his eyebrow. There was a band aid over the crook of his nose and it looked like it had only been set back in place.

His right arm was in a sling and his wrists had bandages lining them.

"What happened to you?" I asked, and when he gave me a pointed look, my fingers flew to my lips. "Mercer did this to you?"

That was five days ago. If it still looked this bad... oh god.

He made a face. "I’d rather you kept it down. The official story is I got drunk and fell off five stories. And I’d much prefer that version."

"I had no idea. Lyon, I am so sorry—"

He waved me off with his free hand. "Don’t apologize. I was the dick. You were high and I was—"

"Drunk," I finished. "And I initiated it! He had no right to do that to you—"

"Look, Mace. I like you," he cut in, and the world around us blurred into the background, and for a moment, it was his earnest brown eyes and the tension in his face and the emotion thick in his voice. "Too much, if I’m being fucking honest. I always have."

I swallowed.

"But there are a lot of things I know I can’t compete with," he continued. "I admit that for a moment there, I lost my head. I thought that maybe if I could be the one who gathered all the pieces of you together, maybe you would see me. And one day, choose me."

"Lyon, I didn’t know—"

"I would risk it, you know. I still would, if I thought I stood a chance with you. If I thought you weren’t touching and kissing me because you can’t have someone else."

A lump formed in the back of my throat. "I don’t—I can’t—that is not why I kissed you—" I shook my head, knowing that trying to explain would only make things worse. "I’m sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt."

"Hey Park!" a senior called. "You coming?"

Lyon nodded with a half hearted response, before his eyes settled on me again. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "This entanglement is a bit too much for me. And I think it’d be best if I kept my distance."

There was sadness in his eyes. But there was also fear.

In fact, his eyes kept darting to the crowd, like he was expecting some monster to show up out of nowhere.

My voice rose in anger. "What did he say to you?"

His expression became hard and remote. "I don’t think you want to know."

And then, he turned around and walked away from me, with a limp, and it felt for a moment like I had lost something important to me. Again. And I had so much anger I didn’t know what to do with.

Not because of Lyon’s decision, but because of what had been done to him. Because of me.

The anger became tears that filled my eyes because I didn’t know what to do with it, and I headed straight for the bathroom, not needing to have my friends worrying about why I was crying at the center of the general student body.

Just how much more would they take from me—

I had just turned the corner when I heard the sound of Lana’s hushed voice coming from the male’s bathroom.

Holy shit. Lana was pregnant.

The gears in my mind began to shift. Was this why the summons had come? Not because I was being presented in Court? Oh god.

Jericho.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify