Editing The Lioness (Warhammer High) (section)

===Heart break===
For Lyra, the rest of dinner went smoothly. Or so she thought. It made it difficult to remember the details after her third glass of whiskey. The alcohol began to clear her mind of doubts entirely by sealing them away in a box made of starship metal alloy. Soon, she could only smile, nod and laugh at his jokes as she sipped on her fourth glass by the end of dinner. She glanced at her watch briefly and sighed, noting how late it was into the night now.

“We probably should be going. I told my mother I wouldn't be late.”

“That’s too bad” Felix muttered as she stood up. The bill seemingly disappeared as Mr. Porteau smiled at them as they left.

“Good night Lady Lyra, Mr. Severus.”

“That’s Lord Severus, Mr. Porteau.” Felix said as he left. Neither of them noticed the stare he gave as he left, clearly feeling displeased with Lyra’s choice of consorts.

As they walked into a parking lot, another couple walked in beside them. Felix turned his head and watched them stroll by before shaking his head. “Riff raff.”

She looked at the couple walking in and could not tell what he was getting at. “What do you mean?” she asked him.

“They don’t belong in that restaurant. Clearly middle class in their behaviour. You can tell with how they walk.” They approached his car as Lyra kept rethinking on how the couple was moving. She didn’t notice what he was on about, but thought it was the alcohol getting to her making her miss key details.

They arrived back at her house ten minutes afterwards, the alcohol’s effect worsening. It didn’t help that she had a couple drinks before the date had started and had continued into the night. As he parked his car by the front entrance, they sat in silence for several seconds before Lyra began to talk.

“It was an amazing night Felix.”

“I hope so. Maybe we can do it again sometime soon?” he asked her and she nodded, turning to look at him. She hadn’t noticed how close he had gotten when he had parked and was only a few inches away from her. She looked into his brown eyes as he got closer to her face. Without any objection from her, he closed the gap and kissed her. It was short but sweet. He pulled away, looking at her for any signs of recognition for what he did.

“Did I go too far?” he asked her. She could only shake her head in disagreement, incapable of actually speaking at how surprised she was. He leaned in again and kissed her once more, this time more forcefully as he pushed her back against the car’s door. She offered no resistance as he continued, beginning to enjoy it herself. His hands pressed against her waist and massaged her upwards. She enjoyed his hands as they moved over her dress and behind her back, reaching for a zipper.

She would look back at this with disgust, thinking how horrible intoxicated she must have been to give in so easily to his advances. Yet at the moment, she could only enjoy the warm feeling of his embrace against her body.

His hand began to slide across to her shoulders, gently pulling the dress downwards and slipping it off her with every passing moment. Her mind began racing with what was happening, but a part of her wanted it to happen. She wanted to have Felix and nothing was going to stop that now.

Up until the car door opened behind him.

“Hey you! Get your damn hands off her!” With that, he was forcefully pulled away from her in a fell swoop. Lyra had no idea what was going on until a knock on the window by her door shifted her gaze upwards. There was Victoria, smiling.

Lyra was furious immediately. She sat up from her seat, fixing her dress before opening the door and walking out. Or attempting to anyway, as she stumbled out and had to use the car for support as she stared Victoria down. She glanced to the other side of the vehicle and noted Felix on the ground, pinned to the floor under Remilia’s sneakers. Her cousin had no trouble keeping him in place with a single foot. Try as he might, he could not struggle his way to freedom.

“Let go of me!” he yelled at her, but Remilia Dorn did not budge.

She looked at Lyra and nodded. “I got this under control.”

“Damn you both!” Lyra shouted, displeased with her family’s interference. “Your stupid game ruined this perfect evening! Let him go Remilia. Don’t make me come over there.”

“I wouldn’t be worried Remilia, she would probably fall over halfway there.” Lyra turned to Victoria, who was smiling smugly behind her back. Lyra’s fists clenched, and she wanted nothing more then to break her perfect nose, but she knew how well things went last time she got into a fight with one of her cousins.

“How dare you” she hissed, standing up tall to confront her. “How could you do this Victoria? You having fun destroying my life? Is this a hobby of yours I have to worry about now, every time I choose to have a fun night out? You said you would stay out of my business. You lied to me. You are nothing more than a snake.”

Victoria chuckled softly, making Lyra even angrier. “My dear Lyra, you know I wouldn’t do this without good reason. And I did come through on my investigations.”

Lyra pressed her palms unto her eyes, hoping this was just a bad dream, but didn’t wake up. “What are you on about! You’ve come to my home, physically assaulted my date and are telling me it was all according to plan?”

“Naturally. I told you I’d get to the bottom of this.”

“Bottom of what?!” Lyra shouted once more. All Victoria did to respond was wave a folder she was holding in front of her and press it into Lyra’s chest.

“Take a look.” Lyra paused before snatching the folder from her cousin. She opened it furiously and stopped as she looked over its contents. Pictures of the pin, with the date being today. “He doesn’t have the ring Lyra.”

“I know that. Isaac Durn, some praetorian has it. He already told me.”

“Oh, you are right. Isaac does have the pin. Because he stole it from Felix.”

Lyra didn’t understand at first, shaking her head as she tried to figure out what she was saying. “What are you talking about? “

“Felix had the pin a day or two after the accident. He found it probably while checking out the scene of the accident, trying to figure out himself what had really happened. You see, Felix has had a crush on you for quite some time. But since you kept away from him in the fear of embarrassing yourself, he kept thinking you weren’t interested. Stop me if I’m wrong Felix.”

He remained quiet under Remilia’s foot, no longer struggling. Victoria continued without pausing. “He probably found the pin near the blast point and picked it up. Recognizing it to be yours, he began to hatch a plan to bring this to you for your attention. But like all politicians, he took his time to find the best moment to confront you. Too long really, as he lost it soon enough. As you can figure, Isaac and him are not the best of friends. Isaac wanted to pull a prank on poor Felix here by going through his locker. Instead, he found a precious pin and took it for himself.”

She walked around the car and approached Felix on the ground, smiling at him the whole way. “But this actually helped Felix along. Thinking he could get rid of two problems at the same time, he would convict Isaac for having the ring and not bringing it to the proper authorities and have you as his girlfriend in one swift motion. No one would question his word against someone with gang history, and Isaac would be expelled soon after. Maybe even sent to prison for a couple years since they could convict him for endangering the Royal Family's reputation.”

Silence fell unto the parking lot as everyone took in what just happened. Victoria smiled triumphantly as she looked down at him. “Almost perfect. Almost.”

Lyra was silent, thinking over the current bombshell that had been dropped. She began to slowly walk over to Felix who was still pinned by her stronger cousin. She mostly leaned on the car on her approach and had to slow down with every step so she didn’t fall over. Stopping in front of Remilia, she eased her off, letting Felix the chance to get up.

“Lyra, you have to understand. I did this to be with you. I’ve always loved you” he told her.

“I know” she responded. Lyra’s voice was barely a whisper although the slurring still remained. “And truth be told, I am impressed with your way of dealing with the situation. Getting rid of a rival and acquiring a prize is an amazing feat to be sure.” Felix smiled, placing his hands on her shoulders to show he cared.

She pushed his arms away lazily. “But this evening has opened my eyes Felix” she continued. “As the evening went on with you, I began to notice some things. Things that I did not particularly enjoy. Things that really showed me who you are.” She took a step back from him, her eyes shining slightly in low light of Luna. “You’re a horrible person Felix. You don’t understand what a position of power is and I doubt you ever will. A position of power over others does not mean you are better, it only shows that they trust you with that power. Instead, you are selfish and egotistical.” She took another step back, stumbling slightly but catching herself as she did.

Felix made a move to stop her, but was immediately yanked back. Remilia had a tight grip on the back of his collar, making him fall backwards onto the pavement. Lyra shook her head. “Don’t talk to me ever again” she muttered.

With that Lyra turned around and walked towards her house. She said nothing else as she made her way to the door, not even pausing as the servitor opened it from the other side. She slipped in quickly before the door was halfway open and it closed immediately after. The trio suddenly felt cold in the night, which was a couple minutes ago plenty warm.

Victoria turned and smiled at Felix. “I would leave right now, before Remilia here makes you.”

Seconds later with his car started, Felix’s gravcar lifted off from the pavement and left in a hurry, leaving Remilia and Victoria in silence.

“You think Lyra is going to be okay?” asked Remilia a minute later.  Her cousin nodded.

“Yeah, just needs a bit of time. It’s too bad.” Victoria sorrowfully said.

“Yeah, she really liked him.”

“That and my plan went off perfectly. Yet I don’t feel I did anyone a favor. Let’s get going.”