Lyra was the first of the two to wake in the morning. She woke quickly and was ready to start her day not long after opening her eyes. Quickly she scanned her bedroom, making sure Octavia hadn't entered in early that day when she noticed a pile of armour set up on the chest at the end of her bed. So Sasha must have come in late from his Knightly duties and decided to stop by her room.

She looked at the man lying in her bed. A Royal Knight under her father command, in the day he belongs to him, at night he belonged to her. That is how it had been for near on two years now. Somedays, she questioned how somebody hadn't caught their affair yet. Then there were peaceful mornings like this particular morning where she never questioned her actions.

Lyra sat up, placing her head on her knees as she gently ran her fingers over his tawny coloured chest. Circling her fingertips over the few scars he had trickled around his body from training and few scuffles he had been in, there weren't many but enough to add patches and stripes of soft pinks that would catch the eye. Leaning in closer, she could hear his breath and feel the warmth radiating off his body.

Most people could say they were in love with someone, but Lyra was harder to know. She had always heard of love in the storybooks, and with Sasha, it didn't quite add up. The Princess knew she cared for him and in a significant amount but not quite sure if she loved him. As most days, she wondered if love was a fundamental idea or not. Though this Royal Knight had managed to find himself a place with Lyra, it would make her crumble where she stood if he ever left it.

"Sasha," she whispered, rubbing his chest with the palm of her hand. "It is morning. I need you to go before my maid gets here." she continued when she heard him start to grumble awake.

Instead of opening his eyes or responding, the Knight wrapped his arms free arm around her waist. Then he continued to roll, pinning her under him; he stayed like that for a moment before fluttering his eyes while he adjusted to the light of the morning sun that came pouring through the curtain from around the room.

"You are a barbaric creature in the morning; I hope you know," Lyra said, unaffected from the switch in positions that had happened.

"You have never had an issue with my barbaric nature in bed before." Sasha pulled his head back as he leaned into his arm that was both propping him up and stuck under Lyra's back.

She huffed, "When we are between the sheet, your rowdy nature is quite appealing. However, when it is morning, and you need to leave before someone sees you, that is when it becomes unappealing." Lyra said, popping herself up onto her elbows.

"Have the trumpets sounded yet?" Sasha asked, looking over towards the windows that overlooked the courtyard below.

"They have not." Lyra pushed the man off of her so that she could get out of bed. "You can still use the east hallway to leave, and the guards switching shifts won't see you leaving."

Grabbing her robe from the night before, she wrapped it around herself as the air was starting to grow nippy as summer was growing to a close. The Knight also followed suit with getting out of bed. He made his way to the Princess, kissing her forehead.

"You look lovely this morning," his voice often sounded like it had its melody, and that line proved to Lyra that it indeed did. He moved away from her to reclothe himself and dawn on his armour. Lyra perched herself on her vanity chair and watched him, a typical morning routine for her; the two shared a kiss before he headed out the door.

Lyra stared at the door, waiting; she heard the trumpets sound for the morning staff to begin their day. Once the last note played, Octavia promptly walked into Lyra's room carrying a basket in which she quickly started putting all of Lyra's clothes from yesterday in.

"You look bright-eyed this morning." Octavia said she cast a glance towards the bed, "As wrinkled as your sheets are, I would have thought you'd be tired. Did you have a nightmare?"

"Oh no," she hummed, "I slept quite well." She watched Octavia stare at the bed for a few more seconds before moving on with her chores.

"Would you like a bath drawn?" she asked as she hummed around doing her chores.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Yes, please. Is there anything I have to do this morning?"

"Not that I was told, though you will start your meetings with the Dukes this afternoon. They are to go over how they are choosing the men for your choosing."

"Which Duke am I visiting with today?"

"I don't know, Ma'am, you would have to meet with your father about that."

"Can you send one of the footboys to receive that information then?" Lyra quickly retrieved some paper and her writing quill, but she didn't grab the ink. Instead, she started writing without the ink, causing small indents on the parchment to appear that was just enough for her to see.

Octavia stopped and looked over Lyra's shoulder, "I still can't imagine how you do that. Nor why you do that, you have plenty of parchment, and your father would get you more."

"I know, Octavia, but I prefer this because I can plan out my day in privacy, and I can always use the paper for something more important later."

The maid just shook her head as she walked to the severance bell pulling it three times, hall a footboy to come to Lyra's room, then headed herself into Lyra's private bath to start heating and filling her tub. Lyra smiled as she heard the older woman mutter a song in a familiar tone.

Lyra scratched out her notes for the day; she sat back and stretched, feeling her back crackle. She hummed in relief when a soft, almost inaudible knock came from the door. Octavia seemed not to hear it, so Lyra walked herself over to the door, opening it up slightly, being extra careful to keep her body covered, sense her robe did nothing. On the other side was a young boy, possibly of the age of seven, with while wheat coloured hair and slight tanning to his skin, which was common for the peasant children to get in the summer months.

He looked up with big doe eyes, "You summin' me ma'am?" he asked with a very obvious whisp to his speech.

"I did. Wait right there, while I grab the notes" she quickly shut the door before he could answer her. Lyra rushed to where she kept her ink. She scratched down some almost unlegible writing and slipped it out the entrance to the boy. Hurrying him off.

"Lyra, get your royal arse back into this room."

Of course, she whipped her head around to see a slightly upset maid. "I was handing the boy written message to my father. I don't think he was quite old enough to remember the message of hand."

"Okay, but what about being almost as bare as the day you were born?"

"Octavia, I was behind the door the whole time; trust me, he barely even saw my face." Lyra moved to the bathroom door, where she could feel the heat coming out in waves.

"Get in there before the water gets cold." Octavia grabbed Lyra's robe from her, flinging it over her shoulder as the Princess went to her bath.

As Lyra slipped into the bath, she heard Octavia's footsteps come in. It wasn't uncommon for her to do so, so she didn't think much of it.

"You sure you didn't have a nightmare last night?" she asked with a strange tone as if she was wanting to know something else and not about the nightmare that didn't exist.

"I am quite sure."

"Then a heartbreak?"

Lyra sat up from her bath and looked at Octavia, whose face was evident. She knew something, and Lyra had a printed fear of what that something was.

"How-"

"Today isn't the first time I saw that tall glass of water leaving your room in the morning. I just never thought I'd have to say anything about it, but now it seems I do."

Lyra's head spun as her perfect little secret was brought up. She felt her heart start to pound loud enough to hear it in her ears, "Please, do not tell father." Her voice cracked as a wave of emotions crashed into her.

"Oh dear, Lyra, what stupid thing have you gone and done. You look white as a ghost." The old maid ran up to the Princess, quickly running a rag next to the tub into the water and then over her face. "Oh sweetie, I won't be tellin' your father nor your mother. Trust me, not a soul will hear about the man from me."

Lyra heard her words and started to tear up; that morning had felt so calm and normal. Why was it is chaos now?

"Listen to me." Octavia grabbed Lyra's face with both her hands, "I meant to say, I needed to talk to you about it. Once you have gone and calmed down, I say what I was going to."

It took the panic Princess several minutes to stop her sobbing; she was still quite a wreak when the maid started talking.

"Well, now you have calmed a bit. Lyra, you know I have no say in most of your dealings, but you need to think about the fact you bout to be a married woman." She patted the green-eyed girls face lightly, "Will that night lover of yours be willing to stick around as just a fancy showpiece? I don't want you to have a broken heart nor have issues with the men that will be in your life." Octavia's words struck, but Lyra didn't want to hear them. Sasha would have had to know what would have happened, what was to come after all, right?

The thought of losing him scared her, hurt more than she could ever imagine.

"Are you in love with him?" Octavia asked.

Lyra shook her head no, "No, it is nothing like those stupid storybooks, but I do care for him, and I do not know how to say how I feel except I need him, Octavia. I need his laugh, his smile, his mind and conversations."

Octavia laughed, "That sounds an awful lot like love to my dear," Lyra just wrinkled her nose at the old woman. No, it didn't; it sounded nothing like that, nothing at all.

"Just be cautious, my girl," Octavia said, then hugged Lyra tightly. "Let your heart talk, but don't let it lead your path cause it is a stupid thing at the end of the say."

Lyra nodded as she sunk into the creamy coloured water that Octavia filled with gels and scents. As she wondered who else could have found out about Sasha, if he was endangered or if she would be forced to lose him.