Forced Friendship (Lyra)

[Samantha Montgomery]

Now that Christine was back home and safe Sam had been able to take over her normal duties and obligations. She knew in part that Lyra had been creating problems for her to fix, but at the time she needed them and therefore was grateful. She also knew that it was Nik who had given Lyra that idea. They had both been there for her and she was beyond grateful for their help.

She had actually thought the two were getting along there for a while, but recently she noticed tensions rising again. It seemed as though Christine being rescued and Sam returning to normal was enough to cause them to go back to separate corners. Well Sam was sick of it. She wasn't going to continue with this kind of upset in her life.

It had been a simple arrangement to owl both parties and set a plan in motion.

The carriage arrived at Lyra's apartment waiting to take her to the castle.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra was glad for the invitation to the castle, as she needed someone to talk to about the grave she had dug herself. Her love life was a disaster and she was starting to think men weren't worth the trouble they caused her. She longed for the days when she could be with a man without forming a connection, but Rystain had effectively ruined her to that. It all went back to Rystain and Lyra found she hated him even without having seen him in nearly a year. It was good to have a scapegoat.

[Nicolas Everhart]

The carriage door opened quickly and Nik stepped inside before Lyra could make a sound. He shut the door behind him, "Sam, I don't see why you needed me to come-"

Nicolas cut himself off when he saw that the female in front of him was not Samantha.

"What are you doing here?" he said almost accusingly.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra rolled her eyes as loudly as was possible. Another man causing problems for her. This was not what she needed today.

"Me? What are you doing here? I have plans with Sam and frankly you're not welcome."

[Nicolas Everhart]

"No. I have plans with Samantha. Plans I didn't want in the first place. Plans that most certainly did not include you!" he told her his eyes narrowing. He had gotten over his initial dislike and distrust of her after Christine had been taken and Lyra true to her word began creating problems at the office to keep Sam busy. That was until he heard from Julian's staff about the 'tart' that had visited and seemed to make the master even more foul.

He had been given an accurate description of Lyra and knew that it was she who had gone to Julian's.

Perhaps it would not be so unforgivable had Caroline Marlowe extolled Lyra's virtues and character when Nik visited the Marlowe family home while Mason was away on business.

Yes, Nik knew all of Lyra's dirty little secrets and were it not for Sam's state at having her cousin taken and returned, Nik might have already destroyed the witch.

As it was he could not stomach sitting in the carriage with her. He reached for the handle, but the carriage had lifted into the air already and the door would not budge.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra growled as Nicolas was unable to open the carriage door. "Sometimes I could just strangle that girl!" she said of Samantha. She looked hard at Nicolas. "You know she's doing this on purpose, its one of her schemes to get you to stop being such a total ass!"

[Nicolas Everhart]

"Actually I believe it's one of her schemes to make you and I get along, but seeing as how I don't knowingly consort with your kind I don't envision this mission of hers to be successful." he shot back viciously. His anger was mounting and being trapped in the small space with Lyra Newbury of all people was not where he wanted to be.

[Lyra Newbury]

"My kind?" Lyra responded shrilly. "F*ck off, you tosser! Once again you're talking out of your ass, you have absolutely no idea what's going on around you. Sam's plan isn't going to work because I'm not stupid enough to think that you are a suitable friend. You're barely even a tolerable person in general."

[Nicolas Everhart]

"Yes. Your kind. Your cheap, lower class, lying, manipulative, harlot kind." he said punctuating each word with an icy look.

"I know everything that goes on around me, and with the people that I care about." he hinted with a glare, "And I would indeed question your intelligence as to whether or not you thought you were capable of keeping this game up any longer. For Sam's sake I haven't disillusioned her yet, to think that I was beginning to believe that you cared about her, about any of them." he scoffed and sat back in his seat loathing her with every breath.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra's eyes narrowed as each insult spewed from his mouth. She sneered at him with hate in her eyes.

"You know nothing, Nicolas Everheart! You're too full of yourself. Your ego is too large and your obsession with Sam borders on psychotic. You're as bad as Rafe!" Samantha had simply exchanged one deranged stalker for another, but Nicolas had the added bonus of being a complete asshat.

[Nicolas Everhart]

"Keep your protestations for someone who might buy your act, and keep your opinions for someone who might actually care. I can assure you that person is not me on either count, and once we get the hell out of here I can assure you it won't be any of the other people you claim to love either. " he looked down his nose at her, as though she were a bug easily removed.

[Lyra Newbury]

"It doesn't matter what lies you tell them, Nicolas. Sam and Julian love me, they trust me. You're only going to strain your relationship with them, not that I give a damn." She rolled her eyes at him before carrying on.

"You might have scared me before with your threats, and yes those were threats no matter what phrase you want to use to try to make yourself look more noble. But your threats carry no weight if there is nothing to expose. You might sway the minds of some others in society, but you won't sway Samantha and you certainly won't fool Julian. He loves me more than anything and there is nothing you can do to change that." Mason was notably missing from Lyra's realization as Mason most definitely would hate Lyra after all was said and done. She didn't set out to hurt Mason but she also knew that it was inevitable at this point. She didn't need Nicolas' warnings to know she had made a huge mistake in thinking she could ever replace Julian in her heart.

[Nicolas Everhart]

"I don't have to, nor would I stoop to lying about you Lyra. You've done enough damage all on your own. As for Sam and Julian, they do love you. More's the pity that they can't see you for what you truly are."

There was no hate in Nicolas' tone, he didn't hate Lyra, though he disliked her greatly for toying with the people he cared about, but he was accustomed to people trying to take advantage of Samantha. He never would have believed that this small chit of a girl could actually penetrate Sam's defenses, or that of Julian and Mason, but she had, and she had done irreparable harm.

"You never even thought about the consequences of your actions, or what destruction you've caused that Sam will pay for. But of course this isn't your world. You weren't born to it, Sam thought to bring you into it. You have no idea what society is capable of, and believe me it won't be me swaying society, society will crucify you on its own. I only hope that I can distance Sam far enough away that it doesn't come back to her."

The fact that it was Samantha who brought Lyra into society would look poor on Samantha, and it would damage her reputation as well as the relationship between the two men. Society would swallow Lyra whole and spit her out in pieces. She would be snubbed, shunned, and disgraced.

"Did you honestly think you could string along two of society's most desirable men and not incur the wrath of society itself? When it comes out that you've both courted Mason while engaging in sexual relations with his best mate they will hang you out to dry. They'll forgive Julian eventually, you will simply become the blemish on their otherwise spotless reputations. But society will never forgive you. Women will curse you and men will proposition you, and even if you do manage to sucker an offer from Julian, then he too will suffer your shame, but I refuse to let you damage Samantha's reputation any more than you already have."

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra sat, her arms folded across her chest indignantly. Nicolas might not have hated her but hate was the closest emotion to what Lyra was feeling at that moment as she listened to Nicolas' rant. All Lyra did was think of the consequences to her actions. She dwelt on them and drowned in them, but every time she tried to correct her mistakes things would fall apart even further. 

She turned her head away angrily, not wanting to look at him any longer. He continued his speech which she tried to tune out as she glared out the window, but his assumption that she was hurting Samantha rang in her ears. She bit her lower lip as she tried to not show that his words were affecting her.

But she couldn't ignore his knowledge of her infidelity.

Her head whipped around to face him, her eyes wide with shock. How did he know about her and Julian? She felt instantly betrayed by her lover, but it was no less than she deserved. She had betrayed Mason and couldn't even successfully end their relationship.

She stared at him, her mouth agape as she struggled to find any words to fill the silence. There were no insults to throw at him, no lies to rebuke. What he said was the truth, despite the motivation he had placed on the events. "I didn't mean for it to happen," she whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I just needed to know he was alright. You said he wasn't okay and it couldn't be true. I knew it wasn't true because I let him go so he would be happy." Her gaze had become unfocused as she spoke, not noticing any expression (or lack of emotion) from Nicolas.

[Nicolas Everhart]

"Spare me your excuses." he said angrily, "I too almost believed you. I thought that perhaps I had been wrong to accuse you. I was even ready to apologize." it pricked his pride that he had begun to like Lyra himself. That her antics at the magazine were thoughtful and indeed kept Samantha busy. He began to believe that her interests were genuine.

"But my folly isn't nearly as deep as yours. You madame have done irreparable harm to the people I care most about. Mason, the poor sod, introduced you to his mother which means he can have only one intention towards you. You've made him look like a besotted fool. Julian has locked himself up inside his estate, and still has no idea of your relationship with Mason. He still hasn't forgotten Belle or his great love for her, it's because of his love for her that he stays in there and paints. And guilt at betraying her with you. When he finds out what he has unknowingly done to his friend that guilt will increase tenfold and he will never leave his estate. And Samantha. She will be blamed for bringing you into their lives. You who single-handedly destroyed them both."

[Lyra Newbury]

She couldn't help the tears from falling down her cheeks. She had ruined all of their lives and Nicolas laid it all out before her as plain as day. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!" she sobbed. "I didn't plan for Julian and I... surely he told you I tried to stop it. I didn't mean to betray Mason! I tried to end it but his mother was there. I didn't know she'd be there. I didn't know!"

Lyra couldn't understand why Nicolas didn't believe her. Julian wouldn't have lied when he told Nicolas about their affair. He wouldn't have said that she came to seduce him. Julian wouldn't have let him believe that! Mason, too, wouldn't lie about surprising Lyra with meeting his mum. These were both good men, they wouldn't have led Nicolas to believe these twisted versions of the truth.

[Nicolas Everhart]

Nicolas was tired of being in the carriage with her. Her tears bothered him even more if she had just confessed what she had done and let that be the end of it, but her continued protestations of innocence unnerved him.

"Enough already." he said with exasperation, "Driver! Put us down immediately!"

He looked at Lyra again, "There is a way out of this, you could save Mason and Julian's relationship, Sam's reputation, everything if you simply left."

[Lyra Newbury]

Her face was streaked with tear stains and smudged makeup and her eyes were watery as she looked at him. "Leave?"

She could run and hide, like she always did. The only people who would notice were the ones she had hurt anyway. They would be better off without her. Her parents wouldn't care and she could still write to her sister from wherever she ended up. If leaving was the only way out then she had to do it.

She nodded numbly. She would leave. Sam would manage without her, she had Nicolas to take care of her. Mason would understand eventually. He had ran away to America for a year, Lyra leaving might sting but he'd get over it. And Julian...Julian would be free to lock his heart up again and go on about his life without besmirching the memory of his real true love, Belle.

[Nicolas Everhart]

Nicolas didn't feel bad. He opened his mouth to offer her money to run, she had put on a good performance after all. And if she were now willing to bow out gracefully it saved Nik quite a bit of dirty work. He could be magnanimous.

The carriage landed and the door opened, he was quickly stunned by a wand as a masked figure reached for Lyra.

[Lyra Newbury]

In an instant her pain became terror as Nicolas was stunned by a masked assailant. She kicked at the man but he grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her toward the carriage door. Lyra screamed as she was wrestled out of the carriage.