[color=82ca9d][b][center]Lyra[/center][/b][/color]

The time passed agonizingly slow for Lyra. She was constantly watchful, her eyes darting around and her hands shaking. The moment she spotted Lady Julia Lyra hurried away as fast as she could to hide. She did NOT want to face that woman. She wondered if Lady Hyland would have her drawn and quartered or simply remove her tongue. She prayed that the woman would let her explain that she had done nothing to encourage such attention from her son. In plain truth such attention terrified her to no end. He couldn't be serious, no matter his claims otherwise. She was simply not worth it. For multiple reasons...

Lyra's head jerked up as the sudden roar of the crowd startled her. Trystan Hyland had ridden onto the field. His eyes locked with hers and she gasped, stumbling backwards. Why did he do such things to her?
Overcome with embarrassment, Lyra's face turned red as she fled the stands. If anyone tried to stop her she would say she was going to refreshments for her lord and his family.
Turning a corner by the stables, she sagged against the wall. She covered her mouth with one hand and tried to breathe through her nose. Calm even breaths.

If he kept up this ridiculousness she would have be forced to tell him the thing that she had not spoken off in years. The incident that she desperately tried to erase from her mind, but continued to haunt her in nightmares that had her waking up crying many nights. Please God do not let him force me to say it aloud, she thought.

Or perhaps she wouldn't have to tell him... perhaps she would tell his mother, to get her to see why she had to keep her son from pursuing Lyra. It would likely get her tossed from her position as a servant of the family, if not the keep itself. Mayhap another family would take her in as a servant?
But if Trystan won the tournament then none of it would matter. He would marry the princess and that would be that.

(@anyone who wants to stumble across her)