She was woken up early. 

It was the first time since she had gotten here that she was being woken up and bathed and dressed by the servant girls like she was being prepared for something, an event? Kind of like how she was used to being treated back in Dragonsbane. But then unlike Dragonsbane, she never wore such items of clothing as it was not custom there. She was, most especially not used to it, but then she also knew better than to complain now.

“Tezani, this dress?” She asked the servant girl whom she had come to know and like among all the others.

Tezani turned to her, having in her hand a beautiful, well-fashioned sandal. She smiled at Lyra and pulled her to sit in front of the mirror so she could fit her legs into the sandals. “You have been in Astaroth for days, and this will be the first time since you came here that the family would be having breakfast together, Lord Ryder himself has asked that you be present.”

She mouthed an “oh” and fixed her eyes on her image in the mirror, there was no joy in her eyes and she appeared rather plain, despite the ornaments that adorned her hair and the tempting shade of red which Tezani had applied to her lips. She sighed.

“Ryder picked out the clothes himself too?”

The servant girls giggled and so did Tezani, she looked up from Lyra’s feet and to her face. “Lord Ryder would never bother himself with such, Xanth had picked the clothes himself. Borrowed would be the right word.”

Lyra turned her head, following Tezani as she moved to the other end of the room to get something. “Borrowed?”

“The dress belonged to Lady Iris, my Lady.” Another servant girl replied.

Lyra looked at the dress from the image in the mirror, it was much too exposing and much too light. “And who’s that?”

“You have seen her, just don’t know she’s the one we speak off.”

“And so…”

“No more.” Tezani cut her off. “Breakfast is downstairs, I will take you there myself. Lord Ryder is not a very patient man.”

* * * * * * *

The royal family having breakfast together was not a regular tradition in the Astaroth castle, usually, it was whenever one was hungry, then food would be served, but today, Ryder had wanted to have breakfast with everyone present. Well, Xanth had made Ryder agree to this because, what better way to introduce Lyra to the rest of the family, although they all knew that she had arrived days before, not everyone had seen or met with her.

Ulric Nyx, Iris’ father, sat at one end of the long table, facing Ryder, to his left was Ermine Nyx, his wife, Alastair, his son, and then Iris, seated to the right of Ryder. On the other side of the table were Xanth and Uncle Mavrek, and just these seven people made up the royal family of Astaroth. But then, the only true royals were Ryder, Xanth, and Mavrek, Iris and her family had gotten the title of royalty only through her betrothal to Ryder, and they exercised every right that came with the title, most especially Ermine, who loved to parade herself as Queen-mother, and as long as they did not interfere with matters concerning the kingdom, Ryder couldn’t care less about the way they acted.

The food had been served and everyone had begun to eat, all except for Ryder who was busy with some scrolls. The disturbance at the Eldham border was beginning to bug him because it was a kingdom as small as Rocheveron that had been brave enough to disturb his empire. His face was straight and his brows knitted occasionally as he read the scrolls. He looked up from the papers once and looked around the table, one seat was left empty and he frowned before his head came back down to the scrolls, if she did not show up for breakfast, then he would give the order that she remain hungry until the next time they would all have breakfast together.

The door slid open and a timid Lyra, accompanied by Tezani, walked in. Xanth turned towards the door and smiled widely when he saw her, the dress he had picked was a perfect fit and he hoped that it would work out just the way he had planned for it to go. He looked at Ryder who was still focused on the scrolls like he had not noticed someone had come into the dining room. He narrowed his eyes at Ryder and wanted to just snatch away those scrolls from him.

“Lyra,” Xanth called and everyone at the table looked up and in his direction, then slowly, they moved their attention to the girl that had just walked in. Iris gasped.

“Come sit here,” He continued and stood up, smiling at her. “I have a seat already reserved for you beside me.” He took her hand and led her to the empty seat between himself and Ryder.

“What are you wearing?!” Iris yelled, standing up from the table. She turned her attention to Xanth and with a fiery expression, she asked him. “What is she wearing?!”

Lyra froze, her attention on the angry lady, so this was the Iris, she should have guessed. Iris turned to her and walked out of her seat, around the table, and came to stand in front of Lyra, whose hand was still in Xanth’s.

“Take it off.” Iris ordered, her facial expression relaxed and her hands folded across her chest.

Lyra frowned slightly and looked at the lady without fear, she glanced briefly at Ryder who was still unbothered about the disturbance and then she focused on Iris. “I can’t.”

Her expression changed and she cocked her head at Lyra. “You can’t?” She scoffed. “You can’t or you don’t want to?”

“I cannot take it off and I do not want to. I didn’t pick out the dress myself and it wasn’t like I had a choice or several other options, if I did then I wouldn’t have gone for this. It is not in the least bit my taste.”

Xanth was wide-eyed and he looked on at Lyra in amazement, did she just stand up to Iris? Without fear?

Iris fumed in rage. “You little…! fine, then I’ll rip it off you!” She charged at Lyra, but Xanth pulled her behind him and caught Iris's hand.

“Xanth, let go!”

“Enough!” Ryder finally spoke and the room fell silent. He sighed and without lifting his head from the scrolls, he continued. “Iris, let it be, it’s just one dress, I had told Xanth to find her something presentable to wear for breakfast.”

“Ryder…!” She began to protest.

“I said enough!” He slammed his palm on the table, causing Lyra to jump in fright, holding tighter to Xanth. “Let it be!”

Iris cast one last scornful look at Lyra, boring daggers into her soul with such intense hatred in her eyes before she went back to her seat. Xanth smiled at Lyra and helped her to sit, food was served to her but she had already lost her appetite, and it didn’t make matters any better that Iris was seated directly opposite her and an unbothered Ryder to her right. She maintained a low gaze and picked up her fork, today would not be any different from the rest because it had started off terribly.

“Xanth,” Ryder spoke up. “When you’re done with the meal come find me, I need to talk to you concerning these.” He waved the scrolls in the air and stood up from the table having not touched his meal.

“Ryder!” Lyra called, standing up sharply from her seat, causing the chair to scrape across the floor. Everyone stopped eating and looked at her in bewilderment, even Ryder stopped but he did not turn back.

“I er… I need to talk to you about er… about something.”

Iris threw her fork down on the table, causing Lyra to jump a little in fright. She looked at the timid girl with hatred in her eyes and crossed her arms. “Did you just say you need to talk with him?”

Lyra swallowed but still maintained her attention on Ryder.

He sighed and turned and what he saw caught his next words in his throat, he tried to keep his eyes on her face but he could not stop them from wandering further down her body. The dress she had on was something he had gotten used to seeing on Iris but it never did catch his attention like this. It was a strapless silver dress with just enough exposure to show a great amount of cleavage with the material hugging every part of her from her bust to her waist and free-flowing all the way down. He could spot her slender legs and he did not need the long slit by the side to see them, the material was very thin and transparent after the hip line.

He looked back up to her face, her pleading expression, and then to Xanth before narrowing his eyes at him, he knew he had purposefully picked this dress for her to wear. He sighed and looked back at Lyra.

“Xanth will bring you to the seamstress to have a few dresses prepared for you.” He said coldly and walked away.

Lyra looked confused and pained. “No. That was not what I…” But he had already left the dining room.