She gasped and screamed in pain.

The pain she felt was immense as the blade tore through her abdomen, going in and coming out the other end. Her eyes were wide, she looked down to her abdomen where the blade had gone into her and her hands came down to hold on to the blade, she looked up at Ryder’s face and saw that he had a surprising look on his face. Surprise, shock, and regret. She groaned and leaned forward into him, causing him to snap back and he quickly pulled the blade out of her and then dissolved it into the dark mist it was formed from. He caught her in his arms.

Eris gasped and yelled as she fell into Ryder’s arms, both of them slowly falling to the ground. Anger welled up in him and he reached out for Lyra, pulling her away from Ryder but he snapped, his eyes turning black as he pushed him away with so much force that he sent the man flying halfway across the yard. 

Lyra trembled in his arms, one hand pressed against the wound and the other clutching onto Ryder’s cloth, she was freezing and in pain. Quickly, he picked her up in his arms just as the front door swung open, with Iris and Xanth rushing out of the castle. They both froze when they saw Ryder running towards them with a bleeding Lyra in his arms. She was still conscious and groaning in pain.

“Ryder…” Xanth called as he rushed past him.

“Get a physician here, Iris. Immediately!” He ordered without so much as a glance to her. “Xanth with me!”

Xanth’s legs moved instantly, running after Ryder as he made his way up the stairs. Iris stood a while at the entrance, confusion, and anger dominating her will to listen but she knew better than to disobey Ryder, most especially when the Khione girl was involved. She turned to the front yard and saw a man halfway across groaning in pain and struggling to stand up. She signaled to the nearest guard who came running to her.

“Get a physician here immediately and get someone to find a place to keep that man.”

The guard bowed and scurried away, Iris turned back towards the castle and sighed, now the hold Castle would be awake because of that silly girl, once again she had caused them another night of quietness.

*************

Ryder set Lyra down on his bed gently, ripping off the lower part of the night top she had on so the wound would be exposed. She bled a lot, and she shivered, whimpering in pain and crying, Ryder groaned and pressed the piece of her nightdress which he had torn off against the wound, earning a yelp from her.

“Get a bowl of water and towels.” Xanth ordered the servant girls that had crowded at the door and they all scampered away to get what they had been ordered to.

Ryder put pressure on the injury and Lyra screamed. “It hurts!”

“Of course it would hurt!” He yelled back at her, his eyes still darkened by the black mist, everyone could tell that he was as furious as hell. “What the hell were you thinking?! running in like that!” He unknowingly pressed down on the wound more and Lyra screamed, throwing her head back into the pillows.

“Ryder,” Xanth called, placing a hand on his shoulder. He sighed, groaned, and stood up, pacing the length of the bed and racking his fingers through his long dark hair.

The servant girls returned, each one carrying a bowl of water and towels, Ryder quickly snatched the nearest bowl and sat back down on the bed beside Lyra, throwing the piece of cloth he had placed over her wound away before cleaning the wound with the wet towel. Her body went rigid when the water touched her and she shivered, both from the pain and from being out in the cold for too long.

“She’s bleeding a lot Ryder, I don’t think just cleaning it would do.” Xanth pointed out, grabbing another towel and placing it underneath Lyra where the blade had passed through.

“Then get the bloody physician here!” He yelled at Xanth, his anger getting the best of him. “And where the hell is Iris!”

Xanth looked at Ryder whose attention was on Lyra, despite the look of raw rage that dominated his facial expression, Xanth could see that he also had a worried look on his face. He was pained and he was desperate, it was the first time that Xanth had seen Ryder feel this way for someone, maybe it was because of the fact that Ryder knew the girl was indispensable? Or that he could not afford to lose her. Anyway, it was a good start.

Ryder grabbed her hand and placed it over her wound, then he looked into her pained eyes and said to her. “You’re a Khione, surely you can heal yourself. Do it now.”

Lyra looked at him like he had just spoken a language she did not understand, her brows furrowed in pain as he pressed her palm down on her wound and she shut her eyes, she could not bear this pain.

“Ryder stop it.” Xanth said, changing the towel he had been holding against her back. This side of the bed was now soaked in her blood and the bleeding wasn’t stopping. “You know that she cannot do that, she doesn’t know how to.”

“She has done it before.” He replied rapidly. “She will do it again.”

Xanth grabbed Ryder’s hand. “She is weak, Ryder. She cannot even handle the pain.”

Lyra groaned and Ryder’s expression softened, gradually his eyes cleared and he placed his own hand over her wound. He was not a healer but he could help with the pain, he could transfer it. 

“What are you doing?” Xanth asked, he watched Ryder, underneath his palm over the wound, dark smoky mist formed, growing darker and thicker. Ryder closed his eyes, a tight frown was etched across his eyebrows as he concentrated more on what he was doing.

Xanth’s eyes went to Lyra’s injury, the bleeding underneath had stopped and he pulled the towel away to see that the place has sealed up, it was then that he knew what Ryder was doing, he was transferring her injuries to himself. A servant girl gasped when she noticed that Ryder’s cloth had turned dark behind him, he was bleeding out from the same spot on his body where the injury had been on Lyra.

Iris entered the room with the physician and froze when she saw how close Ryder was to the girl and she fumed, clutching her fists. “Ryder,” She called and Xanth turned back to look at her. He noticed the physician standing there and he tapped Ryder.

“The physician is here, let him take care of her Ryder.” Xanth said, shaking Ryder out of his concentration. The wound had completely sealed behind but was still open in her abdomen, he had only been able to do so little. A frown came to his face when he felt a sting from the wound on his back as he stood up, giving room for the physician to examine Lyra.

He stepped to the side of the bed, looking down at both Lyra and the physician. “Xanth, find that man who tried to steal her away from the castle and have him locked up. I will punish him myself.”

Xanth nodded and immediately left the room, but Lyra grabbed Ryder’s hand, drawing his attention to her. She shook her head at him and looked at him with pleading eyes. “Please Ryder, don’t hurt him. For my sake.”

“Don’t hurt him?! Look at what he caused! Look at what you both caused!”

“Please Ryder. I beg of you, do not hurt him.”

Ryder narrowed his eyes at her. “What is the relationship that you both share?”

“He…” She struggled and shut her eyes tightly in pain as the physician applied a yellow powdered substance on her wound. Ryder frowned at the physician. “He is my uncle.”

He sighed and leaned down closer to her, the frown on his face vanishing a little, then in a more gentle voice than he had used tonight, he said to her. “Focus on healing yourself, Lyra. It is the only way to keep him alive.”

He took a step back and watched as the physician gave her something to drink and her eyes slowly closed in sleep. He took in a deep breath before turning and storming out of the room, Dragonsbane had nearly cost him his Khione and he would be damned not to do anything about it. First, he would find the man who had been brave enough to enter into his castle and try to take her away from him, and then he would decide on how to reply to Dragonsbane.

“Ryder!” Iris called after him, walking up to where he was. Ryder stopped walking and turned to her.

“What.”

“What was that?”

He looked at her confused. “What was what?”

“What was that thing you did back there. Your caring for her and holding her and touching her, all that. What was that?”

“I do not get you Iris.”

“You know what I’m talking about Ryder! You were too close to her and I do not like it, not one bit Ryder. Not one bit.”

“Have you gone crazy Iris, she’s hurt and it was my fault that she got hurt. And besides, she’s Khione.”

“And so what? I am your betrothed.”

“And she is Khione!” He repeated in a much louder and clearer voice, allowing it to sink into her head. “My Khione! And she is hurt!”

Iris paused and blinked, then in a low voice, she asked. “Your Khione? Yours?”

“I have to make her fall in love with me and you are worried about me touching her?!”

“It… she’s…” She didn’t know what else to tell him.

Ryder looked at her angrily. “If that is what you’re worried about then I’ll tell you not to worry.” He said and Iris smiled at him, but he wasn’t done talking just yet. “You’re going to have to endure more than just me touching her.” He completed and walked out on her, leaving a surprised and pissed of Iris standing on her own.