The morning came quickly.

Lyra was up early, and so was Xanth who was already used to waking up early. He was with Lyra in the front yard, teaching her and helping her master her newfound magic art because Ryder had said he was best suited to being her teacher than anyone else. Maybe it was for the fact that he was half Khione and half Axeris; the spawn of the former ruler of Axeris, Lord Dixon d’Croix, Ryder’s father, and his Khione mother who he only knew as Naphtalia, the Khione female sacrificed in the previous year of Osyron.

Or maybe it was because Ryder could not bare to have Lyra out of his sight and with someone not on his list of trusted people. Whatever the case, he had appointed Xanth to be in charge of her training.

She giggled loudly, her pleasant voice rang out across the front yard and anyone could tell that she was having some fun training with Xanth as her teacher. She was summoning balls of white energy at random and dissipating across the garden in the direction she faced, it would shimmer through in a circular wave until it vanished and she would conjure up another one much bigger than the one she had created before.

“You said you learned this just yesterday?” Xanth asked as he watched her create the energy over and over again and loving it. She looked like a pro like she had been doing this simple art all her life because of how easily it came to her and how quickly she grasped it.

She nodded her head and turned to look at Xanth, she wore the happiest expression he had seen on her since she got here. “Just yesterday.” She replied to him with a smile and turned back to continue her fun training.

“Xanth,” Ryder called, approaching them from behind. Both Xanth and Lyra turned around to face him. “You should get ready to leave.”

Lyra looked at him, waiting and expecting that he would say something to her, but he didn’t speak to her. His eyes briefly glanced at her before returning back to Xanth, the events of last night flooded into his memory and he immediately felt awkward standing there with her this close to him. His body stirred and he turned away immediately, walking to his horse.

“Ready to leave? To where?” Xanth asked, following him behind.

He stopped in front of the horse and touched its mane. “To Rocheveron.”

“To Rocheveron? Now?”

Ryder looked him in the eye. “Yes, right now. And…” He looked briefly in Lyra’s direction and then added. “…you can continue your training on the way as we journey.”

“But why would we be going there?” Lyra asked walking up to them from behind Xanth.

Ryder turned his head in her direction and a frown came to his face. “Saddle up, get ready, and do not question me.” he turned away from her and pulled the horse’s reins, pulling it beside him as he walked away from where they were.

Lyra frowned, she was hurt and slightly taken aback by the tone of voice Ryder had used on her, and so was Xanth. He looked at Lyra whose gaze still lingered on Ryder walking away from them and then she narrowed her eyes and snickered, turned around sharply back to where she and Xanth had stood before, and continued practicing.

Xanth watched Ryder for a while as he stood and patted his horse’s mane, he was angry and his anger was directed at Lyra but what would have happened to cause him to be angry at her?

“Tezani.” He called the servant girl who had now become close to her Lady and her personal maid. The girl hurried to come to stand before Xanth, her head bowed slightly. “Go get a horse ready for Lyra.”

She bowed without a word and left immediately.

Just as the servant girl left, Iris came down to join them, walking past Lyra who was conjuring up balls of white light energy, then separating them into two balls, levitating one on each upturned palm. She scoffed when she walked past her but smiled when she set her eyes on Ryder and she walked towards him, totally ignoring that Xanth was there beside Lyra too.

“Ryder,” She called with a smile, hugging him from behind. “You woke up earlier than you should.”

“Hmm…” He hummed a reply and walked around to the other side of the horse, breaking the unnecessary hug. Iris’ brows twitched but she didn’t get angry, she glanced over at Lyra from the corner of her eyes and smirked then walked closer to Ryder.

“You look tired.” She came to stand in front of him, smiled at him, and tilted her head, her fingers went under his chin and she got up to her toes so she could reach his lips to kiss him, but he grabbed her forearm forcefully, stopping her, then he looked at her with all seriousness.

“We leave for Rocheveron today, stop lingering around and go get ready if you want to come with us.” He said and walked his horse away from her closer to where Xanth and Lyra trained. Iris was angry now and she wondered what was up with him.

“What is up with you, Ryder?” She ran up to him and pulled at his arm to stop him from walking further. “What are you acting cold to me after what we had shared last night?”

He frowned deeply and looked at her angrily, but she kept on talking.

“What? What is the reason for your anger? You had come to me like a hungry man in the middle of the night and I satisfied you, over and over again throughout the night and yet you act cold to me now?” she glanced over at Lyra who was paying no heed to them but focused on her practice then turned back to Ryder, his gaze now settled on Lyra. She pushed his arm and grunted, walking away in anger.

Although she had said that to draw a reaction from Ryder, she had also wanted to spite Lyra but Ryder did not even react to it, and worse still, neither did Lyra seem affected by her words.

But Lyra had heard, and she reacted in her heart. She fumed on hearing Iris’ words as she talked to Ryder, he had gone to her last night? After what he had done, or almost done to her in the study, he had gone to her last night?

She tried to steady and clear her mind, why should that bother her? Why should it bother her that he had gone to Iris? If she were not here then she would be of no concern to them and they would be of no concern to her either, but the part that irked her was that he had gone to Iris after he had been with her.

She focused on the ball of energy she had just conjured up floating above her upturned palms, trying to tune out what other voice she was hearing that was not Xanth’s, but that was becoming impossible because the only voice her ears picked up was Iris’. She wanted to know Ryder’s reaction through his words but he did not say anything. His silence spoke the truth; he had indeed gone to her last night.

Anger and jealousy built up in her and the ball of white energy in her hand was growing larger, and getting unstable.

“Lyra, easy.” Xanth was saying, but she had toned out his voice too, all she could hear was her own beating heart and her vision was clouded by the sight of Iris and Ryder tangled up in bed sheets. She frowned deeply and her anger overwhelmed her. She let it out forcefully.

The ball of white energy changed, first, it grew larger and began to turn orange, then yellow and red. It got hotter and she shot her palms forward at once, expelling the energy in the form of a raging flame. The sight startled her as she did not know she could do that. She felt the energy drain out of her, from her shoulders and throughout her arm till it left her and her legs went numb causing her to fall back but she did not drop on the ground like she had expected to.

She was in Xanth’s arms. He had caught her.

“Lyra!” He went down on the grass with her. Ryder ran forward towards her but paused when he saw that Xanth had caught her instead, he just stood a little distance away and watched, the frown on his forehead getting deeper.

She gasped for breath, her body was weak and she felt a burning pain in her palms. She brought her hands up to her face and saw that she had unknowingly burnt her palms. It stung and she groaned in pain. She looked away from her hands to Ryder, standing a little distance away and staring at her, he fixed his eyes on her and frowned deeply, then just as she opened her mouth to say something, he turned away and stormed off.

Xanth watched him walking away without saying a word to Lyra or trying to help her and he too frowned at his half-brother’s lack of care towards a person he was always defending to be his. He looked back at Lyra.

“I will take you to get your hands treated.”

She nodded and allowed him to pick her up in his arms as she had gotten too weak to walk, speak less of standing on her own.

She felt sleepy all of a sudden and closed her eyes.