Chapter 24 AS HER FRIEND
LYRA
I nodded, not trusting my voice. Cassius stood, offering me his hand. I took it, letting him lead me deeper into the stacks. The shelves back here were dustier, the books older and more worn, the air cooler and quieter. It felt secluded, intimate.
Cassius ran his finger along a high shelf, pulling out two promising volumes. Dust motes swirled up in a cloud.
I sneezed hard, swatting at the particles dancing in front of my face. “Sorry,” Cassius murmured, stepping closer.
Before I could protest, he cupped my cheek gently with one hand, his thumb brushing away a smudge of dust near my eye. His touch was warm, careful. “There. Got it.”
I froze. We were standing so close. His face hovered inches from mine. My eyes drifted unbidden to his lips. He looked at mine too. The air thickened, charged with something electric and dangerous.
Cassius leaned down slowly, breath warm against my skin. A deep rumble echoed through my mind, cutting through the haze like lightning. 'Little storm'
Tempest’s voice, protective, amused, and very present snapped me back to reality. I jerked backward, nearly stumbling into a shelf. Cassius blinked, looking momentarily embarrassed as he cleared his throat and stepped back.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “The dust… I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” I managed, my voice higher than usual. My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I quickly took one of the books from his hands, offering him a shaky smile. “Thank you. Really. For helping.”
We walked out of the secluded rows side by side, the tension slowly easing into something lighter. I was still smiling up at him, grateful and flustered, when we stepped back into the main aisle.
And nearly walked straight into Kai.
He stood there, green eyes widening slightly as he took us in, me and Cassius emerging from the dusty, hidden section of the library, dust still faintly visible on my violet curls and cheek, Cassius’s gaze lingering on me with unmistakable warmth.
Kai’s expression tightened, something uneasy flickering across his face before he schooled it into polite neutrality.
“Lyra,” he said, voice steady but a touch too casual. “Cassius. What are you two looking for back there?”
Cassius answered smoothly, placing a light hand on my shoulder for a brief second. “Just helping Ly search for books on Tempest. Storm dragons aren’t exactly common reading material.”
The way he said the nickname“Ly”, so familiar and easy, made Kai’s jaw flex. I noticed it. The unease in his green eyes deepened as he watched us standing close together, smiling at each other.
KAI
I shouldn’t have followed her. After theory let out, I’d seen Lyra slip away toward the library and told myself it was nothing. Just curiosity. Just making sure she was settling in. But the moment I stepped through those tall doors and spotted her with him, Cassius Stryker, leaning in close in the dusty back stacks, his hand on her cheek, their faces inches apart.
I felt something sharp twist in my chest.
Annoyance. That was what it was. Pure, irrational annoyance. Lyra had always been my friend. The girl who braided flowers in my hair when we were kids, who snuck honey cakes with me in the market, who stood on that Choosing field at eighteen and claimed a storm dragon like she’d been born for it.
Seeing her laugh softly with Cassius, dust on her violet curls, that shy smile on her face… it unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.
Especially after our conversation in Zephyr’s roost.
She had asked me about the rules.
'Have you never thought about it?' My heart had stuttered for one stupid, hopeful second, believing, just for a moment, that she was talking about us.
About the tension that had been building since the Choosing, about the way her violet hair looked against the black uniform, about how her laugh still made something warm unfurl in my chest after all these years.
Then reality had crashed back in when she pulled away and went straight to Zephyr. And now, watching her with Cassius, smiling up at him like that, letting him touch her face. I wondered if her question had never been about me at all.
Maybe it had been about him.
The thought sat like lead in my stomach. “Kai?” Lyra’s voice pulled me back. She was looking at me now, concern flickering in those storm-gray eyes. “You okay?”
I forced a smile, shoving the weird feelings down deep. “Yeah. Just… surprised to see you two researching together. Find anything useful on Tempest?”
Cassius answered for her, easy and confident. “A few leads. We’ll keep looking.”
Lyra nodded, but her gaze lingered on me a second longer, curious and a little worried. I hated how much I noticed every small detail about her, the way her violet curls caught the light, the faint flush still on her cheeks from whatever had happened in those back stacks.
I cared about her. More than I should. More than the rules allowed.
And watching her walk away with Cassius, shoulders brushing, heads tilted close as they talked about old texts, made me realize just how dangerous that caring could become. That smile, soft and shy was only reserved for me, her best friend. That nickname, I had never called her that, but hearing it on Cassius's lips left a butter taste on my tongue.
Was she truly thinking about him like that?
I turned, watching them walk towards a table. He pulls out the chair for her and she sits down, waiting for him to settle on the seat beside her before they began reading through the books together. Like old friends, like we should be doing. Maybe I should make more time for her. Yes, if I did then she would not be drifting so close to Cassius. She was a new rider, she needed all the help she could get from me especially since father was supposed to be keeping an eye on her.
As her friend, I needed to keep an eye on her.