With this, Theron had successfully caught a corner of the deceased Patriarch's plan. In all likelihood, he had done this to confirm that Lyra was, indeed, the person he was after and could be used properly as a pawn.

But it also revealed something to Theron.

He was imagining a scene of a man, likely Lyra's father, who had quite the derivative habit of visiting brothels and philandering with women. And then he imagined a wife—maybe multiple wives, even—all of whom had a vested interest in making sure this powerful man they had latched onto didn't have more children to dilute their power further.

With that, Theron was fairly certain he had 90% of the truth.

However, there was definitely something deeper here.

If Lyra was just some child of a random prostitute, the Patriarch wouldn't be stupid enough to think she could be used as a pawn. Also, if Theron's calculations were correct, Lyra's talent was too high for her mother to be a nobody.

If her mother was really a prostitute, it was certainly a prostitute of an exceptionally high-class organization. Maybe she was even sold off under pressure like Lyra was about to be now.

Lyra was at least a Celestial Resonance talent. Even if her father was a Primal talent, her mother couldn't be worse than Arcane for a Celestial to be born.

And if she was an Arcane, the odds that Lyra would also be born an Arcane were so high that it was almost worth dismissing. In all likelihood, both of Lyra's parents were at least Celestial Resonance talents.

So why the brothels? Why would her father's wife or wives be monitoring inns and small towns of all things?

And more importantly than all of that, what did Patriarch Nightingale want from Lyra's family so badly?

As for the latter of these questions, Lyra's Dark Mancy was probably at least half the answer. Patriarch Nightingale was a Dark Mancer and so was Lyra… meaning, so was Lyra's family.

Theron's eyes flashed.

Was Lyra's family related to the Nightingale Ancestry? Former allies? Betrayers of the lineage? Something else?

As the picture formed, Theron affirmed his decision. Lyra was an interesting chess piece in all of this, important enough for him to make use of.

But he was still right about one thing. If he took things too far, it could backfire.

Despite knowing her background and how poorly part of her family treated her, Patriarch Nightingale had never tried to directly pressure Lyra from what Theron could see. In fact, he didn't even take her as a personal disciple either, giving her to another elder.

As important of a chess piece as Lyra was, she was also radioactive.

If her father was as powerful as Theron's deductions led him to believe, if he ever found out his daughter was being treated this way, or worse yet used as a plaything to rein Theron's impulsive nature in, what would happen?

Well, Theron was no father, and he certainly never intended to have a family, but the end result would be obvious to someone not nearly as intelligent as himself.

In the end, Theron shook his head and patted Lyra's own. She looked up with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

"You know, it's quite silly to take an aphrodisiac like this, even if it's a mild one. I also feel like you took too much."

Lyra blushed down to her collarbone, but Theron had already pulled on her chin with a scoop of his finger. She practically launched up to her feet as though a puppet pulled by a string atop her head.

And then Theron's hand reached down.

"I'll help you get rid of it."

Lyra had no idea what this meant, but even after Theron's fingers slid across her and slipped into her moistness, she almost entirely disassociated from what was happening, her body leaving to another world.

Embarrassment could wait a few minutes… or a few hours, at least. Right?

**

Lyra started awake to find Theron dressing himself in his robes. She blinked in shock and then remembered some things. She scrambled to the bed, but when she didn't see any signs of blood, she finally pieced together some memories of the previous day… or, rather, days.

She had passed out and then slept for what was easily three days straight, and it seemed like in those days, Theron hadn't touched her.

Well… his fingers certainly had.

Lyra found herself blushing again and then scrambled for her robes when Theron turned back.

"Feeling shy now? I've been admiring the view for a few days already."

"Shut up! Shut up! Stop talking, lalalala, I can't hear you!" Lyra belted.

Theron chuckled. "You're the one who came here after taking three doses of aphrodisiac. What were you thinking? If I hadn't been such a good man, I would have taken everything."

"You! Don't you know what you've done? Matriarch Macie will—!"

"Don't worry about that old hag, I'll deal with her soon enough. But first, we have the gathering to deal with. We are leaving today, you know?"

Lyra's eyes opened wide and she leapt out of bed, still clinging onto her silky robes. Unfortunately, with the way she was clinging to them they only covered her front and none of her back at all. The alluring silhouette of her ass jiggling with her hurried movements was taken in by Theron more than just once.

"STOP LOOKING!"

"No can do."

"AH!"

Lyra screeched and Theron simply laughed.

**

Blackmaul stood with a hue of darkness over his eyes. He was usually the first of the disciples to board anywhere, but today, he was actually the third.

First went Theron. Second went his little lover, Lyra.

If Kaelen's eyes could have spit fire and killed, they certainly would have. But… both of them were well aware that they were no match for Theron.

And with the sudden disappearance of the Fourth Elder… suddenly even Elders were looking toward that laughing, smiling expression on Theron's face as he swept Lyra away, trepidation in their eyes.

They could only hope that this Theron, whom even they feared, would bring them a great result at the gathering.

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