Lyrisa of the Lowcountry is a Piedmont princess. She is a Silver strongarm and the niece of High Prince Bracken.
Biography[]
When she was a child and Norta and Piedmont were allies, Lyrisa met Maven and Cal. She used to live in Tidewater before her father died in 315 NE. She frequented Silver courts and has seen Red slums in the past, but not by choice. She has been betrothed to Prince Orrian Cygnet of the Lakelands since she was born, a man she hates.
In 321 NE, Lyrisa kills a Lakelander escort of six guards when crossing the border to escape Orrian. Her oldest friend Magida dies helping her escape. She manages to get to the docks of the Ohius river where she offers to pay ten times the rate to get aboard captain Ashe's boat. When the captain realizes she is Silver, she lies and says she was travelling north into the Lakelands when her convoy was attacked by rebels. She claims that she was the only survivor but wants everyone to keep believing she died with the rest of her convoy. Ashe reluctantly accepts to transport her, along with a Red family.
During the journey, everyone tries to avoid her and keep their distance. Along the way, their keel is attacked by Orrian who is persecuting her in an attempt to get her back. She jumps into the water, risking her life to save the Red boy travelling with them, Simon, who is pulled underwater by Orrian's nymph ability. With Ashe and his crew's help, they manage to escape. Even though Ashe is aware of the risks, he decides to transfer the four members of the Red family to a fellow captain's boat and continues helping Lyrisa.
When Orrian and his Silver nobles eventually catch up to them and attack the boat again, Lyrisa, Ashe and his crew put in motion the plan they had previously discussed and explode the keel. Lyrisa tosses Ashe of the boat to save him and proceeds to kill Orrian, severing his head from his body. She manages to escape the boat, saved by Orrian's wall of water, that crashes down upon her as a result of his death and keeps her from being burned. She decides to stay low in the water until Ashe and his crew move on from the bank of the river, because she believes it is best if no one knows she is alive. Shortly after though, Lyrisa finds Ashe and Big Ean in the market town and decides to approach them, accepting to arm wrestle Big Ean, to his surprise and Ashe's delight.[1]
Personality[]
Lyrisa is educated and does not second guess herself. She is unyielding and has no taste for war. She has a butter-rich Piedmont accent that makes her voice softened and slowed.
Physical Description[]
Lyrisa has angled, black eyes and black hair. She has cold bronze skin with dark freckles across her cheeks and white, even teeth "too perfect to be natural"[1]. She is tall and her fingers are crooked, broken too many times in training to be fixed properly by Silver skin healers.
Abilities[]
Lyrisa is a strongarm, meaning she has superhuman strength. She uses her ability to pull Simon from the river current and to throw Ashe off the boat, saving both their lives.
Relationships[]
Orrian Cygnet[]
Lyrisa despised Orrian. She though he was a terrible person since their first encounters and always wanted to run from him. She ended up killing him, by severing his head from his body. His last words were to her: "You will be mine".
Ashe[]
Even though Ashe hates Silvers, he finds himself pulled to Lyrisa and wants to help her despite all the risks she brings him and his crew. They share many conversations on the keel and she makes Ashe wonder if the Silvers are really all born cruel as he used to think. Ashe helps her escape and kill Orrian Cygnet. During the attack that led to Orrian's death, Lyrisa tosses Ashe off the boat to save him. When Ashe thinks she did not make it out alive of the explosion in the boat, he hopes that she will forgive him for putting a gun to her head and wishes he could have shown her the Gates. Later, when Lyrisa finds him in the market town, she decides to reveal she is alive, to Ashe's delight.