Lyra POV

"I can't do all of the work," Lyra snaps, snatching the boiling pot off the stove and switching it off.

"Hallie, honey, hands away from the hot stuff," Lyra strains to sound sweet, giving her daughter a small smile.

"Sorry, Mommy," Hallie mumbles, the tiny child wandering back to the kitchen table.

"I'm not asking you to do all of the work," Andreas retorts, manoeuvring around their child to get over to Lyra.

"I came home from a weekend-long Council meeting to the house looking like a junkyard. Which had been set on fire," she reminds him, her eyes flashing irritably as she mixes her homemade vegetable sauce....