Page 115 of In Violent Waves

Maelys and Daisy were right where she had left them when she pulled the door open.

“Well?” Daisy asked, twisting her fingers.

“She gave me a book,” Lyra waved the book, “and wants to set up a tour of the Wilds so that I will be more comfortable here.”

Maelys reeled back in shock. “When?”

Lyra shrugged. “I don’t know when. She just said she’d make all the arrangements.”

Their footsteps seemed loud in the empty hallway.

“Hopefully not during Ostara,” Daisy added. “It’s your first one!”

Lyra was partial to agree. She didn’t want to miss her first holiday. It was exciting to have something to look forward to.

Wilder crossed through the hallway in front of them but didn’t acknowledge them at all. Actually—maybe being away from him would be better. It was uncomfortable being close to him. She had felt things, things she would never admit to feeling. There was something about him that always felt familiar, like she knew him, the real him. And he understood her, pushed her in a way no one had.

It didn’t help that she couldn’t deny his physical attributes; he was handsome, exceedingly so. Lyra found herself thinking about him more often than not. Sometimes she wondered if he thought about her.

Wilder sat in the smaller, uncomfortable chair in his father’s private office. The entire way here, he had pondered the meaning. A summons at this time of day was alarming. Was it because of how he had treated Lyra during training?

Regrettably, it wasn’t kind, but it had worked. He was relieved it had worked and was proud of her. She didn’t seem perturbed by his anger; if anything, she understood him. Even with the stress of this meeting, he couldn’t get her out of his head.

But now sitting in front of his father, he was relieved their meeting was overseen by his mother, who had just met with Lyra. Her lingering scent greeted him when he walked into their chambers, and his heart thumped erratically in his chest.

She was everywhere, all the time. In the hallways, the library, the gardens, he couldn’t escape.

“Your mother has decided that she doesn’t like our current state of affairs,” Oberon muttered. He sat hunched over like a scolded child. While Aine stood beside him, with an arm draped over the back of his chair.

“We have only one son,” she snapped. “And I will not allow you to drive him away because you can’t regulate your own emotions.”

Wilder’s brow arched. He had never heard her speak to his father that way. Not even after their incident.

“Yes, yes,” Oberon waved her off. “With that being said, you are to escort Lyra on a tour of our kingdom.”

Wilder flicked his eyes from his father to his mother. He couldn’t decide who was doing this, but it reeked of his meddling mother.

“Is that an order?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

“It is,” Aine replied. “I watched her today—most carefully. She needs more motivation, like what you gave her. A bond between the two of you could encourage her to comply.”

“So you want to use me as what? A bargaining chip? Make the pitiful princess fall for the prince to get her to do your bidding? Good gods, Mother!”

It wasn’t like his mother to be calculating, especially since she hadn’t been on board with this plan from the beginning. Which meant this was his father’s doing.

He turned his head with a predator’s slowness to the male who had sired him. Wilder still couldn’t understand how hisfather could look at himself in the mirror. How all the greed and vanity weren’t as blatantly obvious to Oberon as they were to him.

“Yes and no,” Aine replied. “I think being around people who are strong-willed and kind will help her grow. She doesn’t know any different from the monsters she was raised by, which could be what is inhibiting her from wanting to help. And I want her to finish your father’s bargain so we can be done with this.”

And there it was. Oberon still hadn’t told Aine how he learned of Lyra’s power or the deal between the humans and the merfolk, and it was bothering his mother as much as it had him.

“I have already said that I will not partake in this bargain without knowing the terms.”

King Oberon leaned forward and straightened his shoulders. This wasn’t his father addressing him now, but the king.

“I have had it with your waywardness, boy. You will escort the princess.”

“Is that an order?”