Page 120 of In Violent Waves
“You look wonderful, dear. Have a marvelous time!”
She didn’t even wait for Lyra to respond before she gathered up her gown and strode back inside.
Lyra looked from her retreating form to Wilder and then to the folder.
“That was … strange.”
Wilder cracked open the folder and stared and stared.
Do whatever you would like to do. Be free. But be back in time for Ostara.
A smile tugged the corner of his lips up, and he whirled them back to the carriage.
“Change of plans. Take us to the Three Sisters,” Wilder ordered the servant driving the carriage.
Lyra looked bewildered. A small divot formed between her brows.
“What is happening?” she hissed under her breath as he held open the door and nodded for her to take a seat inside.
“A royal engagement is off, and a week of freedom has just landed in our laps,” he replied, taking a seat opposite her.
The carriage was one of the extravagant ones his father preferred. Plush navy benches, gold filigree around the windows, and a mural of a wilderness scene on the ceiling.
He could tell she didn't know where to look as her eyes swiveled from one side of the carriage to the other. To the pair of doves carved besideher head with an olive branch extended between them, to the miniature unicornnibbling next to a babbling brook on the ceiling.
Lyra tilted her head back and gaped. Wilder chuckled, and she snapped her mouth shut.
“What do you mean, freedom?”
He leaned his head back against the wall and took a deep breath.
“My mother has canceled our entire tour and has instructed me to do as I wish.”
Lyra gaped. “She can do that? Wait—we can do that?”
He closed his eyes and smiled.
“Where are we going then?”
The carriage began driving them around the back of the castle and through the side gate to bypass the bustling city streets.
“We’re going to the Three Sisters. I would like to canoe through it.”
Lyra scrunched her nose up. “And then what?”
“And then I would like to take a nap under the ancient willow.”
She nodded, but her brow was still furrowed.
“And then what?”
Wilder snorted. “I’m not sure. Not everything has to be planned.”
Her frown deepened. “So we’re just going to do whatever you want, whenever you think of it? With no plans?”
“Exactly,” he replied with a sigh.
With each wheel rotation away, the constant weight that burdened him dissipated.
