Page 143 of In Violent Waves

Lyra huffed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Wilder picked up the skillet and deposited the fish onto dark green plates before spooning some of the herbs from the pan onto their plates.

Lyra brought the bowl of kale over beside him and scooped out handfuls next to the fish.

“Wine?”

“Sure,” Lyra replied, and he uncorked a bottle.

All of their dinners had been this way, casual and relaxed. It was exactly what she had needed and was healing to her in a way, but now with the conversation turning towards her magic, tension bloomed.

They took their seats at the walnut dinner table. It was pockmarked and grooved with age and love. Lyra set their plates down, and Wilder poured their wine, but they both remained quiet.

“What are you thinking about?”

She rubbed a finger along the rim of her glass. She was thinking about so many things. How much she’d enjoyed her time here, how much she had enjoyed him.

But now that he brought up her magic, the bargain loomed like a monster under the bed. And there was something darker surfacing in her mind, something that didn’t sit right about the grand scheme of things.

“Something has been bothering me since I agreed to the bargain with your father.”

“And what is that?”

“What did the humans get out of this bargain?”

Wilder shifted on his chair, and by the fluttering of his jaw, she could tell he was just as annoyed as she was. “My father never said. He’s been ultra-secretive about this whole thing. It’s why I refused to take part.”

Lyra nodded and pushed the food around her plate. This evening was taking a turn for the worse.

She should have been honest with him and told him about her fears, but she couldn’t.

“Did you really not ever notice that the tithe was something more? Did your father?”

Lyra shrugged, relieved that he didn’t circle back to her magic. “Births had declined, but it was blamed on the mermaids for having lives outside of reproduction. That’s why my father implemented all the rules.”

Wilder’s jaw clenched. “Your father is the reason for all the sanctions against females?”

Lyra sighed and met his gaze once more. “Yes.”

“And did he notice when those rules weren’t increasing the birthrate?”

“Of course not,” she spat. “That would require him admitting he was wrong.” That would never happen; she didn’t even think her father knew those words.

“How do you think he’s going to feel when you undo the tithe, proving him wrong?”

She didn’t answer.

If she were honest, she hadn’t thought about what would happen after she broke the bargain. Lyra had only focused on the severity of the first steps.

“Are we going to talk about this?” he asked as they picked at their dinners.

Her face scrunched up with disgust, and it wasn’t from the food.

“I don’t think there is anything to discuss.”

Wilder glared at her and took a sip of the white wine. “You are under a bargained oath with my father to use magic. If you don’t, you will die. You know this.”

A shadow passed over her face as she glared right back. Again, it came back to her magic, like always.