Page 186 of In Violent Waves

“I thought she had died,” she whispered, gazing at the face that was a mirror of hers.

“She wanted to,” Titania replied. “Your mother was a wanderer and had longed to live beneath the waves.”

Lyra looked at the queen. “But she’s an elf?”

Baelwyn draped an arm around his mate and tugged her close to him. “She bargained for a witch’s spell.”

“Such a thing is possible?” Lyra’s gaze swept to Wilder, and he nodded.

“How else did you think we planned to send you home?”

Baelwyn and Titania looked at Lyra with such sorrow. “You wish to return to the depths?”

Lyra gripped the white down comforter and looked back at her mother. “I belong to the sea.”

Wilder couldn’t stop the words that flew from his mouth. “You belong to no one but yourself.”

Her head whipped back to his.

“You decide what you want, not what you think you should do.”

“I made a bargain,” she whispered.

“To balance magic, not return to the sea.”

“It will require me to return to Atlantis to break it.”

Wilder shook his head and could feel the weight of his crown pressing into his flesh. “You don’t know that.”

“What bargain are you breaking?” the queen asked.

“The Tidal Tithe.”

Titania hummed her agreement. “Then Lyra is correct.”

Wilder’s jaw clenched, and Lyra sucked in a breath.

“If she is to break the Tidal Tithe, it will require her to undo each knot. One in the sea and one in Badenvaria.”

His eyes widen with her words. “No creature has ever set foot in the mortal’s palace.”

“A bargain was struck there. At least one creature must have entered,” Baelwyn replied.

It was a death sentence, then. The humans would never let a mermaid leave their palace walls.

“We’ll have to find another way,” he declared.

He watched as a range of emotions flitted across her face. Sorrow, fear, and then anger.

“You are the reason I am stuck in this position.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed on him, and the light outside seemed to vanish entirely. Flames erupted in sconces around the room, and the timing was so startling he almost retreated a step.

“I did not know,” he whispered with a plea.

A plea for her to listen, for her to forgive.

Titania spoke, “What do you mean?”