Page 39 of In Violent Waves

Otto turned around and stopped.

She was slowing them down.

Wilder forged on ahead, barely visible from his lead position. Following behind him were Ridge and Maelys. The only person walking as slowly as her was Otto, but she had a feeling he’d been ordered to stay behind with her.

“Do you need a moment?” Otto was kind, and that was strange too.

She couldn’t tell what his angle was. If he were a true seer, did he pity her for her past … or maybe her future?

“Just let me catch my breath,” she panted out.

A cramp seized her right calf, and she crumpled to the ground.

“Easy now!” Otto was immediately at her side, gripping her by the elbow.

“I’m alright. I’m alright. It was only a cramp,” Lyra replied. Her cheeks burned. She felt pathetic.

“Here, chew on this,” Otto replied, pulling a stalk of yarrow from his pocket.

Lyra took it without a second thought and shoved it stem and all into her mouth.

He untied his water flask from his belt and held it out to her. “Drink?”

She nodded enthusiastically and swallowed before chugging some of the water. Otto looked on with a small smile and a twinkle in his eye.

“What?” she asked, handing him back the water.

“He would carry you, you know? If you asked. He would.”

Lyra shook her head, and a lock of auburn hair slid across her face. When Otto stayed quiet and the pain lessened, she slowly stood.

“I don’t need his help.”

Otto bit back a smile.

“Of course not.”

“Why are you?—”

“Being nice?” he finished for her.

Lyra nodded. She wasn’t used to freely given kindness. There was always an angle to be played.

“Because everyone deserves kindness, even those who think they deserve it the least.”

It was an effort not to flinch or snap back with something bitter, but she had promised Maelys that she would try.

“So you have seen me in your visions? What I’ve done and what I am capable of?” She squared her shoulders, waiting for the disappointment she knew was coming.

“What you have done? Sure. And I don’t fault you for it one bit. That was how you had to survive, Lyra.”

The world fell silent, the wind stopped blowing, and the birds stopped singing. Was he being truthful? Or telling her what she desperately wanted to hear.

“We have all done things we are not proud of,” Otto gestured to the figures far ahead that belonged to Ridge and Maelys. “What matters now is how you choose to live. Are you going to keep hurting because you were hurt? Or can you grow?”

She heaved a sigh at such a philosophical question.

“I guess it depends on what happens from here …”