Page 58 of In Violent Waves

Wilder sighed. “That’s the least of our problems now. We received this order directly from my father, and now we’re being hunted.”

“Have you seen who informed the King?” Ridge asked. “If we know who else is behind this, it will help narrow down the traitor.”

“No. It’s also blocked. Whoever informed him must know I’m searching and they’re hiding.”

That was interesting. So there was a way to keep Otto from seeing. She would need to figure that out if she ever intended to escape.

“Do you think it came from her court?” Maelys asked.

“Could be,” Wilder answered. “Whoever wanted her gone might have doubled up the mission to ensure that she would never return.”

Those words didn’t hurt Lyra as much as they should have. It was no secret that there wasn’t camaraderie among the merfolk. But who could have been after her? It must have been an attempt to injure her father or Drystan. They were the only ones who had a stake in her survival.

Her father needed her to kill off the heir to Ithicais, and then all his plans of complete domination would be complete. And Drystan needed her to secure his future claim to the throne.

Maybe it was someone in Drystan’s circle who had made this alliance with Oberon to get her out of the way to usurp him.

That seemed the most likely. No one liked her, buteveryonedespised him.

“Will she agree to the deal with my father?” Wilder asked.

Lyra quieted her mind and her breathing to hear Otto’s answer. It was intriguing learning what her future self had in store for her current self.

“She will. And you will not like it.”

Otto’s prophecy had unease gripping Wilder. He didn’t like knowing his future—ever. But a small part of him wanted to know. Especially since it had to do with her.

“Would you like to know?” Otto asked.

A smirk tightened the lines around his face.

“Knowing I won’t like it is enough. I will not borrow my future problems this night.”

Maelys chuckled and leaned into Ridge’s side. The lines between them had blurred over the last few decades, and Wilder wondered where it would lead them.

“Tell me my future instead,” Ridge suggested.

Otto smiled brighter. This was a favorite pastime of theirs. Learning things that would happen minutes or days away.

“Watch out for the lightning bug,” Otto replied.

Ridge lurched up straighter, and Maelys leaned away, laughing loudly now. For as massive and powerful as he was, Ridge detested any kind of bug. Had once shrieked like a small child at a spider that crawled across his boot.

A lightning bug lit up the night beside Ridge, and he swung his arms wildly, trying to knock the thing away.

Even Wilder chuckled at that. They had never failed to ease the tension that thrummed through him. This was his one small piece of self, this friendship with them.

Once Ridge had settled down, he pulled Maelys back against him. Wilder’s chest ached seeing that companionship, the freedom they had in expressing themselves openly.

“How do things look for tomorrow?” Maelys asked, peeling her eyes from Ridge’s face to look at Otto.

The gray in his eyes swirled like smoke.

“We’ll need some more yarrow.”

The moon slippedbeyond the trees as the sun took its place in the sky. Wilder had watched Lyra thrash about in her sleep for the last hour. He couldn’t imagine what she must have dreamt about to fight like that. A small part of him hoped it had not been ruffians.

“It’s the current,” Otto murmured. “She moves as if she’s still one with the tug of the sea.”