Page 118 of In Rising Tides

A pang slit across her side, right between her ribs. It had her recoiling from the thread of her magic and blinking her eyes open.

“Very good, Lyra,” Nerida crooned. “It’s like building a muscle.”

Lyra inhaled deeply and twisted to the side, trying to stretch the twinge out. “I’m fatigued, but I haven’t moved,” she complained.

Nerida tapped the side of her head. “It’s still hard work.”

Lyra nodded and stretched her arms out in front of her. She pushed and pulled her hands against themselves.

The numbness was there again, but not as strong as it had been when she had actually wielded it.

“There’s something else we need to speak about,” Nerida began with a grimace.

Lyra didn’t like the sound of that, or the look on Nerida’s face.

“There’s been … pressure from Aegir about your wedding.”

Annoyance shot through Lyra’s veins and loosened her tongue, but Nerida held up a hand, stopping her from replying.

“Look, I know how you feel, but marrying Drystan will protect you.”

“Protect me?” Lyra snapped. “He’s a monster!”

Nerida stayed calm as she clasped her hands in her lap.

“I know you’re smart enough to realize Aegir has made an enemy out of you. If he finds out about the bargain, he won’t ask questions—he’ll kill you.”

Lyra didn’t have a reply to that.

Aegir had made his dislike of her more than obvious. And until Drystan was officially crowned, there was nothing he could do.

“He’s put off telling you, but they’ve set your wedding date.”

Red was everywhere.

Her sight was tinged with it, her blood pulsed with it, and her mind conjured up images of her spilling Drystan’s blood throughout this very room.

“When?” Lyra hissed through clenched teeth.

Nerida exhaled. “It sounded like he had no choice.”

“He’s a male—of course he had a choice!” Lyra snapped.

Nerida looked down at her hands. “He set the day as far away as he could.”

“How chivalrous of him to give me more time to dread the end of my life.”

Nerida chewed on her bottom lip, but stayed quiet as Lyra processed what had just been dropped in her lap.

Lyra really was running out of time now.

She had to break this bargain before her freedom was ripped away from her. Her throat burned as bile rose.

She couldn’t do it. She could not marry him.

“When?” Lyra asked again.

Nerida met her gaze, her eyes softening. “Summer equinox. At the Andia Temple. It should be restored by then.”