Page 123 of In Rising Tides

He didn’t wait for Aegir’s response before he whisked her away, ordering Fang and Angler to follow them.

He tugged her off the dais and through the back of the throne room, avoiding cutting through the crowd as he propelled them through two colossal columns.

“What is happening?” he asked sharply, his grip on her arm intensifying.

“I can’t see,” her voice was shrill and unsteady. “I can’t see.”

Utter darkness had swallowed her vision until not a speck of light could be seen.

Lyra waved a hand mere inches in front of her face, but could not see a thing.

The throbbing behind her eyes was now sharp, like a blade slowly piercing her brain.

She panted, her shoulders rising and falling as the terror built.

“Quiet,” he hissed. He jerked her to a halt, and she heard a low whistle. “Alert the council of an emergency meeting—now.”

“What is happening?” Lyra’s panic trembled in her speech.

The sound of heavy iron doors creaked on ancient hinges.

“I’ve called the council,” was his curt reply.

“Why?”

“Because I was afraid ofthis.”

The day began just like any other.

The sun rose in the east, and a light rain shower followed shortly after. It kept the temperature mild despite the calendar’s fast approach to summer.

After the skies had cleared, Wilder, Ridge, and Otto found themselves on the rocky shore near the cottage.

It appeared his friends had worked out some kind of rotation among themselves, ensuring that he was never to be alone with his thoughts.

Thoughts that circled her like a whirlpool, sucking him beneath its depths with each passing moment.

He didn’t try to fight it.

The ocean hurled wave after wave at them, water bubbling and racing up the shore, still reaching for him, but coming up empty.

“We could go fishing?” Ridge suggested, tossing a sizable rock into the water.

It plunged into the depths, casting ripples that were almost immediately erased by the next swelling wave. His dark skin had become richly bronzed in the hours they had spent on shore already, the tree bark swirls standing out in an intense way.

Otto sighed and tilted his face up to the sun. A flush of red glowed on his moon-white skin.

“We did that yesterday.”

Ridge plucked a flat rock off the beach and wiped the sand away with his thumb before whipping it across the surface.

It bounced perfectly five times before succumbing to the water.

“I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas,” he grumbled.

“Because I’m content to just sit here. You should try it,” Otto replied, concealing a smirk. “Or are you afraid there’s nothing in your mind outside of Maelys to think about?”

Wilder slid his attention from the horizon to Ridge just in time to see red creep up his neck before he bent down to pick up another rock.