Page 1 of In Violent Waves

Lyra drummed her long nails against the driftwood chair, staring out at the sea of merfolk in the throne room, waiting for her father to begin the Tidal Tithe ceremony. Other than drinking the vial to gain legs, the speech was pretty pointless, with a few nonsense rules and reminders about the dangers of the surface world.

She switched to tugging on the charm at the end of her silver necklace. The tiny shell was made of a single sapphire and shimmered as she pulled it back and forth between the diamond-encrusted clam shells that cupped her breasts.

Tonight was the night Lyra had looked forward to her entire miserable existence. It was a sip of true freedom. Her only opportunity before her wedding tomorrow.

Her dark red hair was pinned up painfully in coils against her scalp, yet she left the bottom half unbound. Having loose hair was a burden, a tangled mass of indecency in the water, but that seemed no worse than the headache that was those godsforsaken pins. And it was the message it sent that was the most important to her, anyway. It caused more than a few stares, but that was the curse of being not only a mermaid, but the king’s daughter.

“Drystan is most displeased that you have accepted none of his attempts to plan the wedding together.”

It had taken years to train her body not to react, not to flinch at the savagery in her father’s voice.

Lyra met his gaze with something other than loathing. That attempt at small talk was most unusual for him.

“Wedding planning really isn’t my thing, and given I actually had a choice this time—I declined.”

King Auris sat upon his silver throne, composed of glimmering stalagmites that had been sharpened over a millennium. His long white hair and beard were the same shade as the tumultuous waves during storm season. A crown of narwhal horns rested upon his brow, and the turquoise shade of his eyes was the exact shade of the sea in which he was born centuries ago, before humans polluted the oceans. They bore into her. He snorted, and a few crabs that had crawled up the stairs of the dais scuttled away.

“Your sisters all enjoyed planning their weddings. And marrying a handsome prince is usually most princesses’ ‘thing’.”

She ground her teeth, and the sharp points clacked together.

Her father’s path to ruling the seven seas was wrought with cruelty and manipulation. He had bartered each of Lyra’s six sisters into strategic marriages. But Lyra was his favorite, andhe had arranged her marriage to the most volatile of territories beneath his control—Ithicais.

King Auris had planned this marriage since her infancy. From the moment he looked upon the fire-hued hair of his last child and gleaned the power that danced within her veins.

It was ironic that such a powerful king had sired only daughters. But that was the intended consequence. Only a powerful ruler would have spawned male offspring to carry his mantle.

Fate cursed a weak ruler, dooming him to father only daughters who would become pawns in the game of power.

And such a game was already afoot.

Drystan was a handsome prince. But his depravity corrupted any semblance of attractiveness. He was attractive by their societal standards. A strong chin, brawny muscles, and golden hair were common for that territory. Yet it was the wickedness within him that seeped into the deadness of his eyes.

It was a small boon that she would get to kill him. This one order that would secure the territory, thus tightening her father’s control, and it would get her out from under his thumb. It wasn’t true independence—but it was close.

But that was a conversation that would require a much emptier throne room.

Her face slipped back into its usual mask of boredom as she tried to stifle the undercurrent ofsomethingthat was now thrumming through her veins. It was an emotion she couldn’t quite place. It was not fear. She had tasted her fair share of fear. That was sour. And it was not excitement either. That was sharp.

No, this was a joining of the two.

“You are to return immediately after the tithe. Your wedding is tomorrow, and you must not be late.” King Auris stared at Lyra for any hint of disobedience. Apparently, he wasn’t finishedspeaking to her after all. “And steer clear of the elves, Lyra. I mean it.”

She snorted this time, unable to grasp the warning in his tone. “There hasn’t been an elf sighting in our hunting grounds for centuries.”

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the golden trident. It had once belonged to Ennosidas, the god of the sea. The muscles of his shapely forearm and bicep rippled with the movement. The trident was merely a prop now. Mermen didn’t have magic—not anymore. But it was still a fearsome sight to behold.

“Our scouts have heard whispers that the elves have been spotted. The war between their courts has spilled across borders.”

Lyra didn’t even try to hide her rolling eyes.

The scouts were unreliable at best. Males that gave up their fins to live out their lives as spies on land. No one in their right mind would do that, and she couldn’t find it in her to trust their word. But that information was surprising to her.

King Auris didn’t care about the elves or their wars. He had only ever cared about controlling her.

The small bit of fight she had left in her rose to the surface. “And what exactly are you afraid of me doing?”

King Auris slid his eyes across his daughter’s face before returning them to the crowd of merfolk.