Page 82 of In Violent Waves

So anger was an excellent motivator for her, after all.

“One,” Wilder counted.

Her arms wobbled before collapsing out from under her.

“Again,” he ordered.

She bared her teeth and pushed again, not making it half as far up as she had the last time.

“I don’t even know why we’re trying to break the bargain that gave your merfolk more power. It’s obvious they need it if all of their females are as weak as you are.”

Lyra pushed harder, completing one entire push-up.

“I don’t know why we don’t just wage war instead. Your people wouldn’t be able to put up an adequate fight.”

She went down and then pushed back up again.

“How you managed to survive this long is quite the mystery,” he mused.

Again, she went down and back up. There was a tremble to her arms, and her face was as red as the apples that grew in the nearby orchard, but he kept pushing her.

“It must be an inverse relation, this strength to smarts for you. You must be incredibly smart because you’re no stronger than a fairy.”

Up and down, she struggled through another set.

“That’s five.Good. You can stop now.”

She collapsed face-first to the ground.

“You did that on purpose,” she said into the dirt, before rolling over onto her back.

“Very smart, indeed,” Wilder teased. “Up you get.”

She found her way to her feet. Dirt clung to her chest and her forehead, but she made no movement to wipe it away. Small hairs had slipped her braid and were stuck to the moist skin on her neck.

“Do you know what squats and lunges are?”

She blinked at him. “Torture? And death?”

“Close!” Maelys called from her position beside the table.

“Both on the first day?” Ridge asked. “That seems like a lot.”

Wilder waved them off. She needed to be pushed. No one had ever dared to do it before. And a part of him was curious to see where her breaking point was.

He demonstrated both. Lyra’s eyes widened. When she gulped down a swallow, he smirked.

“Start at that end of the grounds and do a single line of lunges, then turn around and do a line of squats. When you get back where you started, you can take a break and get some water and some fruit.”

Lyra stared at him like he had grown two heads.

“But that’s really far …”

Wilder nodded. “You’ll have to read a lot more to keep your brain larger than your muscles when I get through with you.”

When she didn’t move from her rooted position to the ground, he realized this was going to be like the pushups all over again.

“Come on, Legs. I’ll do it with you.”