Page 10 of In Rising Tides

This could have been a joyous time, a coming together of two kingdoms at last.

Lyra’s absence pressed upon him, crushing him from the top down as he began to spiral.

It washisfault.

Wilder should have known better.

The wulvers had tracked them from the very first day—he should never have been unprepared.

A high-pitched wail split the air and interrupted his flooding guilt. Odette collapsed to the floor in a heap of lavender taffeta among the shattered glass.

A guard with armor as white as sea foam approached and lifted the fragile princess into his arms as she sobbed her daughter’s name.

Odette beat her fists against the thistle that was engraved on the white metal.

It set Wilder’s teeth on edge to hear her scream for her daughter. A mother’s despair was unrivaled when it came to the loss of a child.

The echo of her grief followed him as she was carried out of the throne room. But Lyra was still alive, and he would do everything he could to make sure she stayed that way.

If only he had prevented this in the first place.

Wilder shook his head as if to free himself from the echoes of her sorrow.

More … he should have done more.

“We must retrieve her at once!” Baelwyn’s voice boomed in the silent room.

It reverberated off the walls and shuddered through Wilder’s chest as he weathered the king consort’s rage. His fingers curled into a fist as he pounded against the arm of his throne.

Titania cast her gaze upon her husband. It was hard for Wilder to gauge what she saw, as her face betrayed none of what she was feeling.

It was such a carefully crafted mask.

It reminded him of Lyra, of the way she would tuck everything she felt so deep down she appeared no more than a blinking statue.

“You’d have us start a war with Atlantis?” Titania asked, looking from Baelwyn to Wilder.

Again, Wilder nodded. “She was taken against her will. I will do everything within my power to make sure she is freed.”

Titania surveyed him, her lips pursed.

“And you?” she asked Baelwyn. “You agree that we should launch a war against the merfolk?”

Baelwyn stroked his long white beard as his fury ebbed away.

The silver of his robe shone like light along the water as it rippled with his movement.

“If King Auris is dead, this could impact Odette,” he muttered. “We can’t launch war ourselves, but you heard him; they have taken the princess against her will. Back to a kingdomwhere she will be mistreated and abused. We owe it to our bloodline to at least try. To our daughter.”

A shadow passed across Wilder’s face as the guilt crept back in.

Was she being tortured now?

What would they do to her when they found out about the bargain she made with the High King?

Wilder turned to Otto, who met his eyes and shook his head, but there was something more he wasn’t saying.

“What is it?” Wilder asked.