Page 100 of In Rising Tides

The final nail in her coffin.

Lyra expected an explosion from the council members, or at the very least, outrage.

Instead, she felt the weight of their stares, and nothing more. On the inside, she wanted to shrink into herself, but on the outside, she held her head high.

The scout continued. “She agreed tobreakthe Tidal Tithe.”

Drystan raised a hand, and the scout cut off immediately.

“Are you accusing my betrothed of allying with our natural-born enemies?”

The scout reeled back. “I’m not accusing her of anything, Your Majesty. I’m only telling you what we heard in that forest.”

Lyra felt as if the room had imploded. She couldn’t focus on anything outside of the thundering of her heart in her chest.

Darkness tinged her vision around the edges, and she struggled to remain upright. It was several moments before she realized the others had begun speaking.

Clenching a fist, she felt the stabbing of her talons into the meat of her palm. It pulled her from the whirlpool of her mind.

“I told you your involvement with the wulvers was a bad idea,” Caius accused, shaking his head. The loose tresses waved above his shoulders and moved across his neck, but he made no move to brush them away.

“We needed their alliance to retrieve Lyra,” Drystan explained.

Caius waved in Lyra’s direction. “No. You retrieved her yourself. Don’t lie to us.”

The scout’s head volleyed back and forth throughout their disagreement, as did the others.

Lyra tried to focus on Hadrian. She had an unreasonable hope that if there was an ally to have in this room, it would be him.

But he refused to meet her gaze.

Caspian rubbed at his jaw as he processed the information thus far; his white hair was a wreath around his head and shoulders.

Ishmael was so still Lyra had thought he had been encased in ice. But then he steepled his fingers.

Adamaris had a frown creasing his brows, but his face was not twisted with anger.

No, he appeared pensive.

There was a weight pressing into her flesh, and she looked around for the cause. It was coming from Rigel. His expression was unreadable, but with what appeared to be a forced slowness, he returned his attention to the scout, who cleared his throat.

Drystan shrugged off his brother’s counter and glared at the scout.

“Proceed.”

“We tracked Maelor, thinking he would circle back to finish off the Prince, as were your orders. But he headed to Badenvaria. We weren’t able to follow any farther?—”

Lir swam closer. “Why not?”

The scout appeared to shrink under Lir’s full attention. His hand trembled briefly before he rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s somethingwrongwith the humans there.”

It was the first time Lyra had wanted to speak since entering the council chamber. She found herself leaning forward.

Drystan threw out a hand to stop her from coming closer.

“Explain,” he ordered the scout.

He shook his head, the color leaching from the redness across his nose and forehead. “It feels like … magic. Dark magic.”