Page 103 of In Rising Tides

Do it now.

I can’t, Lyra argued with the voice.

If she were to show her magic now, the rapidly fraying alliance in this room would splinter.

But if Drystan attacked Lir, there would be no one to keep her from being executed.

Do it,the voice hissed.

I can’t. I don’t know what I’m doing.

Gently.

Lyra felt her world tilt. It would be so easy to get them to believe her, to get them to help her complete this bargain. And once completed, she could go home.

But magic has a balance.

Lyra’s eyes slid closed. She would pay it, this toll that magic would demand for her using it, if only it brought her one step closer to Wilder.

With her eyes still closed, her hands raised to her sides.

“Lyra—” Drystan’s voice was a thunderclap. “Lyra, no!”

She reached for the thread around her heart, fingertips grazing the silken thread, and pulled.

“You will listen,” the words spilled from her lips like droplets of gold. The water froze. She didn’t dare open her eyes to see their faces, to see the horror of what she was doing. “You willbelievethe truths I tell you.”

Her brow furrowed before she opened her eyes.

There wasn’t shock or disgust, only bewilderment.

Drystan’s head was bowed, his hands clutching his chest.

“You shouldn’t have?—”

Lyra searched his face for the condemnation she expected to see. “I had no other choice.”

Caspian was the first of the princes to speak.

He spoke slowly, as if he were trying to choose his words carefully.

“Thatis why the High King made a bargain with her.”

“It’s a wonder he even let her leave his shores to begin with,” Adamaris said with a shake of his head. His hand trembled slightly as he raked a hand through his hair.

Rigel, Ishmael, and Hadrian just stared.

She could tell it would take a minute to process.

Lir and Caius, however, were appalled.

It was hard to see their faces clearly, as her vision had darkened at the edges. In fact, the euphoria that usually coursed through her veins was nowhere to be found.

In its place was a crippling nothingness. Lyra rubbed at her temples, hoping to ease some of the numbness she felt spreading behind her eyes.

“It’s atrocious,” Caius said, clutching his chest. “I don’t want to believe her—but I know it’s the truth.”

“We’ll only believe what is true,” Drystan said. “Her words were chosen very carefully.”