Page 105 of In Rising Tides

The journey to the castle and how quiet Otto had been every time a question about plans had been asked.

He had been trying to see thewholetime.

“Go on,” Ridge drawled.

There was a quirk to his lips as if he had assumed Otto wasn’t the bad guy the whole time.

“Nothing was clear until Wilder reached for his sword.” Otto gulped, and the scent of sorrow became so strong that Wilder forced down a swallow to clear it from his tongue. The salt of the tears was an unbearable scent to him. “All the visions slammed into me at once. But one thing was clear. If you challenged him, then—Lyra would have died.”

Maelys chewed on her bottom lip. In the dappled moonlight, she looked just as haunted as Wilder felt.

“Lyra was facing the council, and a sea witch was relaying to them what was happening on shore. If it had been apparent to them that we were coming after her, they would have executed her right then and there.”

Wilder felt the words land a blow so deep to his chest he stumbled back a step, his boot knocking against a tree root almost sent him sprawling to the forest floor, but Otto was there.

A firm grip on his tunic, keeping him on his feet once more.

“I couldn’t stand by,” Otto said. “Not that time. Not when the people Ilovewere facing death. Not when the survival of so many people is going to depend on you—andher. ”

Maelys shared a look with Ridge. Oron cleared his throat, stepping closer to the circle.

“What do you mean?”

Otto studied Wilder, his eyes so clearly gauging what he should and should not say in that moment.

Wilder had had enough.

If fate had granted him a friend like Otto in the first place, who was he to deny the benefit?

It had nearly killed him once, trying to blot out the answers to questions he wasn’t ready to know or ask.

“Just say it,” Wilder heaved.

He was exhausted, a bone-deep exhaustion that went beyond the physical. He was tired of decision-making, of leading, of saving. Let someone else take the reins this time.

“Lyra’s struggle in the sea will spill over into the land,” Otto said.

His eyes were a silver swirl of chaos. His hands clenched and unclenched. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

But then he flinched, and all was right again.

“It’s been difficult to see. There is so much undecided. I fear there is not a clear path.”

“Where do we go from here?” Cedric chimed in, his head moving on a swivel. A twig cracked in the distance, and an owl hooted nearby.

“We continue to the summer cottage. I doubt Maelor would come back so soon with the way he left with his tail between his legs.”

Otto kicked at a small stone and nodded. “We will be undiscovered by those deemed enemies at the summer cottage.”

Wilder’s gaze roved across Otto’s face.

“And are you? An enemy?”

Maelys eyes flicked back and forth, but there was a softening around her mouth.

“I have never—and will never be your enemy, Wilder.”

Wilder knew the words to be true and felt the relief wash through his chest.