Page 172 of In Rising Tides

Jordania flinched at the severity of his voice.

Lyra squeezed him gently, her necklace now clasped around her neck where it belonged.

“It’s not her fault,” she whispered.

“I didn’t say it was,” he snapped. “But surely there is something we can do. I only just got her back, and now you’re saying I can’t truly have her? The sea still claims her.”

“It’s not the sea,” Jordania said. “It’s the bargain.”

Lyra inhaled sharply, and Wilder gazed down at her.

“That fucking bargain,” she seethed.

“Exactly,” Jordania added. “Until the ocean side of the pact is complete, she can not walk upon land. As soon as she was turned back into a mermaid, the grains of time began to fall. There is nothing we can do.”

Lyra nodded begrudgingly as she accepted her fate.

Wilder, on the other hand, could not.

He shook his head back and forth, his grip on her tightening.

“There has to be a way. Can we-can we just unbind the bargain she made?”

Wilder would do anything to put an end to this. He didn’t give a damn if the gods would intervene because of the imbalance of magic.

Let someone else take up the challenge.Theyhad suffered enough.

Too long had he been a slave to his duty. He was over it.

Wilder would save her, and they would live out the end of their days in the cottage he had built.Free from duty and honor, just content to be together.

Lyra shook her head, and the wet strands brushed across his chest. “No, I made a bargain. The gods will intervene, you know this.”

“I don’t care,” he grumbled. “Let someone else save the world. You’ve sacrificed enough, Lyra.”

“Wilder Vale,” she spat. “That is not honorable.”

“I don’t give a fuck about honor or duty.”

Lyra cupped his cheeks.

He closed his eyes so he would not have to see the disappointment on her face any longer.

“Look at me,” she whispered.

Wilder shook his head.

Lyra pressed her forehead against his.

“I want to live in this world with you,” she whispered. “And if I don’t fix it, there won’t be a world where we can be together.”

Tears slipped over the rim of his eyes. They left a trail in the salt and sand that clung to his cheeks.

“I can’t do this,” he whispered. “Not again.”

They heard the splashing of footsteps as Jordania left them and headed for the shore.

“Wilder, look at me,” Lyra begged.