Page 176 of In Rising Tides

Mountainous rocks rose from the depths. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and swallowed the lump in her throat.

Atlantis—she needed to get back to Atlantis and unbind the tithe.

The water here was frigid, and the darkness from the mountains blocked out most of the bleak rays from the surface.

An intense beam in the distance caught her eye, and she swam towards it. Her throat was still raw, but did not burn as it had on the sandbar.

Lyra pressed her fingers to her lips as she remembered how his lips had felt on hers and the taste of him.

“Princess Lyra,” a masculine voice boomed.

She jerked to a halt, scanning her surroundings for the voice.

A guard rounded a boulder. His chest plate was carved with the Ithicais seal, and his tail was emerald green.

“The entire kingdom has been looking for you.” His words came out without any feeling, and Lyra didn’t know if she should trust him or not.

His helm blocked out any identifying features and made it difficult to read his expression.

“Would you mind removing your helmet?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

The guard obliged, and Lyra was relieved to see his golden hair. He must be one of Drystan’s.

“I don’t know what happened,” she whispered. “One moment I was there and the next—I was gone.”

He dipped his chin, but his eyes never left her face.

In fact, he seemed to be looking for something.

“Are you injured?”

She shook her head and felt her necklace shift on her chest. She placed a hand atop it and could have sworn she heard Wilder.

“Do you require any assistance moving? Or can you follow me to Prince Caspian’s estate?”

A deep breath worked its way out of her chest, and she moved towards the guard.

When she trembled, he frowned and extended his elbow.

“Allow me,” he offered.

He was strangely kind, but for once she didn’t mind the help.

The thread of magic around her heart flared, and it was a brilliantly blinding gold in her mind’s eye.

“You should feel better soon,” he muttered, pulling her along. “The magic has always been healing here.”

Lyra’s brow arched. “It has?”

He nodded. “There used to be an ancient temple here, older than the ones in Zeal.”

“How do you know that?”Her nose scrunched at his words.

The guard, whose name she still hadn’t caught, chuckled. “My Mormor used to tell me outlandish tales. Probably wasn’t an ounce of truth in them.”

“What is your name?” Lyra asked, caught off guard by the immediate kinship she felt with this merman.

“Finn, Your Highness.”