Page 178 of In Rising Tides

Her stomach twisted as she thought of abandoning them.

If she didn’t break the tithe now, she really would be abandoning them—in death.

She reached for her magic as she pulled the words Nerida had given her out of the recesses of her mind.

Lyra imagined they were a twisted version of the original bargain the land and sea had made.

Crown of land and Crown of sea

I untie the bargains of our kingdoms eternally …

Lyra plucked the thread of gold in her heart as she whispered the words onto the stone.

It heated beneath her hand so quickly that she flinched, drawing her hand to her chest. It throbbed as if it had been burned.

Fuck.

She’d said the words wrong.

Lyra had saidbargains, not bargain. She misspoke.

“Princess,” Finn said with a hint of worry.

As she turned towards him, the dim light vanished completely.

The ground shook violently, rocking the pillars. Silt floated up from the seabed, and tiny rocks rained down on them.

Lyra had nothing to hold onto as her body was jostled around, her vision blackening at the edges.

“PrincessLyra!” Finn shouted.

But it was too late.

Darkness didn’t just surround them.

It had taken her.

Wilder pounded his fists into the sand. It did nothing to ease the turmoil slithering through his chest.

A splash behind him had him whirling around to face Maelys and Ridge.

“She’s gone?” Maelys asked, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

Ridge placed a comforting hand on her lower back. She leaned against his side.

“She has a bargain to uphold,” Wilder replied.

His voice was unusually steady despite the aching in his lungs.

“What now?” Ridge asked, his eyes scanning the sea behind them.

The water continued to slosh around the sandbar. The rhythmic swelling of the sea was slower than the drum of his heart.

Heat hammered down on him from the sun, but a chill went down his spine.

He would do this—again.

“She’s going off to save the world,” Wilder blew out a breath. “We might as well do the same here.”