Page 34 of In Rising Tides

Otto lounged against a fallen log and tucked his hands behind his head to better peer at the sky.

Clad in a grey tunic and charcoal pants, he matched the clouds glowing in the moonlight.

His voice was less timid than Maelys’, but just as gentle. “Would you like to know this time?”

Wilder shook his head immediately.

He didn’t want to know anything at all except how she was doing.

Was she still alive?

Was she hurt?

His lips parted to ask, but Otto was faster.

“It’s hard to see clearly under the depths, but she is alive. They are readying her for the council.”

Maelys pressed a hand to her chest. The thick fabric of her travel gown was as green as the leaves of the surrounding canopy.

She breathed a sigh of relief and sank deeper into Ridge’s arms.

A tiny fluff ball of a chipmunk hopped onto her lap and began nuzzling its face into her belly. With gentle hands, Maelys lifted the tiny creature to her face and began whispering to it.

The chipmunk chattered back before hopping down and scurrying away.

Ridge watched the interaction with an adoring smirk before turning his attention back to Otto.

“That’s a good thing, right?”

Otto nodded, still watching the sky.

“He needs her, so he will keep her alive.”

“Who needs her?” Wilder’s gaze snapped to Otto.

A sort of primal claiming wormed its way out of his chest.

No one could claim to need her.

Buthecould.

No one could keep her safe like he could.

“Drystan,” Otto said. “To legitimize his rule, he needs her hand in marriage.”

Wilder blinked. He wasn’t capable of formulating a reply to that information.

Marriage?

All this time he had been worried about her life being in danger. He hadn’t even thought about the possibility she could be taken from him in that way as well.

“Is their council anything like ours?” Maelys asked.

She plucked at the long pleats of her gown and adjusted the position of her boots against the ground.

Wilder focused on her question and began thinking of any similarities he could remember from the structure of their society to that of the merfolk.

The council his father had constructed was more for information gathering than decision-making as of late. It was obvious his father didn’t discuss anything with the lords and ladies of their kingdom before making decisions.