Page 35 of In Rising Tides

“It’s hard to say,” Otto mused. “Though their council did play a part in Drystan’s uprising. He laid some carefully executed half-truths to secure their allegiance. Lyra plans on dismantling their trust in him.”

Ridge’s eyes widened before a chuckle rumbled from his chest.

“Lyra has plans?”

Maelys shook with his laugh and leaned back to smile at him.

Otto shrugged, a small grin tugging up the corner of his lips. “Not expertly crafted ones, but a vague path. The princes of each territory are married to each of her sisters. She’s gathering information where she can.”

Wilder remembered her mentioning such things to him at the summer cottage. But he didn’t know how her sisters’ marriages would help in her quest.

She had said she wasn’t close to any of them, and what friends she did have in Atlantis were nothing like the ones at his side.

Lyra had no allies there, and was utterly alone in a place that had tried to make a martyr out of her once before.

“Is she in danger?” Wilder asked.

Their council sounded as if it were composed of the strongest males in their realm, or at least the most powerful.

A twig snapped behind them as Baelwyn ambled through the thicket, his arrival intentionally loud, eyes darting as if tracking unseen watchers.

“We’re surrounded by a multitude of chipmunks,” he muttered as he ambled closer. “Clever beasties.”

Ridge relaxed the hand he’d drifted toward his blade, and Maelys hid her smile behind her hand at Baelwyn’s rambling.

“Not at present,” Otto answered, his reply directed at Wilder’s previous question.

Wilder’s hand trembled when what felt like a living thing coiled through him as if it were readying to strike.

Not at present.

He pressed his hands together to stop his shaking.

“What else?” Wilder demanded, every muscle tight as he waited for an answer.

Otto’s eyes matched the smoke wafting up from the fire. “There have been a great many changes in Atlantis.”

Baelwyn sat on the stump beside Wilder and pulled a long pipe from his robes.

“It’s a moonless night,” he murmured. “The pixies are in a tizzy.” His bushy brow furrowed as he took a long drag.

Smoke rings drifted into the air before turning into shapes that resembled fairies and other winged creatures. “What are we discussing?”

Maelys grinned at Baelwyn’s smoke art. “The changes in Atlantis and Lyra’s safety.”

“And?” Baelwyn continued to puff on his pipe.

“She is safe—for now,” Wilder answered. “We were just getting to the changes.”

Baelwyn waved a hand for Otto to proceed.

“Other than the uprising, there seems to be a religious movement sweeping across their realm. Drystan saw that change as a foothold for his rule. There’s also …” Otto’s eyes swirled, “... Disasters.”

“What kind of disasters?” Wilder leaned towards Otto.

His words had been sharp enough to carve the answers out, but Otto did not flinch.

“Earthquakes.”