Page 55 of In Rising Tides

Lyra’s shoulders dropped, and her heart plummeted into her stomach.

Would Wilder not fight for her?

Had he not said he was coming for her?

The pain of those thoughts was a hot blade twisting her insides.

But a sudden, intense pang nearly stole her breath as it sliced at her heart.

Tears pricked at her eyes, but they would not fall, not here. It wasn’t possible for mermaids to cry.

“Enough,” Drystan snapped.

She pulled herself from the sinking thoughts and tried to follow the discussion still happening around her.

But the fight had left her. Lyra fell deeper into an abyss of sorrow.

Wilder had left her.

She didn’t know why she was so startled by that realization.

He had said he never wanted to be king.

“I will retain my seat on the council for Ithicais,” Drystan barked.

Drystan was replying to Ishmael, who was shaking his head.

“That isnotallowed. We can not discuss any more plans until your seat is filled. You must select a successor.”

Drystan snapped his jaw shut, and Lyra watched as the muscles there fluttered.

“Fine. Caius will take my place. I will notify him at once.”

Caspian pinched the bridge of his nose. “We can discuss the Wilds affront on this court as a whole once he arrives. But until then, no one is to speak a word of it outside of this chamber.”

His order was met with several nods. Lyra didn’t care. The world had been ripped from her.

“And the princess?” Lir’s voice was deathly quiet.

“She will remain alive,” Drystan said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “We have proven that the princess did nothing wrong. And I will seek retribution for what they did to her.”

Lyra blinked.

Drystan still planned to fight? Despite the council appearing still against it?

With Wilder not coming for her, she wavered in her plans.

Was he truly not coming? Had Estria lied?

Lyra wrestled with what she knew in her mind versus what she felt in her heart.

No, they hadn’t taken her through the Wilds, but that didn’t mean they were using her. It just hadn’t happened.

Wilder was merely regrouping, or trying to find a way around his father’s denial.

He was clever, very clever.

Drystan latched onto Lyra’s wrist and pulled her from the council chambers. His jaw worked from side to side as he propelled them to her chambers.