9. Monsters of the Deep | Lyra #3
“Yes, my betrothed was kept against her will—and mine—with the elves,” Drystan began. “If the elves don’t fight for her return, we should still punish them for their crimes against us.”
Lyra’s breath turned to ash in her throat. He was going to use her reluctance to return to him as a way to seek revenge against Wilder.
He could not hurt Wilder directly because of her command, but he could try to take everything else from him.
Lyra couldn’t stand by and let this happen, couldn’t let him twist the facts into his version of the truth.
“So it’s be attacked by them, or attack them?” Lyra asked. “I hope you die in the net of deceit you weave.”
Lyra’s anger wafted off her in waves.
She had to protect the Wilds.
But Drystan didn’t react in the way she had expected. Her words should have condemned him, should have made him immediately deny or attack her character.
Instead, he waved them off as if he were clearing them from the water and muttered, “If it’s a war they want, I say we give it to them.”
Lyra’s throat constricted. She was out of her depth here and felt herself sinking into unknown waters.
“Sea witch,” Lir growled, addressing Estria. “What evidence do you bring?”
Drystan said Estria was here to add substance; was the witch a seer?
Lyra’s blood drained from her face, pooling into her stomach and churning the already roiling anxiety that had gathered there.
Could Estria see what Lyra had done to survive?
Estria knew of the magic in Lyra’s veins, and that made her dangerous.
But if the entirety of Lyra’s time on land were revealed, it would put her life in grave danger.
“I am a seer,” Estria announced. Lyra’s heart raced. “King Drystan did enter into an agreement with the High King, but only to protect his future bride from the uprising here,” Estria confirmed.
She circled behind the pillars of carved stone, running a talon-tipped finger across the throat of the sea witch.
“But you want to know if there’s a threat from the elves,” she murmured before coming to a stop in front of Lyra. “If they will wage war over her return.”
Lyra’s heart pounded in her throat as Estria stared right through her.
“But why would they want to keep her?” she purred, asking the council, and still not taking her eyes off Lyra.
Don’t. Lyra wanted to beg. Don’t tell them.
“Out with it, witch,” Lir barked, his red hair swirling around him like a hurricane.
The sea witch laughed, low and venomously.
“Princess Lyra, tell us about your time on land.”
The weight of the room settled upon Lyra’s shoulders, and she bore the brunt with a grimace.
“There’s not much to tell.”
“Then why was the elf so keen on keeping you?” Drystan barked. “He swore to find you, did he not? We should storm the shores and take his life this very instant!”
Lyra opened her mouth to argue before snapping it shut.
“Why are you protecting them?” Hadrian asked her, concern blanketing his features. “Did they torture you?”
Lyra turned her attention to him and was surprised to see the depth of his sorrow.
She shook her head and heard a sigh come from Rigel.
“No, actually, they were … kind to me.” Lyra held her breath as she gauged the outcome of their response.
Lir snorted, while the others still stared at her with alarm.
“They were kind?” Caspian clarified. “In what way?”
“You can’t be serious?” Lir said, aghast. “She’s been brainwashed! We know firsthand how wicked those creatures are.” He raised a hand towards Drystan. “We have scouts who speak of their heinousness. We had to partner with wulvers just to see her freed, and they were slaughtered!”
Lyra bit back a smile when she thought of that memory.
She had and would kill for Wilder again if she must, and she knew he would kill for her too.
“They were killed because that elf prince thought he was protecting her,” Drystan muttered.
“The High King’s son—and Lyra?” Adamaris asked, the whites of his eyes growing.
Drystan nodded. “He will wage war for her. I only wanted to present it to the council so that we can shore up our defenses.”
Lir turned red as he spluttered, “You never clarified it was the Prince of the Wilds!”
“The land would never go to war with the sea—not over a mermaid,” Caspian added, brushing off the rising tension.
“That’s enough!” Drystan ordered. “I want war!”
Caspian’s brow furrowed, but he wasn’t the only one showing obvious concern.
“Sire,” Ishmael began. “We cannot agree to war over a female. She is back?—”
Estria clicked her tongue. “If the elves plan on attacking us, there will be a war.”
The princes’ attention was split between Lyra and Estria.
“We cannot allow this,” Caspian muttered. “No war. From us or them. I say we terminate the root of this problem now, starting with her.”
They assessed her, deciding if her life was worth the cost of war.
The temperature in the room rose.
Lyra glanced from face to face, but found no sympathy for her plight.
Adamaris cleared his throat, his head hung between his shoulders. “Without confirmation of our realm’s safety, I see no other way. We must execute her.”