31. Threatening | Lyra
Drystan had the scout escorted out by Fang and Angler. It didn’t escape Lyra’s notice that it was done hastily and before any of the princes could ask any further questions.
“This is obviously because of Lyra’s bargain,” Caspian said with a leveling of his chin. His broad chest rippled as he stretched his arms out wide. “The humans don’t want her interfering in the tide. They could attack our borders?—”
“Enough,” Drystan snapped. “We need to set a plan in motion, and quickly. We are facing retaliation on every side.”
Lyra watched as he began to swim back and forth in the center of the room. The pressure of being king was beginning to take its toll. He looked tired in a way she knew he felt all the way down to his bones. He dragged a talon-tipped hand through his hair and winced when it snagged.
“Aegir is exercising too much power. I know we all feel it, and without the throne in my grip, it will only get worse,” he said, casting his gaze like a net around the room.
“Now we have a threat against Lyra.” He threw up his hands.
“Humans that are too strong—too powerful. It’s strange, is it not? ”
Caspian rubbed a hand across his jaw. “What are you saying?”
“The humans obviously got something out of the tithe, and that’s why they’re trying to stop her. But what are they gaining from it?” Drystan turned in a slow and steady motion, his tail barely moving as he looked at each prince.
The answer was on the tip of her tongue. It wasn’t just a mermaid they were gaining.
“They’re acquiring magic from the tithe,” Lyra answered. “That would explain why they were able to take down a squad of scouts.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
Hadrian spluttered. “The humans are getting magic from the tithe?”
Lyra locked eyes with Drystan, and he nodded, giving her leave to explain. “Mermaids are the only ones who carry any sort of magical abilities anymore. We don’t know what the humans are doing with the one they take from the tithe. We had assumed they were killing them, but what if they weren’t?”
Her words alone should have been enough to change the tide of the room, to get them to see reason. But it’s much easier to fool someone than to explain to them how they had been fooled.
“It’s inconceivable,” Caius muttered, shaking his head. “Taking magic from a mermaid is impossible.”
Lyra kept herself from rolling her eyes. “There’s so much about magic we don’t know. I find it inconceivable that you think you know everything there is to know about it.”
Drystan brushed a hand across his lips, and Lyra thought she might have imagined the smile that quirked his lips. “Have we learned anything else? About the temple or the bargain?”
Rigel swam closer to the center, garnering everyone’s attention.
“After a thorough search of our history, there are several gaps that appear suspicious. We have detailed records of every war, skirmish, and coronation stretching as far back as when the seven seas had been settled by the first tribes. But there are no records of the temple being erected and nothing that would provide further information about the tithe.”
Lyra’s brows pinched together. She wasn’t surprised that they couldn’t find anything, but she needed to sell her confusion, to play into this ploy to trick them because it was obvious they weren’t going to figure it out themselves.
“That is strange,” she mused. “Seems like someone worked very hard to keep it hidden.”
Caius snorted. “Or we can’t find anything because we are under your thrall to believe without question.”
Rigel cleared his throat. “That’s not correct.”
Caius’s brows rose precariously high on his granite-hewn face. “What do you mean?”
Rigel slid his attention from Caius to Drystan, and then around the room. “We have found records of the tithe as we previously discussed.”
“Have you been able to find the first mention of the tithe?” Lyra asked.
She held her breath waiting for his answer.
“After the first tribe wars. When the Na Tuinnes claimed this land.”
Lyra felt the salt in her blood heat. The Na Tuinnes had worked with Ennosidas to overthrow Tiandra, according to her dream that wasn’t a dream. That’s how they had conquered their goddess and the leviathan. But what if they had been responsible for more—for all of it?
She didn’t know how to explain that to any of them, or if they would even listen. Barring Hadrian, Ishmael, Rigel, and Adamaris, the rest were still adamant about needing to see proof of Tiandra in the temple.
Lyra felt heavy eyes on her and turned her gaze to Drystan.
He watched her closely as if he were cataloguing each of her features for further study. His eyes narrowed as she worked to master her face. He knew she was onto something.
“Facing a war with the humans won’t win us any favor with the merfolk,” he said at last. “Even less if they think Lyra is the cause. Aegir has already painted a target on her back. Then he made it worse with his list of grievances.”
Lyra’s eyes slid closed at the annoyance that reminder caused.
“We need to tighten our borders and shore up our defenses nearest the land. Caspian, Hadrian, and Caius make sure no one is caught going in and out of your territories without your knowledge, and if there are any sightings of warships, let me know at once.”
His orders were met with stiff nods, but Caius turned a bitter glare in her direction.
“It seems like a lot of enemies are coming after her and her alone?—”
Drystan’s upper lip curled back as a scowl twisted his features. In two pumps of his powerful tail, he was eye-to-eye with his brother. “Speak plainly, Caius.”
“Is it worth keeping such a creature alive when all she has brought to our kingdom is the threat of war and instability?”
Lyra blinked, and Drystan had wrapped his fist around Caius’s neck.
“Threaten my fiancée again and I will shred you to ribbons.” Drystan’s threat was not a shock to the room, but Caius’ audacity was.
It wasn’t that the others hadn’t been thinking the same thing.
From the looks of agreement on Caspian’s and Lir’s faces, they had been thinking the exact same thing, but no one else had dared to say it.
“Lyra is the only thing standing in the way of us and utter annihilation, brother. You’d take care to remember that the next time you open your mouth to disparage her existence.”
Lyra found a smug smile curling her lips when Caius looked in her direction.
“I am right,” she said loud enough for the entire room to hear her. “And I don’t know if I would bother saving you, Caius.”
Drystan let go of his brother’s throat with a shove and headed towards Lyra.
“Violence—” Rigel began.
“Is not allowed in this chamber,” Drystan finished for him.
“I didn’t spill his blood. No rules were broken.
I will see you all at the temple next week, and I am looking forward to putting this all behind us.
With proof of the goddess painted clearly for you all to bear witness, I expect your allegiance to shift to Lyra. ”