58. Orders Rounds Two
Wilder woke with a throbbing headache. No amount of elixir could clear her face from his thoughts after last night, no matter how hard he had tried.
The pounding on his door did not cease.
“Come in,” he snapped, sitting up and gripping his head.
He was shocked when his mother waltzed into his room. Her gossamer lilac gown resembled a cloud with the number of pleats and puffs on the sleeves.
“Rough night?” she tutted, coming to sit at the end of his bed.
The jostling of the mattress matched the roiling of his stomach, and he turned an astounding shade of green.
“Why are you here, Mother?”
Queen Aine looked around his humble rooms with a keen eye, and he felt her scheming coming to a head. Whatever she said next would annoy him—he just knew it.
“I watched you closely all night,” she said, turning to look at him.
If he had been a youth still, his cheeks would have flushed with embarrassment at hearing those words, because there is no way she watched him all night, or she would have seen what he got up to at The Venus.
“And?” he drawled, pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher on his bedside table.
“You will escort Lyra to the Mannereds.”
He stopped thinking, and the glass he was pouring overflowed.
“Gods,” he snarled, and set the pitcher down, annoyed at the mess.
“You leave immediately.”
Wilder glared at her.
“What is this about?”
“You’re the key to unlocking her magic. Well—you and the sea. A controlled environment like the Mannereds will make her feel close to home in a way that will speed up the process. Your father is growing impatient.”
He glared at his mother, feeling the exhaustion and nausea build.
“You’re scheming. Why?”
Queen Aine shook her head and picked at his down comforter.
“I still don’t know the details of this bargain, and it’s making me uneasy. We need it finished, and now. So, I will use whatever means necessary in our arsenal to see to it.”
And there it was, his mother’s ruthless cunning that had secured her as King Oberon’s partner.
Wilder sat up and leaned back against his headboard.
“What has you frightened, Mother?”
“Otto can’t see.”
He nodded. “That’s not unusual. He hasn’t ever seen clearly around Lyra.”
Aine shook her head. “No. He can’t see anything about this bargain your father made.”
“Still? Who would have the power to hide from Otto’s sight?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “And he’s still refusing to tell me.”
“We leave now?”
She nodded. “I just instructed Daisy to pack her things. They’ll be ready soon.”
Wilder leaned his head back and groaned.
“And there’s something else,” she muttered.
His eyes flashed open. “What?”
“I watched the two of you—”
“No.”
Queen Aine flinched. “No?”
Wilder shook his head, glaring at his mother. “No. I will not speak of it—or her.”
She smiled then, and her brow arched high. “As you wish.”