“I see no reason to change our plans now. Except, we have to make a contingency plan and see if saving Lyra's sister is possible.”
“What?” Lyra gasped, her head snapping to attention. At the same time, Theo made a happy noise of agreement, and Wyn snorted in outrage.
“She's a traitor!” Wyn protested, pointing in Lyra's direction.
“She's being honest with us,” Theo, ever the optimist, put his hand over Wyn's and tugged it back down to his lap.
“Oh, I don't trust her,” Calum clipped. It stung Lyra more than she expected. She hung her head again. “But she's being more honest with us now than she was this morning, or yesterday, or the day before that. The plan continues. We try to find a way to save your sister, Lyra. And if you break our pact, you will die.”
Lyra raised her face and looked directly at Calum, hoping her expression was as earnest as she felt.
“I know.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Calum bid a gentle farewell to Theo, and Theo promised to call him later. It was clear he was hoping to speak to his brother in private. Wyn looked furious, all of the previous gaiety and mischieviousness in his eyes drowned out by an intense anger. He couldn't look at Theo. His deadly glare locked on Lyra and every move she made. He was staring at her so intently, it made her fidget.
There was something in Wyn’s frustration that Lyra recognized wasn’t about her. He wanted her off the boat—there was no doubt about that—and he didn't trust her. Although she supposed no one on the boat really did. Not that she could blame them.
She was just as surprised as Wyn and Theo that Calum hadn't immediately ordered her off the ship. She knew if she hadn't already made a blood pact with Calum that would likely result in her death, she would have been thrown to the sea before Calum could hang up the phone.
It was still easier to look at the barely contained rage on Wyn's face than it was to risk looking at Theo.
“I’ll just—” Lyra pointed towards the door.
Wyn interrupted her with a short nod. “That's a good idea.”
He looked mere seconds away from abandoning Calum's instruction and getting rid of Lyra himself. There had to be something else churning in his mind, but Lyra was not the person who was going to get to the bottom of it. She stood up and left the room with as much grace as she could muster, which wasn't much. Part of her wanted to jump into the sea anyway and rid herself of the entire situation.
The thought of her sister in Cliodhna’s clutches kept her on the boat.
And Theo.
Lyra didn't want to think about which impulse was stronger at the moment. She fled towards the room she’d picked as her cabin and heard the door lock shut behind her.
“Ahh,” she murmured quietly, looking around the room. “Magic.” She grunted to herself. She could feel it in the air, as much as the call of the water threatened to drown out all of her other senses.
“I’m not sure if I'd rather be locked in.” Lyra turned towards the small porthole, looking at the waves churning alongside the boat. “Perhaps throwing me overboard was the best option for everyone.” She didn't feel any better voicing those opinions out loud.
Lyra sat on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chin. She wrapped her arms around her legs, the limbs still feeling foreign to her. She'd never be as comfortable on her feet than she was with fins, but that was something she'd accepted long ago.
What had she been reduced to? The situation she found herself in seemed ludricrous. A few days ago, she would've laughed at herself if she had known this would be where she'd end up. She was a siren. Lyra was designed to trap men, princes, and paupers alike.
Now, she had sold out her own flesh and blood for a man. She couldn’t deny it any longer.
Lyra was doing all of this for Theo.
And you wanted to blame your sister for chasing after men.Lyra wanted to bang her head against the wall for the irony.That's what got her into this mess. And it's what has prevented you from fixing it.
On some level, Lyra knew that wasn't entirely true, but she was feeling much too rotten to feel anything else.
The minutes turned to hours as she stared out of the tiny window, closing her eyes and feeling the boat sway side to side. It was a bizarre kind of torture, being locked in her room, so close to the water but unable to access it. She'd been threatened with being thrown overboard earlier—obviously drowning wasn't a threat—but she would have to answer to Cliodhna alone if they'd followed through.
Now, all she wanted was to escape the overly pitying looks Theo had been giving her and the disdain written all over Wyn's face.
A gentle knock at Lyra's door jolted her from her mental tirade, snapping her back to reality. She froze, part of her wondering if it was Wyn coming to disobey Calum and toss her off his boat. She wouldn't blame him in the slightest.
As if he could read her thoughts, Theo's muffled voice echoed in the hallway.
