Page 26 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile (Compelling Fates Saga #3)

Frelina

S he stared at the closed door, and before she had time to think about what she was doing, Frelina took a step toward it.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Raine warned from behind her.

Halting, still with her hand outstretched to grip the handle, she asked, “Why?”

She’d seen Elessia in Merrick’s arms. Devastation was too weak a word to describe what had blanched her features.

“She needs us,” Frelina continued as her stomach clenched at the hollowness of the mask Lessia had worn while she’d huddled with Loche and the others to plan for the next few weeks.

She’d been able to observe her sister the entire time, since no one had invited Frelina to join.

Not that it was surprising…

What could she contribute if there was war?

But she could help her sister. She’d been too overwhelmed so far—had found comfort in Elessia being the strong one. But when she’d spoken to that blond Fae…

A chill raced down Frelina’s spine.

It had sounded so ominous somehow—like she’d stepped into a role she didn’t want to claim but that was hers all the same. As if Elessia had just… accepted it somehow.

If what she’d accepted was death… No, Frelina wouldn’t have that.

She needed to be strong now for her sister. Protect her like she’d protected her parents back then.

Frelina let out a sharp breath as she took another step.

“I really advise against going in there.” Raine wrapped his hand around her arm, pulling her back.

“I need to help her,” Frelina snarled, trying to escape the Fae warrior’s grip.

But Raine wouldn’t budge, and she groaned when he only pulled her into the cloud of alcohol stench that always clung to him.

Let me go, you dumb drunk!

She opened her mind to him when her voice wouldn’t cooperate, the thickness from all the crying choking her words.

Raine opened his mind back. Merrick’s got her. He’ll distract her.

I’m her sister! Frelina snarled into his head, trying to make it bounce against those thick walls Raine never allowed her through.

Exactly.

She hated the lopsided smile Raine threw her.

Then he sent her a memory, and her body became warm. Then cold. Then warm again.

Low sounds of pleasure, then gentle, loving words, touched a thick wooden door surrounded by white stone, and she could hear Raine sigh as he lifted a hand to knock on it—could feel how little he wanted to pull Merrick and Elessia out of that room.

That’s what’s going to happen in there, so unless you’re someone who likes to listen—and trust me, I don’t judge—I’d advise you to stay up here with the dumb drunk.

Frelina shook her head as Raine stepped back and released her arm.

Surely Elessia wouldn’t…

Then memories from her growing up filled her thoughts.

How her father had done everything—everything in his power—to keep her mother distracted when they found out she was sick.

Their room had never been quiet. Their kitchen had never been without the newly baked bread her mother loved. Alarin barely ever let his hands leave her mother, even as they walked the forest, even as they bathed, even as they slept.

Even though Fae—including her parents—were open with their love, Frelina blushed, and the blush deepened until her cheeks burned when Raine chuckled and said, “You’re as bad as Lessia. She could barely hear me say the word fuck before.”

Frelina covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. “I’d just rather not imagine my sister doing it.”

“So you’d like to imagine someone else doing it?”

Her nostrils flared when she peeked at Raine through her fingers. “No!”

“Are you sure?” Raine took a step toward her as he lowered his voice. “You don’t want to imagine someone removing those dirty clothes of yours and using their hands to wash your body so excruciatingly slowly that you burn for them?”

Frelina’s eyes widened, and she started backing up, still shaking her head.

But Raine continued approaching her, steadily and deliberately.

“You don’t want someone to weave their hands into your hair and drag their lips across the heated skin of your neck, licking and biting every inch of it until you can’t breathe anymore?”

Frelina’s back reached the door.

Her skin was on fire now, and her face felt as if it were melting, not only because of Raine’s words… but because of what they started within her.

Embers of warmth sparked within her core, and as she continued to meet Raine’s eyes, meeting the challenge there head-on, she shook her head once more.

Still, Raine took another step.

She held his gaze, seeing something flicker in there, and she took a shallow breath, understanding beginning to form in her mind.

“You don’t want someone to claim your lips until you’re begging them to claim you entirely?” Raine rasped.

He took another step, and the embers within her became a kindling fire.

“You don’t want someone to lift you up and press his co?—”

Frelina stepped forward, a laugh bursting from her lips even if fire still touched her cheeks, the cool early morning breeze not helping one bit.

Raine froze.

“I know what you’re doing,” she purred, grateful when the playfulness hid the slight uncertainty within her that she was right.

“What am I doing?” Raine asked quietly.

Frelina lifted her hands and dragged them down Raine’s chest.

He stepped back.

Cocking her head, she raised her brows.

A shadow of a grin brightened Raine’s face, his white teeth glinting as light trickled off the horizon, his hair shining like rust in the sun.

“Clever little Rantzier,” Raine purred back as he pulled out his flask. “Merrick isn’t the only one who can distract people, you know.”

Frelina shook her head again as she cast her eyes upward.

While she’d realized he was only doing it to get her to focus on something else—anything else—other than the pain, her own or her sister’s, Raine’s words had still ignited something in her.

She did want that.

She wanted all of it.

She wanted someone to kindle that fire in her, and she wanted a man’s hands worshipping her body. She wanted to forget everything except the moment she was swept up in.

Ideally, she wanted it with someone she loved, but she’d settle for someone she liked too.

Maybe even someone she tolerated.

If war was to come upon them, Frelina probably couldn’t be too picky—couldn’t wait for a mate who might not even exist if she ever wanted to feel that way.

Raine’s brows snapped together for a short second, but it was enough for pink to tint her cheeks again.

She’d forgotten to close her damned mind, but thankfully Raine didn’t say anything else.

Not wishing to be left alone even though embarrassment still heated her blood, Frelina followed Raine as he pulled up the anchor—making dragging the thick metal hulk onto the deck seem much easier than it should have been—and when he ventured up to the top deck, taking the helm, she settled onto one of the wooden stools beside it.

He cast her a glance now and again as he began steering the ship west, heading to what she’d overheard being called a middle-realm, a realm that was never named, that never belonged to anyone or anything, and that most apparently thought should be left alone.

“Your sister is strong.”

Her eyes flew to Raine’s when he spoke.

“I thought she was broken when I met her… but she’s not.” Raine shook his head, an expression Frelina hadn’t seen before crossing his face.

It was…

Hope.

It was hope, she thought, that made the Fae’s hazel eyes burn as he stared back at her.

But hope for what?

“She’s the strongest person I’ve ever met,” Raine continued.

“Even with all this. Even with what she’s gone through—the people she’s lost, the hurt she’s been through and caused, she’s fighting back.

Not just for him…” Raine’s gaze drifted toward the door for a second, although Frelina knew he was referencing Merrick.

“She’s doing it because she truly believes in a world where peace may reign and people of all kinds may live freely. For a world where we are stronger together—united instead of enemies.” A scoff left Raine, but it wasn’t one that made Frelina think he believed her sister delusional.

No. His eyes were wistful as they followed the sail shifting in the wind.

“She would have loved her.” Raine continued staring up toward the sky as he continued. “She would have fought so hard by her side.”

Frelina looked away when tears began rolling down the Fae warrior’s face, and he quickly pulled out his flask and took deep swallows against the pain he wouldn’t let her feel.

Because that’s why Raine didn’t fully open his mind to her.

She’d thought he was just showing her up. But now she could taste his pain on the wind.

It was brutal.

There was nothing beautiful about it.

It was a pain that should shatter bones. That should crush souls. That should end lives.

Frelina opened her mouth, but no words came out.

What could she say?

His mate—Solana, she’d heard from Merrick once—was dead.

There was no bringing her back—there was no soothing this pain.

So Frelina didn’t say anything. Instead, she just sat there—let Raine decide if he wanted to speak again. Let him know she would listen.

They were quiet for so long that the sun moved across the sky, casting their side of the ship in shadows.

When the wind began whistling around them, a shiver worked its way through her body, and she was grateful when Raine sat down on the other chair and swept a blanket around them both.

Frelina stared into the wind, feeling some kind of relief when it wet her eyes again as she asked, “What happens now?”

Raine was quiet for so long that Frelina was about to ask again when he sighed.

“Now we face Ydren’s relatives.” He lifted a hand when the wyvern, as if called, jumped out of the water and nearly splashed them as she slammed into the surface again. “Then we face the gods.”

“H-have you met any of the gods before?” Frelina asked, wondering why the mention of the gods filled her with much more dread than that of the sea monsters.

Even just thinking of them made her bones tremble.

Her father didn’t know, but she’d found the books he’d kept from her—the ones detailing how the royal families turned on the ones who created them because of how cruel the gods had become, how they had nearly found a way to kill the gods before they finally left the Old World alone.

“I’m not that old,” Raine muttered. “So no.”

“How old are you, actually?” Frelina teased, earning a scowl back.

When silence stretched on for a bit and it became too loaded to listen only to Ydren’s soft splashes and the sails shifting with the wind, Frelina spoke again.

“Do you think the wyverns will listen to her?”

Raine looked out over the sea as he responded. “Ydren has taken to her—says she sees herself in Lessia. I’m hoping that’s a good sign. But Ydren also didn’t grow up with the other wyverns.” He let out a breath. “If you think we Fae are ruthless…”

He didn’t have to continue for the air around them to turn chilly.

Frelina wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, unable to stop herself from leaning into Raine when another rush of fear danced over her skin.

The Fae didn’t say anything as he lifted his arm, allowing her to settle against him.

But it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to be in his mind to know facing the wyverns, then the gods, and then the rebels and Oakgards’ Fae…

It was too much for anyone to survive.

Even without a prophecy hanging over their head.