Page 31 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile (Compelling Fates Saga #3)

Lessia

A n impenetrable mist had formed ahead of their ship, and a chill wove its way down Lessia’s back as she stared at it, tried to see anything through the thick white wall, but a sigh rushed out of her as she squinted at the whirling air.

It was useless.

They’d begun to glimpse it a few days ago, and she’d already asked Merrick and Raine several times if they were certain—truly certain—that this was the way they must go.

Unfortunately, it was. This unnamed land between realms that appeared shrouded in mist was where the wyverns supposedly lived, and further in… that’s where they’d find the Lakes of Mirrors.

It was believed the wyverns had chosen this location because of its proximity to where Fae could call upon the gods.

Not that anyone did it anymore, not after the war, where the Fae drove the gods from all known realms. No one even ventured out here, as the Fae feared retribution for the bloodshed and violence they’d brought upon the world by turning on their masters.

Lessia wrapped her arms around herself. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to meeting the wyverns or the gods.

She could still hear the way the wyverns had whispered her last name—the warning in it.

A warning not to come here?

She wasn’t sure, but it hadn’t been good.

“You cold?” Frelina sidled up to her, pulling a cloak that Lessia was pretty sure was Raine’s around her shoulders.

Dropping her arms, Lessia shook her head. “Just… apprehensive.”

Frelina hummed as her eyes also drifted toward the towering wall of clouds before them.

It was so close now. They’d sail into it today.

Lessia fought the urge to fold into herself again.

She needed to be strong, just a little while longer. Just until it was her time, she’d hold it together—be the person the ones she loved could lean on.

She didn’t want to see Merrick’s eyes fill with that pain she knew he only allowed when he thought she wasn’t looking.

But he didn’t know she was always looking. She needed to memorize every line of his sharp features, his broad shoulders, his tall and muscular body, before it was too late.

Perhaps it had been rash to tattoo him with her hopes and dreams…

But she’d needed it then—had needed him to know what she wanted.

Because if he knew, maybe… maybe he wouldn’t follow her into death but experience all the things she wished she had time to.

But even if she wished for it, she doubted it. Lessia could see his mind working every time his eyes rested on her, how he seemed to explore every possibility of saving her life. Even if it was as useless as trying to see through the damned mist.

“Is she practicing reading your mind again?” Raine called from a level higher up, where he steered the ship right onto the path Lessia wished they could divert from. “Do I need to come save her from perishing from embarrassment?”

“Shut up,” Frelina grumbled back. “Besides, I don’t need to practice.”

Despite her words, flames began licking her sister’s cheeks, and Lessia slapped a hand over her mouth, turning away from the two of them when the memory flashed before her eyes of Frelina digging into her mind right after she’d spent two days locked in that room with Merrick showing her his interpretation of love and time.

Lessia knew her sister had only been worried, and she’d felt guilty at the time, leaving Frelina to fend for herself with Raine, but Merrick—and if Lessia was honest, she— had needed the time together.

And so, instead of picking up any feelings Lessia might have about their father or perhaps her fate, Frelina had been shown a very detailed memory of Merrick’s skills with his fingers.

That’s at least what Raine had told them between wheezing bouts of laughter.

Her sister had panicked and sprinted into the room she’d apparently slept in, and it had taken Lessia hours to get her out again.

Frelina still couldn’t meet Merrick’s eyes, and Raine teased her sister about it every moment he got, which were many, given there wasn’t much else to do on this ship besides talk as they sailed toward the towering wall of white.

Lessia turned to where she knew Merrick was watching her.

His eyes flared when he picked up what feeling coursed through her body, and she could tell he was contemplating dragging her inside the cabin and locking her in the room where they’d spent the majority of the time in the past few days.

But when Raine spoke again, she subtly shook her head, letting her eyes drift toward Ydren, who popped her head over the side of the vessel, curiously watching the four of them, before shifting back to her sister.

Frelina seemed to require some backup right now.

Lessia was certain of her decision to remain by her sister’s side when Raine spoke again.

“Little Rantzier, it’s been days, and you still light up like fire in winter whenever we mention it.” Raine leaned over the gunwale, his hazel eyes glittering even in the gray light enveloping them and the ship. “Where is the sass from our first night together?”

“It’s because it was my sister, you bastard.” Frelina took a step toward Raine, angling her scowling face to his. “I wish to scrub my entire mind after seeing it, and I’d prefer not to be reminded all the time.”

“But it’s such fun reminding you.” Raine grinned widely before unscrewing the top of his flask and taking a sip. “It’s almost as good a distraction as this.” He waved the small bottle in the air.

“If you come down here, I’ll distract you.” Frelina grinned back, although Lessia was unsure whether whatever her sister’s lips were doing could be called a smile. It was more of a warning teeth-showing.

Leaning his elbows on the wood, Raine cocked his head. “Such big words for such a small person.”

Lessia hid a smile when her sister’s leg twitched.

Frelina had definitely been seconds away from stamping her foot.

“Are you one to talk?” Frelina purred, and Lessia had to bite her cheek not to snort when her sister suggestively popped a hip. “I think we both know who would be a coward in the end.”

Lessia’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Frelina went on to toss her hair, then dragged her other hand down her neck as she licked her lips, and she could sense Merrick turn around as well, facing the sea as he fought a deep chuckle.

Raine opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

“Exactly,” Frelina challenged. “Go steer the little ship now, Captain.”

The giggle Lessia had suppressed burst out of her when Raine stomped back to the helm, and she could tell Merrick was laughing as well where he stood a few feet away, in the bow, the shaking of his shoulders betraying him.

“What was that?” Lessia asked as Frelina returned to her spot beside her, her words coming out softer than she meant because of the lack of air from her laughter.

“It’s just a dumb game we’ve come up with.” Frelina wouldn’t meet her eyes as she rested her hands on the railing, her gaze trailing Ydren swimming beside the ship.

Lessia mirrored the movement, grateful that the past week had healed her hands to the point that she didn’t need to wear bandages anymore, even if the broken one still ached at night.

“It doesn’t seem too dumb to me,” Lessia responded carefully, sensing her sister hadn’t been exactly truthful about her feelings, from how her shoulders tensed.

“It is.” Frelina’s face pinched for a second. “He pretended to flirt with me that first night to distract me from…”

They shared a look, and Lessia didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what Frelina was thinking about.

Her father’s cold body. The blood beneath him dripping through the wooden planks. The sorrow in Raine’s and Merrick’s deep voices as they sang the song Fae soldiers sang when one of their own died in battle.

Lessia swallowed hard before she asked, “You don’t… like it?”

She’d get Raine to stop if it actually bothered her sister this much. A fierce protectiveness washed over her as she cast her eyes upward toward the red-haired Fae. She’d even use her magic on him, if it came to that.

Especially seeing glassiness fill Frelina’s eyes.

“It’s… it’s not him,” Frelina whispered, and pressure laced Lessia’s chest. “I… I just will never have the real thing. I know… I know it’s horrible what’s awaiting you, but… I can’t help but be jealous of what you and Merrick have. Even… even what you had with Loche.”

Lessia tried everything she could to catch her sister’s eyes, but Frelina refused, the tip of her nose turning pink from holding back tears.

Lessia squeezed the railing, ignoring the soreness in her newly healed hands.

She’d been so wrapped up in her own pain. In Merrick’s pain. In her sister’s pain over their father’s death. But she hadn’t thought…

Her sister was right, though. She might not be part of the curse, but with how things were looking now… not many of them would make it out alive, especially the ones of them who weren’t vicious centuries-old Fae warriors.

“I’m sorry,” Lessia whispered.

“I know.” Frelina moved so her shoulder brushed Lessia’s. “I’m sorry too.”

A thickness filled Lessia’s throat as she croaked, “I know.”

By birth, the two of them had been doomed. Halflings born to the brother of the king—the king who hated their kind more than anything else.

Her father had tried to give them some kind of life by hiding them away.

But what was life in the shadows?

Yes, Lessia might have wished not to have some of the experiences she’d had to endure…

But she’d lived.

She’d loved.

Frelina, on the other hand…

Tears welled in her eyes as she pressed closer to her younger sister.

Frelina needed time too.

“It’s almost upon us,” Frelina murmured, and Lessia sensed Merrick had come up behind her, his arms circling her, always protecting her, always there. She leaned into his touch as she met Ydren’s large eyes, but as she opened her mouth to respond, the world went white.

And then…

She was alone.

Lessia whirled around, but there was only white around her. Beneath her. Above her.

“Merrick!”

Then:

“Frelina!”