Page 101 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

Just a little bit longer.

Vivid colors—as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky and now began spinning around their ship—appeared before her eyes, and even though she blinked, she couldn’t make out any shapes, the movements of whatever was swimming in the water around them too fast even for her Fae eyes.

She guessed it was the same for Merrick and Raine, given the vicious rumblings starting in their chests, and when Merrick bent down to press his lips against hers—feverishly, harshly—she knew they were as worried as she was becoming.

Goose bumps peppered her body as she tried to keep her head steady, something inside her warning her not to lose focus, but when Ydren let out a scared sound—one that pierced Lessia’s heart like an arrow—she whipped it around.

It was as if she walked into a wall of nausea, and she brought her free hand to her mouth at the same time as Merrick pressed her harder against his quivering body.

“Don’t let them get to you,” he warned. “They’re trying to confuse us.”

Lessia started to nod but froze when that voice—the one that sounded like Merrick’s but also didn’t—echoed in the air as the colors began spinning even faster.

We’re here now, princess of Vastala, but you don’t seem to have anything to say.

It switched to her sister’s voice.

And you brought one of us. Where did she come from?

“Stop using their voices,” Lessia snarled. “And stop whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Who are you talking to?” Frelina asked, her voice breaking up as Raine dragged her closer to him.

“Maybe she’s finally lost it,” Raine mumbled when Lessia hesitated, but he quickly snapped his mouth shut when Merrick growled in warning.

“It’s the wyverns,” Lessia said softly as she tried to listen for those voices again.

It was strange how she heard them. It wasn’t like they were in her mind, but… like they were in another’s.

She didn’t read minds, though…

She’s figuring it out. The soul stone…

Hush!The fake Merrick voice filled with anger.

A sharp light shot from Lessia’s arm—the one the stone had merged with—and she realized from the gasps leaving Raine and Frelina that even though the rest couldn’t hear the voices, they, too, could see the glow.

Merrick only seemed to stiffen further, his grip on her tightening so much she might have complained had they been in another situation.

“The soul stone…” she whispered to herself, feeling that flicker in the air again—the one she’d felt in the white mist.

Fear. Worry. Anger.

“I feel them,” Lessia said. “I hear them and I feel them.”

We felt you everywhere. Heard and saw and learned everything about you.

“You hear and see and feel me too,” she mumbled.

Her mind went to the conversation she’d had with Merrick that first night they had together.

“I feel your emotions.” That’s what he’d told her when she thought he’d read her mind, but he’d only felt her emotions because of the mate bond.

“We’re soul-bonded,” Lessia exclaimed.

“What are you talking about?” Frelina’s head had begun snapping back and forth despite Raine holding on to her, and her sister’s skin color had faded from a soft glow to a green hue.

“You feel them.” Merrick leaned down, his stubble brushing her cheek as he stared out across the water, where those colorsstill revolved like a vibrant rope around the ship, and she realized he was catching on. “You hear them.”