Page 11 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

“Good.” Raine gave him a weak smile. “We’ll find her. And that little sister of hers.”

Merrick didn’t miss the shadow of guilt that crept across Raine’s face at the mention of Frelina.

Not that it had been his fault.

None of them could have known what Meyah was planning.

Still, although he probably should have, Merrick didn’t offer him any encouraging words.

It was good that he felt guilty—then he’d also have some urgency to find them.

Raine’s narrowed eyes told him he knew precisely what Merrick was thinking, but he didn’t say anything as they walked into the dimly lit cabin.

The low murmurs quieted as Merrick’s foot landed on the wooden floor, the squeaking of the planks seemingly echoing across the cramped room.

To his left, a few foul-smelling cots stood, and atop them sat the sisters who’d saved them back in the cabin in that damn forest on Asker.

Venko was perched on his own bed beside them, and the merchant briefly met his eyes as Merrick walked farther into the room.

Those blues of his still held some fear—even after all the weeks they’d spent together—and when Merrick curled his lip back, Venko quickly averted his eyes to the clasped hands in his lap.

Merrick would have snickered if there was any humor left in the world.

He could smell the loathing from Loche even before those steel eyes met his own, and his lip lifted farther, letting his teeth rasp against his bottom lip. The regent openly glared at him from where he sat watching Ardow and Amalise cooking something whose musty smell permeated the entire square room.

“Watch it, human,” Merrick purred when Loche grumbled something under his breath. “I wanted to kill you before all of this happened. Now… it might just be a necessity.”

“Merrick,” Raine warned. “She won’t like it.”

He’s right.

Merrick jerked when her voice rang in his mind, as clear as if she’d been right there, and the raspy sound of it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.

Shewouldn’tlike it if he killed Loche.

He couldn’t read her mind, but he knew she still cared for the dumb human, and he wouldn’t hurt her. Never again.

She’d told him she would never deny him anything.

And neither would he her.

“Fine,” he finally muttered. “I won’t kill you.”

When Loche smirked at him, one of those smiles the regent deserved to get his teeth knocked out from, Merrick added “yet” under his breath.

Perhaps Elessia would tire of his smug smiles and searching eyes.

If so, Merrick would be ready.

“No one is killing anyone.” The guard who had trailed Loche during the election—Zaddock, Merrick seemed to remember—stepped out from the small bathing chamber, where he must have dunked his hair in the only bucket, judging from the drops of water running down his leather tunic. “At least no one in this room.”

“Z, you’re ever so grumpy now.” Loche leaned back in his chair, his hands resting behind his head. “You seem a little frustrated… What happened those weeks in the cave?”

A plate clattered to the ground, and when Amalise bent to pick it up, it was impossible to miss her reddened cheeks and the sour look she cast at the regent.

Ardow appeared to have caught his friend’s discomfort as well, as he quickly broke in, “Let’s just eat, and then we can argue.”

No one seemed to disagree because when Ardow and Amalise set out the plates on the table for Raine, Loche, Zaddock, and Merrick, it remained entirely quiet.