Page 142 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

He was giving her what she’d wished for: time, love, friendship, acceptance. And he was clearly trying to give her the one thing she knew he couldn’t… a future.

Her brows snapped together when Merrick remained quiet. His eyes drifted her way like they usually did, but they also… kept returning to his friend, and when they did so, there was something, a twinge of worry, disturbing the silver swirls within his eyes.

Lessia’s eyes followed, trailing over the burly Fae. There was something about Raine that irked her as well.

“What happened to you?” Lessia asked softly when Raine, who must have felt her eyes on him, threw a look her way.

Frelina stiffened on her other side, and Lessia sliced her gaze her sister’s way.

Why did she look… guilty?

“And what happened to you, Lina?” she continued when no one spoke up.

Silence. It was just… silence.

All right then.

“Did they… speak to you?” Lessia tried.

Nothing.

Raine still looked so unnatural, and why was there guilt in his green-and-gold eyes too? The green-and-gold eyes that were… clear?

“You’re sober,” Lessia gasped. “Aren’t you?”

Raine’s jaw tightened, still no sound leaving him, but she didn’t need to hear it from him.

He’d looked so strange to her because he was walking entirely straight, because his features weren’t the mixture of hardness and softness she’d gotten used to, because his hands shook in the way they did whenever he hadn’t had a drink in a while.

She hadn’t seen his flask either. Not on the mirrored, arched path leading them to the ship. Not as they got on the ship and it began moving. Not the entire time they’d collected themselves, got ready to get the wyverns and sail to Ellow.

“Was it… did the gods do something to you?” Lessia searched Raine’s eyes, noting the wince weaving across his face as he swallowed.

He swallowed three more times before he finally spoke.

“They believe I was wasting the life they’d given me,” he said quietly. “They took it… the liquor… Zharra… she said that I can’t use it to get through life anymore. That like any of the childrenshe gives life to, I need to experience it or…” Raine swallowed again. “Move on.”

“She spoke to me as well,” Frelina interrupted. “For being the god of life, she isn’t the most cheerful, is she? She casually informed me I’d die alone.”

Lessia slipped her hand into Frelina’s when she heard the fear breaking through what Frelina probably had meant to sound indifferent. Squeezing, Lessia declared, “You won’t.”

But the words sounded as empty as she felt. The gods couldn’t lie. They could evade and elude and distract… but not lie.

The whole group jerked when Merrick’s whispers boomed around them, and Lessia dropped Frelina’s hand to grab her dagger, her eyes wide as she cast them around.

Raine had gripped his blades, too, and Frelina bared her teeth as she stepped closer to Lessia.

Merrick was the only one who looked… relaxed?

“What the fuck?” Raine spat when Merrick actually started laughing.

Nostrils flaring, Lessia thought Raine’s question was pretty accurate, especially as that sticky feeling layered over her.

She might not hate it as much as she used to—for some reason, his whispers more caressed than threatened her nowadays—but still… she could do without.

“Those bastards…” Merrick’s laugh rumbled around her, and she would have smiled at the expression on his face if she had a clue what was going on.

It was Frelina who finally kicked Merrick’s shin, causing the Death Whisperer to rein his magic in when she hissed, “What are you doing?”