Page 164 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

The two men pressed their cheeks against each other’s, Ardow’s auburn hair mixing with Venko’s blond mane as they held on to each other, moving elegantly but slowly from side to side as they appeared to be having a whispered conversation, judging from how their lips moved.

More warmth welled within her as she watched her two best friends.

“We’ve come quite far from those drunken nights,” Lessia whispered to herself when first Ardow, then Amalise, shot her a soft smile.

“What did you say?”

She jerked back at Loche’s voice, making the barrel shake, and Loche had to grip it so her sudden movement wouldn’t make it fall over, taking her with it.

“Sorry,” he mumbled when it finally stilled. “I heard you wanted to be alone, but I just wanted to say hi.”

Lessia gripped the edge of the barrel as she stared back at him. He seemed… not calmer but focused, no pain brimming in his eyes as they met hers, and she heard herself order, “Sit.”

“Are you sure? I don’t need to.” Loche threw a look at the dance floor, but no one was paying them any attention, not with the drinks flowing and music building.

“I’m sure.” She smiled at him, patting the barrel beside her. “Sit.”

As he did what she said, hoisting himself on top of it much more effortlessly than she’d crawled onto her own, he shot her a smile back. “You’re not dancing?”

She shook her head, eyes darting to her own ship for a second.

Loche nodded once. “Raine’s party just arrived. I was heading over there myself to greet them, but I heard they couldn’t find Raine, so I thought I’d come here to check first.”

Lessia had a suspicion about exactly where Raine was, since her sister hadn’t been sighted, either, and she’d heard some strange noises when she’d finally returned to the ship to drop the daggers she’d been given in preparation for tomorrow, but if they wanted some time alone, she would not be the one to out them.

So she only mumbled something incoherent as her eyes drifted toward her friends again.

A silence settled between them, but it wasn’t a loaded one, and she turned back toward Loche when she sensed him watching her.

“I’m sorry for what I put you through,” he blurted when their eyes met again, and she didn’t have time to do more than gape when he continued. “I… just wanted to have it said.”

Lessia knew very well why these apologies were streaming out of people. She’d heard enough of them as she walked through different groups of people on the ships today. People were worried, scared that by the end of tomorrow, it would be too late.

“I’m sorry too,” she said, offering him a weak smile. “We really messed this up, didn’t we?”

Loche’s lips lifted into an equally forced smile. “Maybe we did. Maybe we didn’t. Maybe this was exactly what we were meant to do.”

She eyed him for a moment, making sure he was sincere. “Maybe,” she responded.

Because maybe they’d been exactly what each other needed in those moments—a beacon of hope, a mutual understanding, a bond between misunderstood people.

Loche’s mouth twitched like he was reading her thoughts. “Make sure you bring the same rage tomorrow as when Craven dared open his mouth.”

Lessia huffed a laugh, even knowing the older man’s fate. “I’ll do my best. And… you do the same, all right?”

She’d heard from the others about Meyah—that she was Loche’s mother—and while she’d been shocked, there was something in her that had known that he was different. That he wasn’t entirely human, that like herself, he was… something else.

Loche dipped his chin, and he began to make his way off the barrel when one of his men signaled him, and they both noted Raine and Frelina walking over the brow between their ship and Loche’s. But as he was about to walk away, he turned to her again, placing a hand over her own.

“I’m happy you have him,” he said in a voice that should have been too soft to be the regent’s. “I truly am. He’s… he’s a good man, Lessia.”

She smiled at him, not a forced one this time. “I know.”

Loche nodded again before heading over to the man who’d waved him down, saying something to her sister that had her turn around and head Lessia’s way while Raine quickly disappeared to the other ship.

That warmth sneaking through her body took a permanent spot in Lessia’s chest.

She and Loche would be all right. She believed that now.