Page 186 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

Merrick sprinted to her side when she collapsed against the railing, her hands barely holding her body up.

Fear, desperation, and despair filled the air.

From her friends behind her.

From Kerym’s wails.

From Meyah’s pleading.

From the cries of the people ahead.

Both the ones trying to flee and the ones realizing this was it—that this was the end.

She couldn’t take it. She couldn’t… just fucking stand here… couldn’t just run.

Please! There must be something?—

Another sound joined the ones pounding in Lessia’s ears.

A softer one.

A low cry and a hum and a demand all at once.

Peeking over the railing once more, Lessia met Ydren’s violet gaze—the wyvern hadn’t listened to her after all—and as soon as she did…

She knew what she must do.

She could see the same determination in the young wyvern’s eyes as she inclined her head to Lessia, and without looking behind her, Lessia started crawling over the thick wooden rail, when a hand—a gentle, begging touch—stopped her movement.

Her body didn’t give her a choice, and she turned to meet Merrick’s eyes.

“Please.” His whisper shattered every piece of her heart, and as she opened her mouth, his hand locked around her wrist. “Please.”

Ydren screeched behind them again.

And there wasn’t time.

She didn’t have the time to tell him everything she felt for him, why she had to do this, why he had made her strong enough to do this.

So instead, she let the magic brimming under her skin set her eyes on fire, and she’d never hated herself as much as she did in the moment she purred “Let me go” to her mate.

His fingers released her immediately.

Lessia didn’t look back as she threw herself onto Ydren’s back, nearly falling from her when the wyvern took off as fast as the wave that raced toward them.

Chapter 42

Loche

Something had happened.

Loche couldn’t describe it, but it was as if the world around him stilled, and he looked up from his mother’s scowling face to find Merrick by himself at the stern of the ship.

The Fae didn’t seem injured, but something was off…

Lessia wasn’t beside him.

Loche’s head snapped from side to side, finding the witch sisters watching over Kerym as he screamed out his sorrow over his brother, finding Zaddock gently setting Amalise on her feet, seeing Raine and Frelina holding on to each other as if they were the only ones left in the world, but…