Page 57 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

Pain struck him with such force that he couldn’t hold back the jerk that racked his body.

Letting his eyes fall, he found a dagger—the damned dagger he’d gifted Lessia, the one with the rubies to complement his gemstone-decorated sword—sticking out of his side.

Let us go!

We will kill him!

The whispers screamed at him as he reached down and ripped the blade out, tucking it into one of his sheaths and refusing his body’s wish to double over to protect itself from more harm.

No!he growled back.

He was doing this by himself.

Fucking quickly, so that he could get to Lessia.

Without a second’s warning, Merrick spun around, and he had no idea what Torkher saw in his face, but it was the first time he’d ever seen the Fae shrink back.

Merrick didn’t bother savoring the moment. Instead, he dropped his sword, and just like he’d planned, Torkher’s eyes followed.

He had to resist shaking his head.

The dumb bastard.

Then he attacked.

Gripping the Fae’s arms, he pressed them against the intricate wooden railing, and when Torkher began kicking for his gut or chest—exactly as Merrick knew he would—he ducked under them, forcing Torkher’s legs up, so the Fae landed on Merrick’s bowed back.

Shooting upward as fast as he could, before the idiot could realize this wasn’t the best position for him to be in, Merrick flipped Torkher over the railing.

But Merrick still held on to his arms, and when they stopped the Fae’s backflip…

he moved Torkher’s flailing arms so he could hold them with one hand, and then he used the other to push harder, until a loud crack broke through the air and Torkher screamed.

Merrick didn’t wait before he dragged the Fae back onto the deck. He wasn’t letting him go until he was in fucking pieces—when Merrick knew he would never be able to recover.

Torkher moaned as his broken arms lay at awkward angles around his half-sitting body.

With a glance backward—his pulse thundering impossibly fast at the sight of Lessia still charging around the flames—he realized he still had a second. Maybe two.

And… Lessiahadclaimed this bastard.

Removing his belt and ignoring how that made the blood flow more freely from his gut, Merrick quickly tied the Fae’s broken arms as tightly as he could, and when Torkher cursed him, he slammed a boot into his face so hard the Fae must have lost consciousness.

He didn’t bother double-checking, though, as his hammering heart beat faster, his senses warning him of danger. As he spun around, a wave of heat immediately washed over him, forcing him to squint as he sprinted back toward the middle of the deck.

Smoke began twirling toward the sky, shrouding what was happening from view, and Merrick swore to himself as he stormed farther into the dark clouds.

He needed to find her. There wasn’t another option.

“Lessia!” he screamed across the deck, not giving one shit if that betrayed his location.

The answering scream chilled him to his bones.

It wasn’t his name.

It wasn’t a word at all.

But it was hers, and it was filled with pain.