Page 65 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

Another image flickered before her eyes.

Her sister atop a wyvern, climbing up its head as a fire roared beneath them. Elessia hesitating before Rioner when the guard begged her to kill him. Rioner disappearing within the deep sea as Merrick fell to his knees.

Frelina lowered her mental walls for a second to let Raine hear a softThank you.

She hadn’t understood how much she needed to see that there was still some fight left within Elessia, but that second of hesitation before the king had told Frelina all she needed to know.

Her sister might be broken… but she hadn’t given up. Something within Elessia still wanted to live.

Lifting her head, Frelina blinked a few times.

Now there was some time…

Now that she knew, that Merrick knew, that the rest knew…

They could come up with a plan to keep Elessia alive.

She let her eyes find her father again, holding on to her legs as the pain struck her like a knife and allowing Raine to grip her shoulders more firmly—to keep her up or keep her together, she didn’t know.

Moving so she looked up at him, she lowered the protection keeping him out of her mind.

He’s dead.

She needed to say it somehow—to process it. But she couldn’t do it out loud. Not yet.

I know.Raine’s eyes didn’t waver from hers as he responded.

It hurts.

I know.Another squeeze of her shoulders.

It’s not fair.

I know.Raine’s words wobbled a little bit, and she realized he did know.

Frelina watched the muscle in his jaw tense.

She’d heard about his mate being killed. She couldn’t imagine his pain, not even having glimpsed it when she managed to catch him with his guard down once on the ship on their way to Ellow.

It couldn’t even be comparable to her own.

A shudder racked her before she realized she hadn’t raised her walls again.

I’m sorry!She tried to break away from his gaze as she quickly shut the door to her mind, but he wouldn’t let her.

Don’t be.Raine’s eyes flitted between hers.Solana always said no hurt was the same. We all hurt in different ways and for different things, but that doesn’t take away anyone’s right to pain.

Frelina nodded as she watched his hazel eyes brighten to almost all green as he thought of Solana, of their love, of their hurt.

She felt it all.

It was beautiful and bright and utterly heartbreaking at the same time.

A sad smile pulled at Raine’s features as he slipped his flask out of his tunic.

After taking a long sip, the emotions playing across his face muting, he offered it to her. But even though her pain was raw, fighting so hard within her that it felt as if it could burst through her skin from the pressure, she shook her head.

“I want to feel it,” she whispered. “I need to feel it. I need to feel it all.”