Page 81 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

There was no bringing her back—there was no soothing this pain.

So Frelina didn’t say anything. Instead, she just sat there—let Raine decide if he wanted to speak again. Let him know she would listen.

They were quiet for so long that the sun moved across the sky, casting their side of the ship in shadows.

When the wind began whistling around them, a shiver worked its way through her body, and she was grateful when Raine sat down on the other chair and swept a blanket around them both.

Frelina stared into the wind, feeling some kind of relief when it wet her eyes again as she asked, “What happens now?”

Raine was quiet for so long that Frelina was about to ask again when he sighed.

“Now we face Ydren’s relatives.” He lifted a hand when the wyvern, as if called, jumped out of the water and nearly splashed them as she slammed into the surface again. “Then we face the gods.”

“H-have you met any of the gods before?” Frelina asked, wondering why the mention of the gods filled her with much more dread than that of the sea monsters.

Even just thinking of them made her bones tremble.

Her father didn’t know, but she’d found the books he’d kept from her—the ones detailing how the royal families turned on the ones who created them because of how cruel the gods had become, how they had nearly found a way to kill the gods before they finally left the Old World alone.

“I’m not that old,” Raine muttered. “So no.”

“How oldareyou, actually?” Frelina teased, earning a scowl back.

When silence stretched on for a bit and it became too loaded to listen only to Ydren’s soft splashes and the sails shifting with the wind, Frelina spoke again.

“Do you think the wyverns will listen to her?”

Raine looked out over the sea as he responded. “Ydren has taken to her—says she sees herself in Lessia. I’m hoping that’s a good sign. But Ydren also didn’t grow up with the other wyverns.” He let out a breath. “If you think we Fae are ruthless…”

He didn’t have to continue for the air around them to turn chilly.

Frelina wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, unable to stop herself from leaning into Raine when another rush of fear danced over her skin.

The Fae didn’t say anything as he lifted his arm, allowing her to settle against him.

But it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to be in his mind to know facing the wyverns, then the gods, and then the rebels and Oakgards’ Fae…

It was too much for anyone to survive.

Even without a prophecy hanging over their head.

Chapter 16

Merrick

Merrick set Lessia down on the bed in a cabin that must have been the king’s.

He wondered for a second whether he should try to find another room—find somewhere Rioner might not have tainted the air—but when Lessia settled against the wall, stretching out her legs across the bed and expectantly lifting her gaze to his, he only shot her a quick smile as he sat down beside her.

Sitting like this together—her leg pressed against his, her soft breaths the only thing his ears picked up as his eyes traveled across the table and chair standing in the middle of the room and the small tub in the corner—reminded him for a moment of the election.

When stolen moments like this had been the only time he thought he might get with her.

When he’d had to fight with everything in him not to pull her into his arms.

In Ellow his need to hold her—especially when those fucking humans mistreated her—had been so strong he’d often had to force himself to sit on a chair across the room.

It had probably painted his face with a constant scowl, as he hadn’t trusted himself not to curl around her. To try to protect her. Hide her from the cruel world they lived in.