Page 59 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile
“Stop!”
He froze in place at her voice.
“Merrick, please stop!”
He started pulling in his magic when something roared above him. Merrick flicked his gaze up, his eyes widening even within the painful smoke.
Ydren had risen from the water, using her large leathery wings—wings Merrick hadn’t known she’d been able to control, since wyverns only used them in fighting—to keep herself half flying out of the water.
His eyes rounded further when Lessia climbed—fucking climbed with her broken hands and body—up her long spikes to reach the beast’s head. Then his heart stopped.
Lessia screamed something lost in the wind for him, pointing down with her entire arm, and Ydren didn’t wait a moment before she dove toward the deck.
Opening her massive maw, the wyvern unleashed a torrent of water on the ship before her entire body slammed into the wood, making the vessel quiver.
It was quiet for only a second.
Then the smoke cleared, and more screaming began.
But Merrick didn’t call Lessia’s name again. He could only watch as his mate slipped off Ydren’s head and stormed forward,tackling the fire wielder as he gawked at the wyvern, and the golden glow that followed wasn’t from flames.
No. Even though he could not hear what Lessia told the Fae, he knew she commanded him to be released from the blood oath. Because that’s who she was.
She wouldn’t kill him. Not when he hadn’t chosen this himself.
That overwhelming feeling of love slammed into Merrick. He couldn’t understand how it even fit within him. How his dark heart could survive it. But somehow… it did.
He loved her so damned much.
He could hardly take it when she pushed herself off the Fae and reached out a broken hand to help him to his feet.
The Fae didn’t take her up on the offer.
Fucking thankfully. Otherwise, Merrick might have had to kill him.
His heart thrummed in his ears, and when Lessia’s eyes searched the ship, finally landing on his own, he thought it might escape his chest.
She was so fucking beautiful.
Bloodied.
Sooty.
Her hair hanging like stringy curtains around her face.
Her skin barely visible under the dirt.
But those eyes… The amber glittered like gemstones in the sun that broke through the smoke.
She was alive. Alive and fighting, and he’d never loved her more.
He’d meant it when he said he’d fallen in love with her more every day, watching her fight for her fucking life.
She was a force of nature, and when she beckoned for him…
The Death Whisperer’s legs nearly gave out. But he forced himself to walk toward her—to close the distance he wished to erase forever.
She offered him a small smile as she slipped a bloodied hand into his, but then her nose wrinkled. “You’re injured.”
