She would die for these wyverns, and the harsh breath leaving Merrick told her he’d do the same. They were united now—she’d earned their respect, and so had Merrick, refusing to give up even when she took her last breath.
Lessia held on to that feeling for the last hours they traveled across the sea. While it might have been wishful thinking—her imagination—she felt stronger for each wave that Auphore escaped, felt stronger for each mile they swam toward the border. As if the bond had truly cured her—as if the wyverns’ acceptance healed her.
Merrick had been quiet most of the trip, but when the armada of their own ships—flags of Vastala and Ellow and even a few from Korina swaying proudly in the wind—finally appeared ahead, he whispered into her hair. “You know I love you no matter what you decide, right? That no matter where this life takes us, I will be by your side?”
Her brows pulled as she turned to look at him, trying to ignore Auphore’s sound of protest as she moved over his scales. “Of course I do… but?—”
Merrick’s eyes were fierce as they burned into hers, and like the first time she’d seen them, that sense of falling had her grip his arm as he asked, “And you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you,” Lessia replied, and her confusion must have caused the wrinkle between her brows to deepen because Merrick leaned forward to kiss it.
“Good,” he rasped. “Please don’t stop doing so when we get on the ship.”
She continued to frown at him, but she didn’t have time to ask what he was talking about before music floated toward them. Not the drums that had followed them on the ride here, but soft trickling music—flutes, horns, harps, and lyres accompanied soft singing—and Lessia looked around in wonder at the people milling about on the ships in the front line.
There was food on every ship.
Cups and goblets in people’s hands.
Fae, humans, and shifters mingling—some even dancing.
What—
Enjoy the wedding celebrations.Auphore didn’t give them a warning as he rose from the water, towering over a ship in the middle. Lessia would have squeaked as she almost fell backward if she hadn’t recognized every smiling face greeting them on the deck.
Her sister and Raine, their hands clasped and faces full of light.
Kerym with his arms around both the witch sisters.
Ardow and Venko and Amalise and Zaddock smiling more widely than she’d ever seen them do.
Kalia and Cedar, and all the children waving to them.
Loche and Iviry in beautiful formal gowns—something that must have been made on the ships here because the black and green clothing was a mixture of Vastala’s and Ellow’s styles.
Perfect for a united pair of leaders.
She shot Merrick a smile over her shoulder. “We made it in time for the wedding!”
His returning smile was blinding. “I couldn’t have it another way.”
Giving him a quick peck, Lessia jumped off the wyvern first, and she didn’t know how many hands helped steady her as she stumbled on the first step, but she didn’t care.
They were all here.
Lessia threw her arms around Frelina and Raine first, sensing the difference between them even before she saw the mating mark on Frelina’s neck.
Then Kerym lifted her off her feet, whispering, “I missed you, Golden Eyes.”
The witch sisters, Amalise, and Ardow hugged her at the same time, and Lessia playfully smacked at them when they cut off her air supply.
Loche and Iviry stepped up next, and while the tension between the two was palpable even as they hovered a few feet apart, Lessia pulled them both into a hug, ignoring that it was perhaps a strange thing to do with someone whom she’d once loved and his future wife.
“I’m so glad we got here in time,” Lessia exclaimed when she pulled back, and her eyes wandered over happy, relieved faces—she guessed they’d thought she would be in much worse shape. “I hope you didn’t have to wait for us?”
“No,” Iviry responded. “You came at the perfectmoment. But you both need to change so that we can finally get started!”
Lessia tried to catch Merrick, but Amalise and Frelina got a firm grip on her arms. She didn’t have time to turn around before her sister and friends dragged her down into a room where she recognized a few of Loche’s weapons, and a rack with beautiful dresses stood on the opposite side of the space.
