“Respect for life?” A female voice interrupted her, and Lessia must have been a fucking saint because she justtilted her head as the female continued spewing, her cheeks as red as her hair when she finally took a step ahead of Merrick—much to the dismay of the man still holding the dagger.
“Look at these souls.” Both the female’s arms flew out, and when Merrick followed, he realized everyone—every Oakgards’ Fae—had several souls around them. The Fae’s faces were so ashen that Merrick was surprised their hearts didn’t give out, but they remained entirely still.
He caught Kerym’s blue eyes as his friend got off a wyvern, pulling Pellie first, then Soria with him. Then they moved to Iviry’s sparkling ones, and… was that a fucking lion?
Yes, a lion—larger than he’d ever seen—stalked in circles around a few Fae, even with the souls keeping them in check.
“You must have bound them to you—keeping them from moving on—for your benefit. You do not care for life! You’re exactly like your uncle.” A tanned finger wagged Lessia’s way, and his mate’s brows popped the tiniest bit before she sighed deeply.
“Only one of the things you just said is true.” Lessia slipped off Ydren, elegantly hopping onto the deck, and Merrick wasn’t the only one who drew a breath as several of the serpents slithered up from the waters beneath, their heads lifting so they hovered by Lessia’s hips, the soft glow from her reflecting in their black scales.
Fuck, she was incredible. Merrick knew this probably wasn’t the best moment… all right, definitely wasn’t the best moment… but heat coiled in his gut as he beheld her, and while she didn’t let a single feature of her face react, he could tell by the look she shot him that she felt the same.
“These souls are bonded to me, but only because Merrick is,” Lessia continued, and Merrick’s brows pulled as she shrugged his way as if to say,I just figured it out.
“They willingly bound themselves to Merrick—a male who never wanted power but wielded it all the same—in the hopes that I would accept them when the time came, so they, by their own choice, could rid this world of evil.”
Lessia reached out and placed a hand on one of the snakes’ heads. “When Merrick pulled me back from the dead, something awoke in me—something I haven’t wanted to accept until today—and while I have respect for the living as I have the dead, I can now revive those who wish to come back—those who aren’t done with life in this realm—if their bond to me is strong enough.”
The half-Fae female with the golden-brown hair, who had Merrick’s heart and soul and everything in her hands, jerked her head behind her. Somehow… not having seen it, but somewhere deep within him feeling it… Merrick knew the friends now getting off the wyverns. Raine and tear-stricken Frelina, Ardow and Venko, Zaddock and Amalise weren’t pale just because they were exhausted.
She’d brought them back.
A huff left Merrick, and he couldn’t fucking pretend to just wait anymore. With a sharp jab of his elbow, he forced the man’s hand off, ripping the dagger from his chest. Not giving a single fuck that blood streamed down his golden tunic, Merrick caught the male as he tried to step back and placed the dagger by his throathard enough that drops of blood pooled over the sharp edge.
As he made the man spin, he realized Lessia must have anticipated the move, because she had the other one by her red hair, forcing her down on her knees as the snakes hissed at the Oakgards’ female.
“See… Merrick is my strongest bond.” Lessia continued as if they hadn’t just won this entire war, because Merrick was quite certain that the two people whose lives were in their literal hands were the leaders of the Oakgards’ Fae, given the looks the other Fae around them shot their way. “And I knew a dagger wouldn’t stop him from getting to me.”
“Brouke,” the female whined, her brown eyes glossing.
“It’ll be all right, Daysee.” The man—Brouke—didn’t believe his own words.
Merrick shook his head at the leader as tears stained his cheeks when his mate realized it too.
“You should have fucking listened,” Merrick snarled. “She would have spared you.”
“I would have,” Lessia agreed. “But… Raine also tells me you hurt my sister.”
Lessia pulled on the female’s hair until her brown eyes were forced onto her golden ones. “I learned today that some evil might be necessary to forge a new path. But what you did… what you tried to do here today… it wasn’t just evil. It was useless. It was unnecessary. And for that… because I can’t trust you won’t return with your people once you’re strong enough again… you must die.”
“See… I was hoping we could avoid all that.” A deep male’s voice interrupted Merrick’s snarl as he kept Brouke in his place, and only after he made sure the Oakgards’ Fae wouldn’t move a fucking inch without dying did Merrick dare to turn around.
A massive Oakgards’ Fae got onto their ship, his features strongly resembling the shaking male Merrick was currently threatening: dark brown hair that was nearly black, and sharp green eyes, the color like fresh summer grass—brothers, perhaps?—but there was something about him…
“Marlow?” Brouke’s eyes seemed as if they would flee his sockets, and he exclaimed, “What… what are you doing here?”
Thankfully, he shut his fucking mouth when Merrick hissed at him.
“Do I know you?” Lessia asked the question just as Merrick was about to do the same.
There was a strange connection… something he’d only felt…
The man’s—Marlow’s—smile was so cold Merrick couldn’t help but be impressed, even as his chest rumbled, cautioning the man to tread lightly.
“Not yet, but I have a feeling we will get to know each other quite well.” The man walked right into the middle of the ship, his grin widening when Merrick growled viciously in warning.
“Not in that way… Her mate—the one who awoke her from death—I take it? My wife would literally rip my head off, and then everyone else’s here, if I tried anything. Probably the souls, too, if I know her well enough.” The man chuckled before he lifted his arm, pulling back the sleeve to reveal a bright glow, the same one that shone from Lessia’s arm.
