The blond Fae didn’t cast a look behind him as he stopped by the pale female, even if he must have heard Lessia and Merrick approaching. Whatever he saw in Kalia’s face had his magic roil in anger before his facesnapped forward and he bellowed, “I will burn every last one of you to the ground if you don’t stand down. Stand. The. Fuck. Down.”
After checking on Ydren, Lessia sidled up to Merrick, slipping a hand into his and giving him a crooked smile. The fire played across her features, casting a mixture of warmth and darkness across them. “Did you know she was his mate?”
Merrick shook his head. He didn’t particularly care, but itwasconvenient that Cedar must have sneaked onto the ship and hid in the hold.
Especially as Merrick moved his eyes ahead and the neat rows of Rioner’s soldiers—all dressed in those emerald uniforms that contrasted sharply against the polished white cliffs skirting this side of Vastala—broke apart, their faces twisting with worry as they beheld the fire that hadn’t given one inch, even though Merrick could see Cedar’s hands shook.
“Merrick.” Kerym came up beside them, throwing Merrick a pointed look.
Fuck. He hated all these males. He hated every memory of the training camps that included anyone other than Raine, Kerym, and Thissian. But… he’d made sure when he finally came into power that they’d be terrified of him, and that would probably be useful just about now.
After turning to the side, where Lessia still held his hand, he placed his fingers on her cheek. “I am a different person here, I… I need?—”
Lessia just smiled. One of those smiles that knocked the air right out of him, and he couldn’t fucking think for a second when her little hand pressed on his, telling him she knew exactly what he was about to do.
How was it possible to love someone this much?
Every damn nerve and drop of blood within him sang with it, and he once again cursed this world for what it was doing to her. For what she’d likely experience here in Vastala. For every fucking thing that had gone wrong lately.
That thought helped snap him out of it, and he ordered, “Cedar, drop the shield, but remain alert.”
Merrick also caught Kerym’s eyes, nodding at him to be ready.
He didn’t want to try to pull on his magic… or was it their magic now? Merrick didn’t know. But he wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t entirely necessary, not after the warning his parents had given them, so he’d need the others to step up if this went wrong.
As Cedar undid his magic, like a burning sheet folding down, revealing the hundred or so soldiers on the cliffs, their sharp eyes flying across the deck, Merrick stepped forward.
He didn’t stop Lessia from following—it was best to show these bastards what she was to him—but he did make sure she was half tucked behind him. When she sucked in air to protest, he whispered, “If you so much as try to take one step ahead of me, I will throw you over my shoulder and take off and not stop until we’re five realms away.”
Kerym’s snort drowned Lessia’s sigh, but Merrick was grateful she heeded his warning, allowing him to keep her slightly behind his back as he halted in the bow, waiting for the ship to drift a little closer as he kept the commander’s eyes.
He would have carried out his threat to Lessia. It took everything in him right now not to. If he was honest, theonly reason he didn’t was because he wouldn’t be able to take Lessia being angry with him. If that made him weak, then so fucking be it.
The longer Merrick glared at the commander—a male he’d once beaten nearly to death for the shit he’d given Thissian—the paler the male became.
Kerym must have noticed who it was, too, as a low snarl built behind Merrick, mingling with the soothing sounds escaping Cedar as he helped Kalia get the arrow out, and the soft moans coming from the half-witch.
“He needs help fast,” Lessia whispered, and Merrick agreed, but when the commander’s eyes darted to Lessia and he fucking dared bare his teeth, he knew the half-witch likely wouldn’t survive. Helping him would take time they didn’t have, and that sent another tempest of rage through Merrick.
“It appears you’re attempting to kill my mate,” Merrick growled, trying to ignore how wood creaked behind him as Pellie and Kalia jerked at his cold tone, when more of the soldiers around the commander started shifting their weight, murmurs rippling through the crowd. “Acting directly against your interim leader Iviry’s orders, which… you all know is punishable by death.”
“We received Iviry’s letter,” the commander shot back as their ship bounced against the cliff, the sound shooting through the still summer air. “She told us to kill Rioner’s niece on sight! That one murdered Rioner, and she’s been poisoning the minds of everyone around her ever since. Iviry warned us she’d done the same to you, Death Whisperer. She’s even made you believe she’s your mate!”
Outraged rumbles echoed behind Merrick, and hesensed Kerym fly to his side, Cedar following, but it was Lessia’s voice that carried over to the idiots on the other side.
“You’ve been misled,” his mate hissed. “Are you so stupid that you believe that letter truly came from Iviry? If I were walking around poisoning the minds of others, including Iviry, why the fuck would I let her send a letter? And making Merrick believe I’m his mate? Please. He’d have killed me before I could even open my mouth. You know that as well as I do, based on how much your knees are shaking just looking at him.”
While Merrick couldn’t help but let a grin spread across his face at Lessia’s words, cold seeped into his bones. There had been a time he’d been terrified of just that. Of having to kill the one person who made this wretched world make even an ounce of sense. That’s what had kept him away from Lessia—what had allowed him to put on a mask of indifference, even when he hurt her. It was also what had Merrick settle the perfected mask into place right now.
“She’s right,” he said, watching a few Fae shudder when his eyes found theirs. “Iviry informed you of the threat that’s coming. But given what just happened here”—he glared out over the stiff backs and the beads of sweat dripping down foreheads and necks into the thick uniforms—“it appears it’s already arrived.”
Merrick turned around to the man dying on the ground beneath him, his wheezing breaths barely moving his chest, a dark stain spreading across his white tunic with every slight shift. “This male came with the Oakgards’ Fae. Their lands have been destroyed, and they’re seeking another. Rioner refused them refuge, and so they’re planning on taking Havlands by force.”
Merrick glanced at Lessia, and his heart nearly fucking stopped when she wasn’t by his side. But as his gaze drew back to the man, he realized Lessia had gone to him, dropping to her knees as she placed the cloak that had been wrapped around her shoulders under his head.
“Why should we believe you?” the commander snarled, his eyes flitting between Kerym, Merrick, and Cedar, then moving to Lessia and the swiftly paling man. “How do we know you speak the truth? Rioner told us he needed to quell a threat to Vastala, and he never returned! Now Iviry is back… It doesn’t make sense!”
“You absolute idiot,” Kerym snarled.
