“What are you going to do? Spit on us?” the female behind Raine snarled back. “Your king already took care of that.”
Raine went cold when Frelina’s eyes went crazed.Frelina, no! Don’t you fucking dare!
But his cry into her mind did nothing to stop her outrage.
“He’s not our king,” Frelina screamed, heat licking her cheeks. “He’s dead! My sister killed him! If you took one fucking second to stop and ask, you’d know that! And you’d know she’d help you find somewhere to live!”
“Told you she was the sister.” The female must have turned around, judging from the rustling of fabric, but Raine couldn’t tear his eyes away from Frelina’s pink-tinted face and heaving chest. “They have that Rantzier hair and eyes.”
Fuck, sunshine. I need you to listen?—
Two figures—the leader and his mate, Raine guessed—stormed around him to approach his female.
Because yes, she was fuckinghis. She might not be his mate, but she would be his damned everything, and he would not lose her. Raine could hear Solana’s voice in his mind telling him to think, not to panic.
I’m trying,he told his mate.I’m going to save her.
“What do you want with her?” Raine drawled, forcing his tone to remain bored as his eyes searched thefloor, noting the sharp-edged stones lying there. “She has no power.”
Frelina’s eyes left the two figures towering over her to fucking glare at him.
Raine glowered right back.I’m trying to save your damned life. Don’t give me that look. And fucking listen to me before you speak again.
“Oh, I think you underestimate her.” The figure that must be the female turned around, and Raine glimpsed more golden skin and a wide smile with no warmth in it before her partner moved to pull at her hood. “We’ve heard all about her sister and her army of wyverns. See, we think she’d do a lot to get this one back. Especially if we give her a little motivation…”
Well, fuck. He was going to need to act faster than he’d thought.
Raine saw Frelina go to open her mouth, and he slammed his teeth together before quickly responding, “She might, but I don’t know if you thought this through. How will her sister know she is alive?” He nodded to the seething Frelina, ignoring her curses in his mind. “You’re better off letting her go, keeping the rest of us, and having them both come back to the trap you’ve built. Because that’s what this is, right?”
Raine cast his eyes to the surrounding rocks, and when the gazes of the people around him followed, he managed to move his foot enough to bring one of the pieces of black rock to his side. Now he just needed?—
“I don’t think so.” The male’s deep voice made ice drip through Raine’s veins, but he managed to pull a breath when he realized the Oakgards’ leader hadn’t noticed the stone but was responding to Raine’s suggestion. “I think we hurt her a little… like I heard you’ve done to our people, leaving them on that charred island. We’ll make sure the princess rides back on those wyverns so we can kill them all.”
Low concurring murmurs echoed around the ship, mingling with the worried voices of the bound Fae and humans who had mostly been watching the interaction, but it was Frelina’s soft voice that captured his full attention.
Raine… we can’t let them do that.Her eyes were filled with tears, and it nearly killed him when he realized it wasn’t for herself.She… she can’t come back. And she will if she hears of this. I can’t…
I know.Raine set his jaw as he dipped his eyes to the stone and then back to the female he’d come to love so damned much it felt as if it would burst out of his chest.I love you, Frelina. I need you to hold on to that. I need… fuck, I need you to be strong for me now, all right?
I love you too. I think I’ve loved you for a long time.She blinked away the tears.I’ll be okay, I promise. You won’t lose me.
How did she always know what to say? She’d barely fucking lived, especially compared to his years in this damned world, and yet she was so wise. Wise and kind and beautiful. Too fucking good for this world—and for Raine.
But he didn’t care anymore. If she loved him… no, he finally knew he’d do anything to be by her side.
The figures took a step toward the most perfect female in this realm, and Raine willed his limbs and muscles into steel.
He was going to get her out. Whatever it fucking took, he would get her out alive.
The shorter figure lifted a hand, anddespite his efforts to remain calm, a snarl slipped free when something between those long, tanned fingers glinted in the little sunlight that trickled in through the hole above them.
“No! Leave her alone!” Frecco’s voice was horrible—thick and raspy, telling Raine at least one of his lungs was filled with blood—but his bruised face was furious as he lifted it from the deck. “Leave her the fuck alone.”
“Frecco,” Frelina cried, her voice shaking. “No…”
The female actually dropped her hand, but it didn’t calm Raine in the slightest. On the contrary, a shiver traced down his spine when the female let out a low laugh, her head snapping between Raine, Frelina, and Frecco.
“So many men protecting you…” Her hood bounced back and forth. “What are you even? I heard about humans… and they look exactly as the books describe them—weak, short-lived—but you? You’re a mixture? I didn’t even know that was possible… Is that what allures them? Your otherness?”
