More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
December 5 - December 6, 2025
Her eyes wandered from the pearly strands of hair the wind played with, to his delicately pointed ears, over his high cheekbones and slightly parted full lips, and that feeling that he understood her, perhaps better than anyone else, layered around her.
i know thats right
“It’s me. It’s Merrick,” the figure said. She blinked hard.
“It’s me.”
She stiffened when the bed shifted, and strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a broad chest. “It’s me,” he whispered into her hair, and as his low voice wrapped around her, her coiled muscles softened. He held her closer, and his hair tickled her cheek as he continued. “I promise you, you’re never going back there. I will never allow them to hurt you again. Do you hear me?”
“I’ll stay here while you sleep.”
“She doesn’t need to get better,” he snarled softly. “If she decides to break apart this whole ship to deal with what happened, I’ll help her. If she wants to kick your lying ass into the depths of the sea, I’ll take your legs. If she decides to rip the world to shreds for what it’s done to her, I’ll cheer her on. And if you were a true friend… you would as well.”
“Please, stop hitting me.” Merrick’s face came into view, and his eyes hardened as he growled, “Stop fucking dying, then.”
But he didn’t throw her down the way he liked to in the training ring, as she’d expected. Instead, Merrick slammed her into his chest, his arms enveloping her as he crushed her against him.
His eyes collided with hers, and apprehension whispered over her skin when she didn’t understand what was swirling within the silver-flecked darkness as Merrick shook his head at her. “Don’t do that to me again.”
awwwwwwwwwwwwww
Getting into Raine’s face, he dragged the Fae to him by his shirt. “Do not threaten any of us again. Especially not her. Do you hear me?”
Merrick lifted her and threw her over his shoulder. “Let. Me. Down,” she snarled when he started walking after Raine, Venko and Ardow cautiously following. “I swear, Merrick, I will kill you.” “No, you won’t,” he said simply as he adjusted her and lengthened his strides to follow Raine up a sandbank.
Her eyes collided with Merrick’s, and hers widened when she realized blood dripped from his hand, staining the shards of glass beneath him. And her heart beat even faster when Merrick continued to stare at her, his full lips parting as his eyes trailed down her body, and an urge to hide swept through her.
Apparently it was impossible for the male Fae to resist being close to their mate once they’d smelled them, the scent driving them to near madness unless they could be near—be with—their fate-bound.
Snarling, Lessia lifted her fist, but Merrick was faster, and his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against him. “Don’t,” he hissed in her ear. “He’ll only enjoy it.”
She was done being scared of damned creatures. And… damned males.
ok slay queen
“Are you trying to get me undressed?” she taunted, ignoring the small voice in her mind warning her that she’d just decided not to agitate him more. A vein throbbed by his temple. “If I were, you’d already be splayed out on the sand beneath me, begging me to join you.”
they need to be together asap
“You—” Lessia seethed but quieted when Merrick’s scent flooded her nose and the warmth of his body brushed her back. She didn’t want to risk biting him again.
But Merrick… Merrick was something else. He moved with a skill she’d never seen before. A skill she’d probably never see again. It was as if he was truly dancing.
Merrick’s gaze flew to hers. That was all it took. The hardness usually masking his face warped into agony as the hilt of Raine’s sword slammed into the back of his head, and the silver-haired Fae stumbled a step forward.
Merrick’s eyes remained locked with hers, his sword hanging limp by his side.
“Lessia, look at me,” Merrick rasped. Her bottom lip trembled as she finally lifted her eyes. But there was no anger in Merrick’s gaze. Instead, a grin brightened his face, and his eyes glittered as he said “Good.” His smirk widened when she stared at him with rounded eyes. “But you missed my heart.”
“You can’t lose someone if you’ve never had them,” he finally responded.
this is peak foreshadowing
The fingers holding her chin tensed, but when he moved them to cup her heated cheek, they were gentle. “Trust me,” he whispered. “You are strong enough.”
“Lessia.” A hand brushed her cheek, and she opened her eyes to Merrick’s dark ones—to his tense jaw and drawn-down brows.
But his voice was gentle as he whispered, “You do not carry that darkness. You may bear a name, but that name does not define you. You may share his blood, but that blood does not dictate who you are. And I promise you”—his eyes bore into hers as he stressed each word—“I. Promise. You. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Rioner, Loche, the rebels, the Oakgards’ Fae, or any of these fucking people won’t come near you. Ever again.”
Merrick reached out with his hand again, and once Lessia took it, she held on to it the whole way back to Raine’s cabin. And Merrick’s promise echoed in her ears with every steady step across the small island.
On most, a smile would have been encouraging. But on Merrick… It was more like a lethal promise.
“If you want to fight… I’ll fight for you.”
It wasn’t the dancing her father had taught her growing up. It wasn’t Loche’s elaborate moves. It was Merrick. It was trust. It was assurance. It was friendship. It was…
“You… you’re asking if you can pet me?” Merrick asked, and she knew she should have been worried about his low tone, but still, no sense of apprehension rippled across her skin. “It’s just your hair looks so soft and shiny, and I thought it would be nice to pet,” she tried to explain. A muscle in Merrick’s jaw ticked—in the same way it did before he contemplated slamming her into the ground when they trained—so when he said “Fine,” her brows nearly flew up to her hairline.
Her entire body froze at the look in Merrick’s eyes. The black was all-consuming, but it wasn’t like a great fall right into their depths.
His soft kiss was like a fever blooming across her skin, and a raw need, a need to be close to him, possessed her—consumed her.
It had been a good kiss. Better than good. It had been amazing. As in mind-blowing, earth-shattering amazing. A mortified groan left her, and Lessia dug her palms harder into her eyes, not even caring about the darkness when crushing shame ripped into her. She’d kissed Merrick! Worse, she’d liked kissing Merrick. And perhaps worst of all—he’d kissed her back.
“You should know.” Merrick’s breath hit her mouth when he leaned in over her. “I don’t regret it.” “Regret what?” she asked. “Kissing you.”
It was the gravitating to Merrick—kissing Merrick!—that was confusing. He makes you happy. The low voice in her mind made her jerk upright. Did he? They were friends. You wanted to kiss him… She had wanted it. But only to distract herself. Right?
As if Lessia were falling right into the depths of the dark pools staring back at her. You make me happy. A corner of Merrick’s mouth lifted.
“Are you teaching her to flirt her enemies to death, or what is happening here?”
LOL
“You are nice,” she whispered. “You’re kind and thoughtful and, yes, truly damned broody sometimes, but… you are nice.”
“I didn’t claim the Rantzier name until recently, when someone told me that just because I carry a name, it doesn’t mean I carry the darkness that comes with another with the same one.” As Merrick’s thumb stroked the back of her hand, Lessia observed the woman, trying to see through the mask of indifference that painted her features.
When Merrick gave her one of those glacial glares, she tilted her head. “Do you know how annoying it is when you finally have that beautiful smile on your face only to revert to the broody male you always are a moment later?”
“Maybe I need to train you to please me instead of piss me off.”
hot
Heat pooled within her, and the urge to jump up on him—crawl into his lap and wrap her hands into his hair like she’d done by the fireplace on Raine’s island—nearly took over.
“Tell… tell me what changed between us?” He hesitated for a moment, and despite the cold night, Lessia’s cheeks warmed. But then one of Merrick’s hands landed over her own. “Everything,” he said.
“I see you, Elessia Rantzier. I see how you fight to live through each day. I see how you fight to better yourself—whether it’s through training or understanding of others. I see how you fight to love so freely and so deeply. I see how you fight for a world that’s only mistreated you, because you believe it’s the right thing to do.”
“You wouldn’t have to fight for me. I… I can’t say it would be easy, given what we’re facing, but I’d make sure this—us—would be the one place you can rest, where you’re always safe, where you never have to put on a mask to conceal your true feelings.”
His eyes asked her a question, and while thickness clogged her throat… It wasn’t from sorrow. He already felt like… home. Dipping her chin, she waited. And she wasn’t disappointed. A smile softened his hard features. And then… he leaned in.
Then soft lips pressed against hers, a gentle voice breathing words into her mouth. “I need you to focus on me. Nothing else.” Her body reacted before her mind, her lips parting to let the hot air in—let the person before her help her struggling lungs. It was like the sun peeking through a thick cloud bank. Her heart leaped before its beats slowed, becoming more even. “Good,” the person rasped. “Only you and me.” When Lessia nodded, the pressure of the kiss deepened, and she couldn’t help but return it, a feverish urge blooming across her face when a groan slipped through the lips playing with
...more
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW MAN
“I’m here,” he whispered right back. “I’m always here.” Air continued to travel into her lungs, and with each breath, her mind cleared, but she couldn’t stop herself from intensifying the kiss, her lips clinging to his as if every second could be the last. And he gave her as much—if not more—back. A tingle of delight shot up her spine when he growled against her mouth, and lust sliced through her like the pain had done before. Pressing up against him, she tried to align her body with his, but the chains she was bound in—and that he was bound in—got in the way. An involuntary sound escaped her
...more
pls dont break his heart
“You’re wrong, you know.” “What am I wrong about?” “Everything is about you.”
It would be all right. For some reason, she believed it. Merrick made her believe it. He made her… believe in herself.
