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September 7 - September 8, 2025
“I do not need an apology. You’re entitled to be angry. Gods, you’re entitled to be fucking furious. But you’re not entitled to be reckless with it.”
Cupping her chin, he lifted her eyes to his again. “The gods may not show themselves anymore, but they’re here. They’re in every creature in our world, in all the beauty and the ugliness, in good and evil, in glory and flaws. And they are most certainly in you. They choose a person’s gift for a reason, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t question mine for a long time. Truth be told, I still question it—but I wield it, Lessia. I decide what it is and what it isn’t.”
“Gods know I’ve been angry for a long time. Furious at my fate and the decisions I made. But I can’t change the past. I can only use that anger to direct the future. You need to learn how to do that as well. How to direct your emotions before they direct you.”
“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?”
“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.”
“Right now,” Merrick snarled back. “And rein in that attitude of yours if you care for your life. I’m much more forgiving than Raine, and I’m already this close to ripping your damned head off.”
“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.”
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.”
Then he took one more step, threw her over his shoulder, and as she made a startled sound, he flung them both into the calm ocean. “What the fuck, Merrick?” she spat as she broke the surface. Saltwater stung her eyes as they widened upon finding Merrick grinning back at her. Actually grinning.
He was so damn broody.
When he glanced at it for a moment, she whispered, “I’m not making you dance, I promise.” The low chuckle leaving him rumbled through her, and her body trembled when his warm hand wrapped around hers. “But I am.”
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. It was subtler, more gradual. Like the sky that swirled there wanted her to surrender. Willingly.
“Lessia.” Merrick cupped her cheeks with his hands, forcing her eyes to his. “Stop. Fucking. Apologizing.”
“The world is painful.” Merrick’s gaze drilled into hers. “Yours perhaps more than most. But it’s time for you to stop cowering before it. Make mistakes, and forgive yourself for them. Get hurt, and fight back. You’re a good person. A fucking great person. Stop letting guilt dim your light. I told you once, it’s time to shine…”
“It’s time to fucking burn, Lessia. If we’re taking on the threats of this world, you’ll need to be willing to burn it down. Love. Lose. Hate. Win. They all come together in the end. Use them to fuel that passion to make this wretched world a little better.”
“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.”
Her sister wiggled her brows. “I was wondering why you had all these broody Fae males around. They’re bodyguards, aren’t they? The Death Whisperer, the Mind Capturer, and one of the Siphon Twins? Probably the best there are. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
He’s been protecting you the entire time.
“You should finish what you start, Lessia.” Each word came out on an exhalation, the warmth of his breaths brushing her neck. “Or you might find yourself in a… tricky situation.”
“You are brave and clever and wildly loyal. You have such fight in you—even after everything. And you love so fiercely… so boundlessly. Don’t let your past convince you that you aren’t worthy of it in return.”
“He is an idiot,” Merrick said as his fingers whispered over her cheek, moving slowly down until his thumb brushed her bottom lip. “A fucking idiot to let you go.”
“Careful how you talk to her, shifter.” Ice dripped from every word leaving Merrick’s mouth. “She might not want to hurt any of you, but I certainly have no such qualms. I’ve killed your kind before, and I’ll do it again if I must.”
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?”
“Stop angering me, then,” he said softly. Angling up her head so their faces got even closer, sending a tingle down her spine, she rasped, “I am not trying to anger you.” Merrick’s mouth twitched. “And yet you’re so good at it.”
Merrick’s nose brushed along hers, slowly, deliberately, and her knees went weak. “Maybe I need to train you to please me instead of piss me off.”
Cupping it, he brushed his thumb over her heated skin. “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.”
“You’re wrong, you know.” “What am I wrong about?” “Everything is about you.”
“Do not touch her.” Ice dripped from Merrick’s voice as he pushed the regent back a step. “You lost that privilege that night. Get back before I kill you.”
No one could miss how he stared at you when you weren’t looking.
“I was fucking blood-sworn to the king. He forbade me to tell you! Do you think I enjoyed following you around, reporting on your every move, when all I wanted was to snatch you away and hide you from the rest of the world?”
“Do you want to hear how I can barely be in the same room as you without losing my mind from your scent invading my every fucking sense?”
“Do you want me to tell you that every time I helped you up from the floor when we trained, I had to physically restrain myself from pushing you down again and having my way with you? From claiming your fucking perfect lips and ripping those damned leathers off, making you scream from something other than frustration?”
“Do you want me to tell you I nearly ripped that fucking dress Loche gave you to shreds and that I was only able to stop myself because you wore something with my scent with it?”
“Do you want me to tell you I wanted to fuck you senseless on that table tonight—regardless of who was watching—when you walked in wearing my shirt?”
“If you don’t tell me to stop, I am going to fuck you until your screams echo so loudly within the castle walls that his damned soldiers might try to tear the door down,” Merrick rasped,
“I am taking my fucking time with you.” He lowered to nip at her lip, still holding on to her hands. “I’ve waited a damned eternity for this. Please don’t deny me.”
As if she was his goddess and he was entirely, utterly devoted to her.
“I do not decide what she does or doesn’t do. She is her own person, and she makes her own decisions. While I am hers and she is most definitely mine…” He emphasized the last word by sending a death glare Loche’s way. “I do not own her. No one owns her.”
Nuzzling his face into her neck, he growled softly. “Make fun of me again… and I might need to punish you.”
