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June 23 - June 24, 2025
Merrick flexed his hands as he walked up to her, not especially gently shoving Ardow to the side. “Do you want me to kill them?”
And he genuinely would 🤏🏽🤏🏽🫶🏽
“She said no,” Merrick snarled. Raine and Kerym shared a look that had Lessia’s top lip curling back.
(;
She met Merrick’s eyes, and they glittered when she stated, “Time to burn.”
Tyyyyyype
“Shut up,” Lessia and Merrick snarled at the same time.
Merrick’s lips lifted into a smile. One of those smiles that knocked the air right out of her with how surprisingly bright and beautiful it was and how little it made him look like the terrifying Death Whisperer. Raine, on the other hand, surveyed her for a long while, a wrinkle deepening his usual frown as his gaze sliced from her to Merrick.
I really wish somebody would mention the damn bond already omg.
“And me,” Merrick grumbled as he nudged Kerym out of the way and tucked Lessia against his body. Kerym began laughing, and Lessia raised her brows as she glanced from Merrick to him. 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?”
😩🤏🏽🤏🏽😭😭💀
“I am not trying to anger you.” Merrick’s mouth twitched. “And yet you’re so good at it.” Fighting the smile pushing to lift her lips, she shrugged. “I have had a lot of practice.” 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.”
AYE YOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😩😩😩🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🥹🥹🥹🤭🤭🤭🤭😛😛😛😛😛🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🥹
Especially when a challenge burned in Merrick’s eyes. A challenge asking her if she dared. If she wanted to play. You make me happy. Lessia blinked.
🤏🏽😛😩
“I know,” she said when they were out of earshot. “I know. Frelina just got kidnapped, the world is ending, and I’m flirting with the Death Whisperer. I’ve lost my mind.”
I SUPPORT YOU IN ALL YOUR ENDEAVORS
“Tell me something,” Lessia whispered when Raine’s and Kerym’s soft breathing betrayed that sleep had taken them, and the world around her seemed to become too quiet—too gentle to keep her spinning mind distracted. “What do you want me to tell you?” Peeking up at him, she met his eyes, and one of those jolts—the ones that seemed to run through her more often when her eyes collided with his—hit her like a spark of electricity.
😩🥺🥺🥺
“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. Her eyes followed his hand as it moved to her face, a finger gently trailing from her temple to her chin. 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
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OH! 🥺🥺🥺🤏🏽😭😭😭
“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.” He makes you happy.
😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩💗💗💗💗💗
“I’m here,” he whispered right back. “I’m always here.”
😩🫶🏽
As she glanced upward, Merrick’s eyes were the first thing she focused on. And that sense of falling gripped her again. But it wasn’t frightening, No, it was a fall she wanted. A choice. A decision. A surrender.
Bless
“Are you hurt?” she asked, eyeing his constrained movements as he tried to fold his tall body comfortably in the small space. It wasn’t the chains that had that muscle in his jaw flex, his shoulders rising an inch as he stared back at her. “Merrick,” she demanded quietly when he dismissively jerked his head. “He took ten arrows in the back for you.”
😭😭😭😩😩😩😩 MY SHAYLAAAAAA
Chains screaming, he moved into a crouch before her, his entire being vibrating with the growl leaving him. “The only plan you’ll have is walking right into the arms of your dead loved ones if you touch her.”
My baby 😭🤏🏽
“What are we going to do?” He captured her eyes. “Survive. Escape. Kill Loche and his guards.” Despite the situation, her lips twitched, and she pursed them so not to smile. “We can’t kill him, Merrick.” “Why not?” He actually looked disappointed, and Lessia shook her head at him.
I love him literally 😩😩🤏🏽🤏🏽😭
“You’re wrong, you know.” “What am I wrong about?” “Everything is about you.” Her face heated when Merrick’s eyes burned into hers, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into him, resting her head against his shoulder. A deep breath rumbled through him as he lay his head atop hers, and that sense—that sense of home—came over her.
😭😩🥺
Several shackles also held his arms and legs in place, but when his eyes found hers, there wasn’t an ounce of fear in them. Only relief. Relief that slackened his features as his gaze dragged over her, then to the rest of the brightly lit room, and as she tried to follow it, she realized why.
NO STOP. WAIT. NO. 😭😭😭😭😭💔
“Lessia.” Whipping her head up from trying to get out of the bind, she met Merrick’s eyes. He smiled at her. Fucking smiled. “Don’t do that,” she hissed. “Don’t do this to me.” Merrick smiled wider. “You’re stronger than you think. And I am also stronger than you think. I’ve been tortured before. By much worse enemies than some weak humans.” He threw a lazy wink behind her when someone grumbled.
BROOOOOO MERRICK PLEASE 😭😭😭😭😩💔
Still staring into her eyes, he spoke in that lethally low voice she’d been used to before everything changed between them. “Mark me. Hurt me. I truly don’t care. But you should know…” Merrick licked a drop of blood off his full lips. “I will come for you. And once I do—it’ll be worse than your darkest nightmares. I’ll show you exactly why they call me the Death Whisperer.”
😩😩😩😩 he literally been smiling this whole time like wtf 😩😩😩
It didn’t matter that she had stopped obsessively pulling at clothing to hide the dark mark only a few days before. It didn’t matter she’d enjoyed wearing dresses again—even if those dresses had been more revealing than she’d perhaps have chosen herself.
Damn 😭
Raine tried to double back to help Merrick when the latter bent down to drag the two guards into the cell, but after he hissed, “They’re. Mine,” in the lowest voice Lessia had ever heard him speak, Raine backed up, his hands in the air. Merrick’s eyes landed on hers as he began to shut the door—keeping himself on the side with the guards—and Lessia knew she should have been afraid of the look in his eyes, the one that told her exactly what he planned to do once the stone door slammed shut.
YOU KNOW WHAT HELL YEAH.
“I’m pouting because Merrick still looks like the gods themselves just carved him, and I look exactly like I’ve spent a few days in a gross cell,” she joked, trying to get the Fae to shake the horrified expressions on their faces.
💀💀💀💀💀
“Excuse me?” Lessia dropped Merrick’s hand as she took a step toward Loche, shoving a finger into his chest. “You left me! You let me fucking crawl after you. I told you I loved you, and you… you told me to erase me! You do not get to judge me, regent.”
RIGHT!!
“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.”
type shiiiiiit
Stalking up to her, he ignored the warning rumbling in Merrick’s chest. “Do you not think I know what Rioner has planned? I might not remember what memories you took away from me, but if I loved you and you loved me… you must have known me better than that.”
😮
“I risked everything for you,” he said, emphasizing each word. “My land. My people. For you. And even now… even when I don’t feel what I know I felt, when I don’t remember… I can’t. I can’t sacrifice you.” “Sacrifice…” Lessia threw out her hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! Why are you risking anything for me?”
AHAKSHAKHSAKSKSLAJALSKOD HUH
But when his hands landed on her shoulders and he clasped them in a way that made her feel as if he never wanted to let go, pure, undiluted dread roiled within her. “The curse isn’t about Loche,” Merrick said in a monotone.
I FUCKING KNEW IT. “Loved by human and fae” BITCH LOCHE AND MEERICK LOVE HER. HUMAN AND FUCKING FAE. BYE.
“I’m not a reluctant ally, Lessia.” Loche sighed as he flung a glance outside the window. “I wanted a closer partnership with the Fae. I wanted us to work together. I wanted peace. I wanted… not this.”
EXACTLY!!! He’s never been reluctant about that shit at all!!!
“The one bound by blood oath is a reluctant ally.”
STOPSKSNAKABSKD
“Loved by Fae and human.” Loche’s voice broke in, and despite the pull of Merrick’s eyes, she turned around to face him. His face was expressionless when he stated, “I loved you. It’s why I asked you to remove my feelings. I knew Rioner had his suspicions about me, and it wasn’t until one of my spies got ahold of that part of the curse that I understood he’d misinterpreted it…” Loche scratched the scruff on his chin. “You were hiding something. It was so clear, and I suspected all along you were spying for him. I don’t remember exactly when I realized, but at some point I understood it must be
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😫😫😫😫😫😫💔💔💔💔💔💔😭
“No one could miss how Merrick stared at you when you weren’t looking. Well, apart from you, of course.” He threw her an empty smile. “When I realized just how reluctantly you were bound to the king that day, I had to act fast. Rioner would have understood if I pushed too hard to keep you in Ellow, so… I had to throw him off.”
I LITERALLLY CANNOT TAKE IT
The memory came crashing down on her. That pain… that pain in his eyes hadn’t been because of her betrayal. It had been because of what he had to do to himself. To them.
PLEASE
Already then? But he’d hated her… You and me. His eyes seemed to speak to her,
😫🤏🏽💔
When Loche laughed darkly, Merrick’s hand wrapped around his throat. “I told you not to test me. I do not give a fuck who you are, regent. You do not disrespect m…” A muscle in Merrick’s jaw twitched. “You do not disrespect her.”
HE WAS FINNA SAY HIS MATE. THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL. GOODBYE.
Still, she refused to let her eyes leave his the entire way back to the capital, even as thoughts other than what she’d found out about him fought for dominance in her mind. No one could miss how he stared at you when you weren’t looking.
THATS WHAT IM SAYING LIKE MERRICK YOU GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO FR.
Pulling back, she eyed the Fae before her, and her insides twisted when she realized the feeling that made the silver in his eyes shine so bright was fear. Merrick was scared for her.
Taking the spot beside her, he leaned his elbows on his knees and covered his face in his hands. “I know what you’re going to ask me.” She nearly smiled then. He always knew.
Babe that’s your soulmate fr.
Merrick gripped her face with his hands, his eyes darting between hers. “Fuck them, Lessia,” he growled. “I don’t care if every single one of them dies. I don’t care if the whole realm burns to the ground and not a single grain of dust remains. I am not letting you go anywhere near Rioner.” “He’s right, you know.”
Now THIS is a man in love.
Lessia grimaced. “He didn’t remember me. I… I might have removed his memories.” “Seems like you have a bit of a habit of doing that, then.” Loche raised his palms when Merrick snarled beside her, his fingers hardening against her back as if he was fighting against balling his hands into fists. “It was only a poor joke.”
Crazy how he reverted right back to who he was when she first met him without his memories of her 😭
When Merrick lingered, she gently shoved him out the door, even as her hand reached for him of its own accord to pull him back.
😭🤏🏽
And for some reason, whenever Merrick was anywhere near her now, she couldn’t focus on a single other thing than the tingling feeling racing up and down her spine and the damned fluttering that started in her gut as soon as his eyes bore into hers.
HE NEEDS TO FUCKING TELL HER BEFORE ITS TOO DAMN LATE
She looked… older? No, that wasn’t possible.
Girl it’s that stress.
It was Merrick’s dark eyes dragging over her body, the slight flare of his nostrils as he must be picking up her scent mixing with his, the fingers gripping the table
Swallowing, Lessia set her sights on the empty chair beside Kerym, but as she neared, the Fae violently shook his head at her, eyes flicking toward Merrick. “Absolutely not. I don’t plan on getting killed today. You go over there.”
😭💀💀💀💀💀💗🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽
Lessia exhaled sharply as his arms wrapped around her, and she couldn’t help but lift her eyes to his, knowing exactly what he could smell right now. What Raine and Kerym could smell.
Hehehehe 😛🤏🏽🤏🏽🤏🏽
“It’s…” Loche hesitated. “It’s my sanctuary. My family and friends live there. It’s the most important place in the realm for me.” A lump formed in her throat when Loche searched her eyes, and the Fae males around the table quieted as if they could smell the shift in the air—the sorrow and guilt no wine could ever drive away. “Did… did I bring you there? Or did you follow me there as part of being a spy? If so, we might need to make other plans for those who will not fight.” He frowned, and the lump grew at the uncertainty muddling his gray eyes.
Loche pls don’t do this rn 😭💔😫
“You brought me,” she said softly when Loche continued to stare at her. “It was a wonderful place filled with wonderful people. It’s why I risked sending them there. I-I thought they’d be accepted.” “Geyia has taken them in as if they were her own children.” Loche tapped his glass absentmindedly. “She liked you… I think?”
This is actually vv painful.
“Loche.” Lessia leaned forward and touched his wrist, her eyes widening when he flinched. Actually flinched at her touch. She started lifting her hand, apologizing, when his landed atop hers.
😫😫😫😫💔
