A Bond so Fierce and Fragile (Compelling Fates #3)

by Sophia St. Germain

To the ones who pour out their souls and ask for nothing in return—I hope you find someone who would wage war on fate itself to give you the world.

His wild scent whirled around her, and she couldn’t get enough of how it filled her nostrils—nor how it filled her with that sense of freedom, of casting off shackles, of being utterly and entirely herself.

“I’ll never get used to that.” Merrick shook his head so wildly his hair flew around it, sparkling against the blue sky behind him. “I’ll never get used to you being mine.”

One day. One fucking day without her and he was losing his mind.

anyone else doubts my intention to find Elessia and kill the king and every single fucking male or female who has hurt her…” Merrick emphasized each word. “Feel free to let me know now.”

“What. Do. You. Mean?” he got out, his voice lowering into that frosty one he’d noticed always gave Elessia goose bumps.

“He’ll come for her,” her sister hissed. “I saw how he looked at her. He’ll rip this world apart if that’s what it takes.”

Do you want me to tell you no one—mate or not—has loved anyone the way I love you? That I would laugh as the world fell apart as long as you stood by my side? That even if I could only have one fucking night—one night pretending you’re mine—I’d take

He just needed to be with her. Preferably after killing every fucking bastard who ever hurt her.

Lessia wasn’t even dead, and it still was as if she’d ripped out everything that made sense within him, as if she’d taken every other reason to live.

The fucking winds. As if he’d let some fucking weather dictate how fast he could get to her. If she was even there.

“The fuck you are. Amalise, I need you to listen to me. You’re staying behind with Venko. It’s too dangerous.”

She’d always smelled like warm grass on open fields to him. Like a summer day full of possibilities he’d never had. Like a calm sea begging to be swum in.

Freedom, he’d decided that day he finally got to meet her eyes. That’s what she smelled like. That’s what she was. Absolute perfect freedom.

He should have approached her, maybe bought her some flowers or something else, like he’d seen his friends do for their mates, and then the first thing he should have done would be to offer her his arm to walk her home.

“I don’t want to live in a world where she doesn’t exist.”

“I know she inspires every person she comes across. She is the fucking light of this world! The purest soul. The kindest. The strongest. A leader, a friend, a lover, a woman, a Fae, a human. But it’s almost too late. I can feel it!”

Because every broken piece that remained now was just that… Bound by love.

Not that he’d change a thing. He loved her. Utterly and completely. With every dark corner of his mind and heart. Even the souls loved her after watching her for so long together with him. She was everything that mattered.

“Hi,” he whispered when she only continued staring at him, tears filling her beautiful amber eyes, but he couldn’t take it anymore when her bottom lip began trembling.

Sprinting the three or so steps he needed to reach her—three steps that still seemed too many—he tugged her against his chest, careful not to hurt her further, even though the only thing he wanted to do was tuck her into him, find a way to hide her away from this cruel world.

“Hi,” he urged back. “Hi. I love you. I’m here now. You’re safe.”

And maybe he loved her too much, because the sound of steps faded from his ears. There was only her.

“I’m real.” Merrick leaned down to kiss her softly, praying that her bloodstained lips could take it. “I’m real. It’ll be all right. I’ll make it all right. I promise, I promise, I promise.”

“I’m sorry, Elessia. I just… I need you to hold on. Just for a little longer. Okay? Just a little longer. I need to take care of these men. But I’m here. You just… just call my name and I’ll be right back by your side.”

“I love you.” Merrick bore his eyes into her dim ones. “You promised me more than one night, remember? We’ll have that next one tonight.”

“Please. I nearly lost my mind the past few days, so please allow me to be an overprotective bastard. Just today.”

And when she said in a hoarse voice, “I claim that guard. I want to carve my name across his face,” Merrick had to fight that burning sensation behind his eyes again.

“She belongs wherever the fuck she wants,” Merrick snarled as he cornered Torkher against the railing, his sword finally knocking Torkher’s out of his hand.

Lessia! Please! He screamed down the bond. Tell me where you are! I love you! I fucking need you! Don’t do this!

She was so fucking beautiful. Bloodied. Sooty. Her hair hanging like stringy curtains around her face. Her skin barely visible under the dirt.

But those eyes… The amber glittered like gemstones in the sun that broke through the smoke. She was alive. Alive and fighting, and he’d never loved her more.

He’d meant it when he said he’d fallen in love with her more every day, watching her fight for her ...

Frelina wanted that kind of pain—the kind she’d read about in books—that only love for another could bring. Frelina wanted it all. All the feelings. All the joy. All the sadness. All the love. All the hurt.

Her body still shook when his large one slumped down beside her, and she didn’t stop him when he pulled her to him, tucking her body under his arm.

He’s dead. She needed to say it somehow—to process it. But she couldn’t do it out loud. Not yet. I know. Raine’s eyes didn’t waver from hers as he responded.

Don’t be. Raine’s eyes flitted between hers. Solana always said no hurt was the same. We all hurt in different ways and for different things, but that doesn’t take away anyone’s right to pain.

“I won’t allow it, Elessia. I won’t. There will be a way. There is always a way. And we’ll find it. I promise you we’ll find it together.”

“Please,” Merrick whispered when he finished, his hands moving to cup her cheeks. “Fight a little more for me?”

Lessia was about to step toward her sister when Raine froze, then whirled around and put a muscular arm around her sister’s shoulders, pulling her small frame against his.

Ardow’s pinched one. Her sister’s devastated one. Kerym’s worried one. Thissian’s defeated one. Raine’s hardened one. The Fae soldier’s confused one.

“And I need you!” Merrick screamed back, color tinting the Death Whisperer’s cheeks as he threw out an arm. “We need you, Elessia! Don’t you see that?”

Merrick nodded, and she let him pull her closer, merging their bodies as much as they could as he whispered, “I love you, Elessia Rantzier.”

For as long as she breathed, he’d take all the pain in the world. Fuck, he’d take hers as well if he could.

“Don’t you fucking dare come down here,” before stalking through it and letting it slam behind them.

“Are you sure?” Raine took a step toward her as he lowered his voice. “You don’t want to imagine someone removing those dirty clothes of yours and using their hands to wash your body so excruciatingly slowly that you burn for them?”

“You’re beautiful.” Merrick didn’t whisper, forcing his voice to remain strong, to be heard clearly. He wouldn’t let that fucking Torkher win by shying away from what he’d done. Merrick’s name was carved on her stomach. On her sides. On her arms, even on the one where the black traitor mark appeared starker than ever against her fair skin. On her chest, right over her heart.

“I can’t stand it.” Merrick lowered his voice, pressing the dagger into her hands. “I can’t stand everyone knowing you’re mine”—his eyes dipped to the scars across her body—“if they don’t know that I am also yours.”

“Lessia,” he interrupted. “As soon as I saw you in that fucking cellar, I was yours. Perhaps even before. Perhaps I’ve always been yours, and I’ve just been waiting for you to come into my life.”

“Like this one, I want yours and mine to be the same. You are mine. I am yours. That’s just how it is. The good and the bad and the pretty and the ugly. We will fucking share it all. That’s how it was meant to be, and it’s how it will always be. I want the world to fucking know it. I want everyone I ever meet to see that every part of me—every dark corner of my soul—belongs to you.”