Chapter 5
Frelina
It was as if the group of friends were all of one mind, because no one spoke, and still they all made their way back to the house Frelina, Raine, Merrick, and Elessia had stayed in the night before.
She didn’t know why—theirs wasn’t anything special, just another one of the smaller, crumbling stone homes—but perhaps it was because they had all followed Elessia after whatever had happened back there.
Frelina’s eyes were still wide as she watched her sister, who leaned her cheek against Merrick’s shoulder as he carried her a few steps ahead on the wet path.
It was as if Elessia had taken another form when she’d conjured that magic, or whatever it was that had her call forth those souls.
It had sounded kind of like Merrick’s, but also didn’t.
She’d almost glowed, her voice shifting into something that was so clearly hers but that also sounded otherworldly.
Elessia’s eyes fluttered as they brushed past her own, and Frelina frowned when her sister’s ones shut, her body going limp.
Then Merrick staggered, and had that horrible day when Elessia died not happened, watching the Death Whisperer fall to his knees amidst the sharp rocks scattered across the path would have been the most terrifying thing Frelina had ever seen.
“Merrick!” Kerym sprinted to reach his friend, Raine beside him.
Frelina could only watch as the two Fae warriors blanched while pulling Merrick back onto his feet, shifting Elessia into Kerym’s arms.
“Merrick!” Raine slapped the silver-haired Fae’s back when he stumbled again, and Frelina’s soul froze to ice when Merrick didn’t respond. When his head lolled and Raine slipped his arms under his shoulders…
She knew something was really wrong.
Especially since Frelina was certain that Merrick would never have accepted that Elessia was being cradled in the arms of another. Friend or not, Kerym wouldn’t be standing where he was if Merrick wasn’t near death.
“Merrick! What the fuck is happening?” Kerym demanded.
The silver-haired Fae finally shook his head, although his dark eyes were worryingly glossy as he lifted his face from where it had hung limp between his shoulders.
“Fuck,” Merrick rasped as he swayed, kept upright only by Raine’s strong arms, water splashing from the puddles lining the path as the shuffling of feet upset it. “What was that?”
Elessia groaned in Kerym’s arms. “I feel like I need to sleep for days.”
The sound of her shaky voice seemed to instill some energy in the Death Whisperer, but even as he shook off Raine’s hand, snapping at him when he stumbled to reach Kerym and Raine tried to catch him again, Merrick didn’t try to pull Elessia back into his arms.
Frelina’s skin tingled as she watched Merrick instead lift a hand to his face.
It came back red when he wiped his nose. And when he cautiously reached out to do the same to Elessia and her blood mingled with his own before the rain washed it away, the iciness feathering across Frelina’s entire body caused every inch of her skin to pebble.
That’s not good, is it?
She hadn’t spoken to Raine much the past week—she’d seen how conflicted he was, and while it annoyed her, especially when she could see the idiot cared for her, she’d left him alone because whatever he needed to work out in his mind wasn’t something Frelina could help him with.
But now? When every face around her darkened with worry?
When Amalise stepped up beside her, her sharp inhale betraying her fear?
When the witch sisters, whom Frelina had spent most of the time with the past week, whispered urgently to each other, and shot looks at her sister that Frelina found most unsettling?
She needed her friend. She needed who Raine had been to her before they’d gotten tangled in this mess of emotions and feelings and guilt and worry.
Frelina didn’t bother hiding her thoughts, and she knew the wince pulling at Raine’s features came from shame, but his eyes softened when they found hers.
No. No, I don’t think that’s very good.
She nodded, but as she was about to take a step toward her sister, Merrick nearly collapsed again, and Frelina froze as he finally let Raine catch him. The latter began to drag Merrick toward the cabin while the Death Whisperer stumbled by his side.
We need to get them inside. Now. Something is really wrong.
The fear resounding in Raine’s mind was mirrored in Kerym’s eyes as he followed, and Frelina rushed her steps to sidle up with the raven-haired Fae, her hand brushing over Elessia’s forehead as they slowly made their way down the final path to their house.
It wasn’t only raindrops that dampened her sister’s skin, and Frelina fought a swallow when Elessia’s eyes didn’t open, the body only curling against Kerym as if… as if she needed warmth?
“It’ll be all right, Golden Eyes.” Kerym repeated the words as Elessia whimpered, and a gust of wind caught them, causing the entire group to sway. “You’ll be warm soon.”
“Merrick,” her sister whispered, her mouth rounding into a mixture of yawn and grimace.
“He’s right here,” Kerym responded, throwing Frelina a look that had her add, “Yes. He’s just about to get into the warmth. He’s fine, Elessia. You’ll both be fine.”
Elessia didn’t say anything else, and Frelina held her breath until they finally stepped over the threshold of the cabin, leaving the storm behind. However, its roar still echoed around them, slamming against the windows that still had glass and whistling between the boards of the other ones.
Merrick was already seated on the couch, his face whiter than it had been even after Elessia had died, but his eyes still tracked her sister as if she were the only thing that mattered in the world.
When Kerym gently set Elessia down beside Merrick and the latter was able to wrap an arm around her, it was as if all air left Merrick—a soft wave rolling through him, his tired eyes still shining with love.
Frelina smiled weakly.
Elessia was the only thing in the world that mattered to Merrick. Everyone had found that out when he’d unleashed his magic that day, when it had felt as if the entire realm was caving in on them.
She knew many people placed whispered blame on him, even some in this room—she’d heard Kerym and Ardow speak of it a few days ago—but she couldn’t do it. Not when he looked at Elessia like that.
Even now, even seemingly half dead, he stared at her like she was his reason for breathing.
Frelina wondered for a moment if it was normal—if this was what she was missing out on by not having a mate—when Kerym clasped her wrist and tugged at her to join him on the large chair opposite the couch, the one beside Raine.
“They have something different. It… it wasn’t like that for me,” Kerym whispered as he led her over, and when she frowned at him, he gave her a crooked grin. “Sorry, I sometimes siphon from someone when their emotions are too strong. I felt your confusion and longing.”
Frelina nodded, and she felt a warmth trail over her face, Raine’s mind probing hers, but when she kept her own closed, his soft talons left her alone.
She might have shown him everything that day on the battlefield, knowing he wouldn’t reciprocate—knowing that she was a naive, sheltered young girl who’d only seen her parents’ adoration for each other and the love she’d read about in books—but the past few days she’d realized she needed to protect herself too.
She’d been fine with just friends, and he’d been exactly what she needed at the time… but now?
Watching Elessia and Merrick?
Seeing how he had literally ripped the world apart to find her?
Frelina wanted that, too—or as close as she could come—so if Raine wasn’t ready… or if he never would be… they would need to keep it to friends only.
She didn’t look at the red-haired Fae as she refused the chair—Kerym was almost twice her size, so she made him sit in it—and instead made herself comfortable on the armrest. Her eyes followed the sisters, Soria and Pellie, as they sat on the floor, close to the fire flickering over the room, and then moved to Amalise and Ardow, who took their spots by the rickety table near the door.
Even if Elessia and Merrick’s love was something different, she’d seen others that she wished for.
Amalise… if she ever gave in to Zaddock.
Venko and Ardow, who were rarely more than a foot from each other, always touching, always giving each other longing looks.
Even Kerym and Pellie had something budding—something electric that no one could deny whenever they were in the same room as them.
Frelina wanted that kind of love more than anything. More even… than she wanted Raine.
When the scraping of chairs quieted, a thick hush layered over the room, interrupted only by the crackling of the fire and the rain still hitting the walls and windows.
It was as if they all just… waited.
When silence stretched on and Merrick and Elessia only stared at each other from where they sat propped with pillows on the couch, their noses still red, Frelina couldn’t take it anymore.
“So, is anyone going to guess what just happened?”
Elessia’s eyes wandered to her own, and Frelina wasn’t sure if she liked what she saw in them. There was something… not off, but strange about them.
“I’m…” Elessia cleared her throat, her eyes moving back to Merrick for a moment, and pain twisted across her face before she continued. “I think it might have something to do with what I did back there.”
“No.” Merrick’s voice was stronger than Elessia’s, but not by much, and it was the first time Frelina had heard him sound so rough. Based on Kerym and Raine’s shared look, it appeared to be a novelty for them as well.
“No,” Merrick echoed as Elessia frowned at him. “This is my fault. I did this to you.”
“Merrick,” she started, but he shook his head, his jaw setting.
“No. They should know.”
That didn’t sound ominous at all.
Somehow, Raine had slipped through the cracks of her mental walls, but she let him stay, silently agreeing with him.