Chapter 14 Merrick
Merrick
Merrick and Lessia reached for each other at the same time, diving onto the deck, and while Lessia fought him, he managed to wrangle her beneath him, shielding her from the hail of arrows falling on them.
When he felt something lodge in his shoulder, he refused to jerk—and thankfully the arrow didn’t seem to have burrowed too deep—but the sharp glare Lessia shot at him told him she caught the whiff of iron that followed.
“Under the railing. Now,” Lessia hissed, her voice breathy from the pressure of his body atop hers, and as Merrick risked a glance to the side, he realized Rioner’s Fae guards who always watched the white cliffs surrounding the capital were nocking their gilded bows for another round.
“Fine,” he snapped back, rolling off her, breaking the top of the arrow’s shaft in the process. Together, they crawled until the shade of the wooden railing covered them, the top shielding most of their bodies as they sat with their backs against it, their legs pulled in.
Kerym must have gotten to the sisters with the same idea. His blue eyes flew to Merrick’s from the other side of the ship, before they bounced back to the middle, where that Faeling Kalia had been struck by an arrow through her leg, her pale face pinched with pain.
The half-witch had fared worse, an arrow protruding from his stomach in a way that told Merrick he didn’t have much time left if he didn’t get help soon, and from the heavy thud that sounded from the quarterdeck, Merrick guessed their captain had already passed.
The way their ship drifted, sidling up sideways with the cliffs, also clued him in. They were now at the mercy of the currents, and those would ensure they remained stuck by the towering white cliffs.
While the water wielder appeared to have been caught by an arrow in the shoulder as well, he was crawling toward Kerym, and Soria managed to get hold of his jacket, dragging him to safety just as the air quieted.
“Get out of there, Faeling,” Merrick growled at Kalia when a whistle echoed across the sea. “There is another wave coming.”
What he didn’t understand was why. Iviry had already sent several other water wielders—some of Rioner’s closest men, who fully supported her interim rule—to Vastala and had borrowed Raine’s eagle to spread the word quickly across smaller towns.
The only thing he could think—
“Kalia! No!” Lessia screamed as arrows sang through the air, but when she lunged forward, Merrick slammed a hand across her chest, wincing when the force drove the head of the arrow further into his flesh.
“Kerym,” Merrick forced out as he held back a thrashing, panicked Lessia, ignoring her nails digging into the arm they’d have to pluck from his dead fucking body for him to allow her into harm’s way again. “Get her—”
But it was too late. A terrified cry split the air when the people in safety realized what was about to happen.
If it hadn’t come from Pellie, who was huddled closest to a trapdoor leading into the ship’s hold, Merrick would have missed the blond male forcing the door open and sprinting onto deck with hands turned toward the sky.
No one could miss the storm of fire he unleashed, though, the orange-and-red flames shooting up toward the clouds, turning every arrow into cinders.
Then Cedar Reinsdor—because it was the Reinsdor boy—pushed his magic out further, and Merrick guessed he’d been holding back under the blood oath that he’d sworn to Rioner, because what happened before his eyes was entirely magnificent.
A crimson wave, working as a shield for their ship, spurted from Cedar’s hands as he moved across the deck, and Merrick finally let Lessia go when she pressed again, unfolding his own legs to follow.
As he shot a look to the side, he realized Cedar even had Ydren protected, a loose armor of fire glittering ahead of her, rendering the wyvern more ethereal than her purple scales already made her.
The blond Fae didn’t cast a look behind him as he stopped by the pale female, even if he must have heard Lessia and Merrick approaching.
Whatever he saw in Kalia’s face had his magic roil in anger before his face snapped forward and he bellowed, “I will burn every last one of you to the ground if you don’t stand down. Stand. The. Fuck. Down.”
After checking on Ydren, Lessia sidled up to Merrick, slipping a hand into his and giving him a crooked smile. The fire played across her features, casting a mixture of warmth and darkness across them. “Did you know she was his mate?”
Merrick shook his head. He didn’t particularly care, but it was convenient that Cedar must have sneaked onto the ship and hid in the hold.
Especially as Merrick moved his eyes ahead and the neat rows of Rioner’s soldiers—all dressed in those emerald uniforms that contrasted sharply against the polished white cliffs skirting this side of Vastala—broke apart, their faces twisting with worry as they beheld the fire that hadn’t given one inch, even though Merrick could see Cedar’s hands shook.
“Merrick.” Kerym came up beside them, throwing Merrick a pointed look.
Fuck. He hated all these males. He hated every memory of the training camps that included anyone other than Raine, Kerym, and Thissian. But… he’d made sure when he finally came into power that they’d be terrified of him, and that would probably be useful just about now.
After turning to the side, where Lessia still held his hand, he placed his fingers on her cheek. “I am a different person here, I… I need—”
Lessia just smiled. One of those smiles that knocked the air right out of him, and he couldn’t fucking think for a second when her little hand pressed on his, telling him she knew exactly what he was about to do.
How was it possible to love someone this much?
Every damn nerve and drop of blood within him sang with it, and he once again cursed this world for what it was doing to her. For what she’d likely experience here in Vastala. For every fucking thing that had gone wrong lately.
That thought helped snap him out of it, and he ordered, “Cedar, drop the shield, but remain alert.”
Merrick also caught Kerym’s eyes, nodding at him to be ready.
He didn’t want to try to pull on his magic… or was it their magic now? Merrick didn’t know. But he wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t entirely necessary, not after the warning his parents had given them, so he’d need the others to step up if this went wrong.
As Cedar undid his magic, like a burning sheet folding down, revealing the hundred or so soldiers on the cliffs, their sharp eyes flying across the deck, Merrick stepped forward.
He didn’t stop Lessia from following—it was best to show these bastards what she was to him—but he did make sure she was half tucked behind him.
When she sucked in air to protest, he whispered, “If you so much as try to take one step ahead of me, I will throw you over my shoulder and take off and not stop until we’re five realms away. ”
Kerym’s snort drowned Lessia’s sigh, but Merrick was grateful she heeded his warning, allowing him to keep her slightly behind his back as he halted in the bow, waiting for the ship to drift a little closer as he kept the commander’s eyes.
He would have carried out his threat to Lessia. It took everything in him right now not to. If he was honest, the only reason he didn’t was because he wouldn’t be able to take Lessia being angry with him. If that made him weak, then so fucking be it.
The longer Merrick glared at the commander—a male he’d once beaten nearly to death for the shit he’d given Thissian—the paler the male became.
Kerym must have noticed who it was, too, as a low snarl built behind Merrick, mingling with the soothing sounds escaping Cedar as he helped Kalia get the arrow out, and the soft moans coming from the half-witch.
“He needs help fast,” Lessia whispered, and Merrick agreed, but when the commander’s eyes darted to Lessia and he fucking dared bare his teeth, he knew the half-witch likely wouldn’t survive. Helping him would take time they didn’t have, and that sent another tempest of rage through Merrick.
“It appears you’re attempting to kill my mate,” Merrick growled, trying to ignore how wood creaked behind him as Pellie and Kalia jerked at his cold tone, when more of the soldiers around the commander started shifting their weight, murmurs rippling through the crowd.
“Acting directly against your interim leader Iviry’s orders, which… you all know is punishable by death.”
“We received Iviry’s letter,” the commander shot back as their ship bounced against the cliff, the sound shooting through the still summer air.
“She told us to kill Rioner’s niece on sight!
That one murdered Rioner, and she’s been poisoning the minds of everyone around her ever since.
Iviry warned us she’d done the same to you, Death Whisperer.
She’s even made you believe she’s your mate! ”
Outraged rumbles echoed behind Merrick, and he sensed Kerym fly to his side, Cedar following, but it was Lessia’s voice that carried over to the idiots on the other side.
“You’ve been misled,” his mate hissed. “Are you so stupid that you believe that letter truly came from Iviry? If I were walking around poisoning the minds of others, including Iviry, why the fuck would I let her send a letter? And making Merrick believe I’m his mate?
Please. He’d have killed me before I could even open my mouth.
You know that as well as I do, based on how much your knees are shaking just looking at him. ”