Chapter 39 Lessia #2
Amalise was stunning, too, wearing a red dress that showed off her every curve, and as she worked on Lessia’s hair, she explained that Zaddock had chosen it for her.
Lessia smiled at her, wanting nothing more than to hear how Zaddock had finally broken down her walls. Because he had. He finally had.
There was something in Amalise’s blue eyes—a missing fear, while something softer, more vulnerable, shone there—that Lessia could never thank the human soldier enough for.
Frelina helped Iviry sort through the dresses.
She looked amazing as well. In white, with a dress that must have restricted her breath slightly for how tightly it wound around her bust, her sister looked like one of the princesses Lessia had read about growing up.
Ethereal. Not of this world. Happy and perfect.
When Amalise was done with her hair, Iviry of all people told Lessia to close her eyes as they got the dress on her. While Lessia initially thought to protest, there was a worry—an edge of strain—in the Fae leader’s tone that made her keep her lips shut.
She guessed it was a lot to help others on your big day, and it wasn’t the time for Lessia to make it about herself, so Lessia remained quiet, allowing the three females to move her arms and legs and tighten and tie things until the air stilled and they stepped away.
A soft breeze, although not an uncomfortable one, wrapped around her, and she laughed softly before asking, “May I look now?”
It was Iviry who responded. “Yes.”
Lessia’s eyes flew open, and she realized they’d placed a floor-length mirror before her.
Goose bumps rose across her skin, a strange awareness that first made the urge to look away surge through her, but then… Lessia couldn’t stop staring.
Amalise had managed to get her hair to shine again, and it fell in soft golden-brown waves down her back.
Frelina must have magically gifted fingers because the makeup she’d used had Lessia’s cheeks blushed with pink and her eyes wide and clear, the golden eyeshadow making her amber ones sparkle.
But it was the dress that left her speechless.
It was pure silver, without sleeves, accentuated by an intricate pattern of stars swirling all across the tightly wrapped bodice, and the skirt fell down to her bare feet.
The garment dipped low both in the front and in the back, and while several of the marks of Merrick’s name were visible, they looked like they belonged—it almost looked like… the dress had been made to show them off.
Lessia blinked as she focused on the three women behind her, and she realized there were tears in all their eyes as they stared back at her.
“You look like a queen,” Frelina whispered.
“No,” Amalise broke in, a sob forcing its way through her throat before she continued. “She looks like his queen.”
“She is his queen, like she is everything for him,” Iviry said softly. “Wait until he sees her.”
“What is happening?” Lessia asked, but Iviry shook her head, her hand shooting out to wave them all up again.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Iviry shot her way as she took the lead up the stairs. “Come on. We don’t have all the time in the world. We are going to war, after all.”
“Frelina?” Lessia asked as she followed, collecting some of the heavy skirts in her hands.
But her sister only smiled as she accompanied the fiery-haired Fae.
Lessia was out of breath nearly sprinting after the Fae, half-Fae, and human, but they allowed her a moment to collect herself before the door leading to the stern.
Music still flowed outside the thick wooden door, and even if Lessia couldn’t see through it, she could feel there were people everywhere outside—many, many people from the sounds of it.
Tension whispered in the air—but not the kind she’d felt before the last war…
no, this was different. It was excitement.
It was elation. It was as if the world was… full of life.
“What is happening?” Lessia asked again, but the girls just shared a look, and then Iviry slammed open the door.
The three of them quickly left the dark space and joined the hundreds of others outside.
As Lessia took a hesitant step into the glow of thousands of fairy lights hanging from mast to mast, she fought her shoulders’ hunching—and the impulse to run away and hide and never again come out.
There were so many eyes on her. It reminded her of that time Merrick had forced her onstage in Ellow—the hundreds of eyes that had been glued to her every movement, and the day her entire life had changed.
She swallowed as she remembered the shouts, the hateful stares, the things people had thrown at her that cold winter day.
Keep your head up. Don’t let them see it affect you.
That was what Merrick had growled into her ear, and back then, she’d thought it was because of the ruse she needed to keep up for their king.
But it hadn’t been, had it? Already then, he’d been protecting her.
Caring for her. Perhaps even loving her, with all the pain and heartbreak that came with that.
It was as if she conjured him.
Merrick.
Her mate.
Her lover.
Her friend.
Her protector.
Her everything.
In white trousers and a golden tunic, he strolled up to her down the aisle of flowers spread out across the ship, and as soon as his eyes found hers, everything went silent.
Silver swirls—like the ones on her dress—danced in his eyes, and the smile on his face carried none of the shadows and darkness that usually dimmed it. His silver hair was swept back, and it allowed her to drink in every line and bend of his strong face as he stopped before her.
“Hi,” he whispered.
Tears burned behind her eyes as she whispered back, “Hi.”
She had no idea how it was possible, but Merrick’s smile widened before he dropped to a knee. Lessia wasn’t sure what was required of her, but it was as if her body acted on its own behalf, and she fell to her knees as well.
And when she realized what this was… what he was doing… what everyone around them was doing… she could only reach for him. Her anchor. Her Merrick.
“You said that I was enough. That if you had me, it would be enough.” Merrick’s voice was clear and strong, and she wasn’t sure if the music was truly gone, but his deep tone was all she could hear.
“But it’s not enough for me, Elessia. I want you to have everything.
I will fight until my last breath until you have it.
And I know… this is only a start, but Elessia, will you marry me? Here? Tonight?”
She blinked at him again, and she couldn’t help but look around them.
To the left stood the children with whom she’d spent years in Ellow, every one smiling and in their finest clothing, and she laughed through a sob when Ledger, the dark-haired Faeling who had fought so bravely in the war, wiped furiously at his strong face, towering over two of the others.
All her friends stood on her other side, every single person she loved and who loved her back, their glossy eyes locked on her, smiles on their faces as they waited for her response.
And all around them—on the ships spreading out far and wide—stood Fae and humans and shifters, watching and waiting as well.
In no pair of eyes that she met was there any hostility, and as Lessia drew her eyes back to the grumpy, silver-haired Fae warrior on his knees before her, she realized…
Merrick had already given her everything.
All the wishes she’d carved into his skin, the outline of the words visible through his shirt… he’d given her.
Her mind went to the letters he’d gotten before they even left for Vastala.
He’d offered her freedom.
She shot another look around her. Children. Unity. Friendship. Family.
It was all there. In the eyes of familiar faces and strangers.
As she lifted her eyes further, she found the wyverns glittering across the wild sea, all watching her as intently as the people around her. Acceptance. Loyalty.
Everyone, every creature and race and person standing on these ships in the Eiatis Sea—was fighting for a new world, and for a future for them all.
And before her… in this male that she cared for more than life itself?
Love. So much love she could barely take it when he just waited, letting her decide.
Because that’s also what Merrick was doing. Right now, he was giving her a choice, like he always did. He was asking if she’d surrender to him—if she’d trust him with this. If she’d be his equal, his friend, his lover, his… everything.
Lessia took his outstretched hand without a moment’s hesitation.