Chapter 29
Merrick
He tried to shake the worry for Lessia—and for whatever the terrifying thing she’d gone through was—as they walked through the small square hand in hand, the sounds of the night wrapping around them: wind softly howling between the buildings, dust brushing against the ground, people’s chatter and singing, and the clatter of plates and glasses.
Normal sounds.
Things he’d never really noticed before but that now felt important to listen to.
This was a moment he should savor, Merrick told himself. Just being a regular couple. Walking through the streets. Eating in a tavern. Being allowed to show how much they loved each other without worrying about being fucking murdered every second.
They were going to have some fun tonight if it was the last thing he did in this realm.
As if you know how to have fun. He could almost hear Raine and Kerym snickering at him, but he shoved their dumb voices to the back of his mind. He might not have had too many fun moments before. But that was just that.
Before.
With her… everything was fun. Living wasn’t just bearable anymore but something he treasured waking up to every morning. Something he’d never take for granted and that he’d be eternally grateful for, to the beautiful female walking beside him.
He squeezed her hand. Tonight was about Lessia, and Merrick knew what she loved: food, music, and being able to be herself without having people stare at her. This was the perfect place for that.
Lessia didn’t know, but he’d chosen this town to stop in because of its wild reputation—and for its reputation for being accepting of anyone who came through it.
As long as the people venturing here were fine with the wine flowing, the boisterous festivities, and the late-night activities—the ones he and Lessia would avoid, because he wasn’t about to share her with anyone; that would guarantee the night ended in bloodshed, not fun—they didn’t bat an eye at strangers.
Merrick had once, when he’d been here before, even seen a shifter in the tavern ahead.
Which was good, since Merrick didn’t think ripping out the heart of yet another person for calling her names would be particularly celebratory of their engagement. Although he’d do it if he had to.
His lips twitched as Lessia stared with wide eyes at the people already dancing in the streets on either side of them, wearing colorful clothing, some with hats and masks to cover their faces.
Not in the way Loche’s soldiers wore them, but because they were likely quite respected noble Fae, and being found here… well, their families wouldn’t approve.
Of course, Raine and Kerym had loved it for that reason every time they came here, and while Thissian and Merrick had been more reluctant… if he was truthful, he had enjoyed himself once or twice.
And tonight? Seeing Lessia’s eyes fill with wonder as people moved out of their way to let them approach the wide-open door to the tavern where the familiar broken sign swayed above the threshold, and not because he was the Death Whisperer and she was half-Fae…
Merrick was happy. Maybe hesitantly so, but happy nonetheless.
Lessia was everything he’d ever wanted, and even though he could see the tiredness—death’s shadow sneaking closer to both of them—she’d agreed not only to be his wife but to gift him the time to save her.
Now he just needed to ensure that was what she still wanted.
And that would start with some fucking fun.
As they walked over the threshold into the tavern, Merrick nodded to the short owner—a woman who’d been there every time he had—and she waved them over to a small booth by the dance floor, her face whitening as she told them someone would come serve them at once.
Merrick’s brows pulled as he stared after her, and when he moved his gaze to the bar, several others looked at them strangely, but they all snapped their eyes to anywhere but his own as he tried to catch them.
“You’re scaring them,” Lessia whispered as a flush bloomed across her cheeks, her golden eyes glittering.
His frown deepened, and Lessia’s smile shifted into giggles that she tried to quell behind the hand she placed over her beautiful mouth.
“What do you mean?” Merrick muttered, sensing the amusement warming her gut, and while he was annoyed that the town appeared to have changed—because people had never stared at him this way before—he couldn’t not smile back at the perfect fucking female nearly bouncing on the bench opposite him.
“Th-they’re…” Lessia appeared unable to pull enough air into her lungs.
Merrick waited, his lips pulling wider as the warm waves rolled through her. He tried to ignore the barkeep, who seemed to be debating whether he dared approach them or not, one hand holding on to the bar behind him as if it was what would keep him alive.
“I don’t…” Lessia giggled again, tears mounting in her eyes from holding back the laughter. “I don’t think people know what to do with your smile. I think you’re scaring them because you look so happy.”
Merrick’s brows flew up. His smile?
They were afraid of his fucking smile?
His lips immediately turned down, and Merrick shot a dark glare around the tavern.
Sure enough… more people now met his gaze, although they all turned away after a few seconds, whispering to whoever was closest to them before shooting another glance back at Merrick and Lessia’s table.
Merrick’s hands balled into fists across his legs.
How was he supposed to make sure she had fun if his damned smile scared people?
Merrick forced his eyes up to the one person who mattered when she apparently couldn’t hold back anymore.
Lessia’s laughter floated across the bar, and as always, it was as if everything else quieted—as if she were the only thing in the room.
And Merrick didn’t care what anyone made of him, or if he’d scare them further: He didn’t want this fucking table between them.
He got up and stepped around the table, and as he slid onto Lessia’s bench, he pulled her into his lap, swallowing her giggles with his lips until they were replaced with a low whine deep in her throat that made his cock twitch beneath her ass.
Her eyes were glossy in the way that drove him mad—and he made sure to wave over the barkeep when he came up for air, raising his brows when the man still hesitated.
As the server finally approached, Merrick dragged his lips across Lessia’s neck and whispered against her heated skin, “Maybe you need to keep me occupied so I don’t scare too many people and ruin all the plans I had for tonight.”
Lessia’s face was bloodred as she mumbled something the barkeep didn’t catch when he stopped by their table.
The male shifted from foot to foot, his eyes resting anywhere but on Merrick and Lessia. Merrick didn’t even bother looking up from the perfect spot between Lessia’s shoulder and neck as he ordered wine and whatever food was fresh and hot.
Mumbling something, the male backed away, and Lessia slapped at Merrick’s chest. “He looked like he was about to die on the spot. You can’t do that to people.”
Merrick nipped at her skin, watching those little bumps he couldn’t get enough of rise wherever his lips touched.
“I can do whatever I want. We can do whatever we want. That’s what tonight is all about.
Let him be scared. I plan to sit here, fill your stomach with food and wine, take you to that dance floor over there to dance, and then we’re going for a midnight swim. ”
Lessia stared at him for a moment, her lips still lifted but slightly parted, as if she wasn’t entirely certain she’d heard him correctly. Merrick raised his brows playfully, and she shook her head, another chuckle shaking her body.
“We can,” she finally whispered. “We can do whatever we want.”
The wide smile spreading across her face hit him like a sword to the heart.
Then she leaned in and kissed him, her lips slow and sensual, the happiness and peace radiating from her spreading in his entire body until it felt like he was floating—or perhaps flying, like he’d heard one of the other Fae races could.
Merrick didn’t let go of her lips when the barkeep came first with their wine, nor when he returned a while later with their food.
He kissed her lazily but deliberately until she squirmed in his lap like the flawless damn creature she was.
His hands wove into her hair when he heard her breath stutter, his mouth swallowing the moan he knew would follow.
Fuck, this was everything he’d ever dreamed of.
Lessia being his. Them being safe—at least for now.
The two of them being able to do something just… normal.
She seemed to understand what he was thinking because she smiled against his lips and her hands around his neck tightened as she breathed “I love you” into his mouth.
He was just about to tell her how fucking much he loved her, and then move his mouth to her ear to whisper all the things he was going to do to her once they’d left this place, but before he could, he caught something out of the corner of his eye.
Merrick whipped his face forward—to where he’d been sitting before—and he wasn’t able to stop his lips from curling back, a warning growl vibrating through him, shaking the entire table between him and Lessia and the two Fae males settling on the bench opposite them.
“I told you he’d fucking kill us if we interrupted!” the younger of them snarled. “The entire bar can see they want to be alone.”
“Shut up,” the other one snapped. “It was your idea.”
Merrick sighed deeply, pinching his nose not to slam the two males’ heads together like he’d done many times before. He should have known he’d run into people he knew here.
Lessia still had a whisper of a smile touching her swollen lips, and her grin pulled wider when the two idiots started shoving each other, making the bench slam against the ground with every movement.
“Who are they?” she breathed into his ear as she rested against him, watching the two Fae males, who should fucking know better, argue.