She did want that.
She wanted all of it.
She wanted someone to kindle that fire in her, and she wanted a man’s hands worshipping her body. She wanted to forget everything except the moment she was swept up in.
Ideally, she wanted it with someone she loved, but she’d settle for someone she liked too.
Maybe even someone she tolerated.
If war was to come upon them, Frelina probably couldn’t be too picky—couldn’t wait for a mate who might not even exist if she ever wanted to feel that way.
Raine’s brows snapped together for a short second, but it was enough for pink to tint her cheeks again.
She’d forgotten to close her damned mind, but thankfully Raine didn’t say anything else.
Not wishing to be left alone even though embarrassment still heated her blood, Frelina followed Raine as he pulled up the anchor—making dragging the thick metal hulk onto the deck seem much easier than it should have been—and when he ventured up to the top deck, taking the helm, she settled onto one of the wooden stools beside it.
He cast her a glance now and again as he began steering the ship west, heading to what she’d overheard being calleda middle-realm, a realm that was never named, that never belonged to anyone or anything, and that most apparently thought should be left alone.
“Your sister is strong.”
Her eyes flew to Raine’s when he spoke.
“I thought she was broken when I met her… but she’s not.” Raine shook his head, an expression Frelina hadn’t seen before crossing his face.
It was…
Hope.
It was hope, she thought, that made the Fae’s hazel eyes burn as he stared back at her.
But hope for what?
“She’s the strongest person I’ve ever met,” Raine continued. “Even with all this. Even with what she’s gone through—the people she’s lost, the hurt she’s been through and caused, she’s fighting back. Not just for him…” Raine’s gaze drifted toward the door for a second, although Frelina knew he was referencing Merrick.
“She’s doing it because she truly believes in a world where peace may reign and people of all kinds may live freely. For a world where we are stronger together—united instead of enemies.” A scoff left Raine, but it wasn’t one that made Frelina think he believed her sister delusional.
No. His eyes were wistful as they followed the sail shifting in the wind.
“She would have loved her.” Raine continued staring up toward the sky as he continued. “She would have fought so hard by her side.”
Frelina looked away when tears began rolling down the Fae warrior’s face, and he quickly pulled out his flask and took deep swallows against the pain he wouldn’t let her feel.
Because that’s why Raine didn’t fully open his mind to her.
She’d thought he was just showing her up. But now she could taste his pain on the wind.
It was brutal.
There was nothing beautiful about it.
It was a pain that should shatter bones. That should crush souls. That should end lives.
Frelina opened her mouth, but no words came out.
What could she say?
His mate—Solana, she’d heard from Merrick once—was dead.