Page 45 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
“Fuck! What the fuck, Thissian! Stop her!” Kerym was screaming now, but she still disregarded him.
Better give Torkher and Rioner what they wanted so they’d let her real friends and family go.
If she had to kill herself in a dream to accomplish it… then so be it.
“Stop!” Frelina cried. “It’s not a vision! You’re hurting yourself!”
Lessia’s wrist pounded in rhythm with her head now, but she continued the movement until the stone’s sharp edge hit something hard.
She couldn’t help the nausea slamming into her when she realized it was bone, and her own gagging joined Kerym’s and her sister’s cries.
“It’s not real.” Lessia hummed the words to herself as she pressed harder, her neck bent and eyes transfixed on the dark blood pumping from her arm.
She didn’t have time to escape the boot that slammed into her, knocking her over and forcing the stone from her hand.
“What the fuck?” Lessia lifted her head, closing her eyes for a beat as darkness pressed at the corners.
When she opened them again, Kerym was lying across the floor, his bound arms over his head as he stretched to reach her.
Frelina’s face was red and blotchy, her breathing shallow as she tried to do the same as the male beside her, and Thissian stared at her from Frelina’s left with wide, sunken-in eyes.
“Lessia, listen to me. Listen to me closely.” Kerym scrambled backward as he tried to right himself. “I know it hurts. But you need to let the pain in. Your father… Alarin… he is dead.”
Something tugged at her heart, like a jolt shooting through it.
But she shook her head. “I know this isn’t real.”
“It’s real,” her sister cried. “It’s… that’s him. He wouldn’t do it, Lessia. He wouldn’t break your bond.”
Lessia tried to push her hands into the floor, but she quickly abandoned the idea when her wrist screamed at her and a gasp flew from her lips.
That really hurt.
Instead of sitting up, she twisted her body to look back at her father again.
Then she moved her head to stare at Frelina.
Then back to her father.
Break their bond.
The king’s face flashed before her eyes.
I won’t do it.
Then something else glimmered, something the king had held in his hand. Something with an amber tint to it amidst the sparkling silver.
A dagger.
A thud followed the dagger’s reflection.
No. No, this couldn’t be real.
Because if it was…
