Page 12 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Laughter exploded through the room, and she snapped her gaze between Venko’s flushed cheeks, Merrick’s turned-down face, and Ardow’s wide eyes.

Lessia clenched her jaw when Ardow and Venko continued giggling, and when even Merrick’s shifting shoulders betrayed him, she hesitated only for a second.

Then she poured the rest of the cup over Ardow’s head.

“What the…” He stared at her with pale liquid dripping down his face and the strands of his hair turning darker as the liquor stained it.

She glared right back at him. “I told you not to laugh at me.”

When Ardow lifted his own cup, she shuffled backward but stilled when whispers crashed through the cabin, the oily magic turning the air even more stale as Merrick flew to his feet.

“Don’t you dare,” he growled. “You had it coming for lying to her. She saved your life. Show some gratitude.”

Ardow’s features hardened as he glared at the Fae, but when the whispers grew louder, causing the hair on Lessia’s arms to rise, he rested the cup on his knees.

Although the hand holding it shook so much the liquid spilled over the sides.

“I’m sorry,” Ardow snarled when Merrick’s magic continued roiling through the room. “Just stop it!”

Lessia held her breath as the whispers faded, but a low hum remained until Ardow turned toward her, fear reflecting in his eyes as he shakily got out, “I’m so sorry, Lessia. For everything.”

When it finally quieted, Venko’s face had returned to the pale coloring she’d gotten used to the past few days, and both she and Ardow jerked when he pushed his chair back and stalked toward the stairs.

Venko stiffened on the first step, and his finger trembled as he pointed it Merrick’s way. “You’reactuallythe damned Death Whisperer? I thought you were joking before! I wasn’t even certain you were real or if it was only a story told to keep humans wary of the Fae.”

His gaze sliced to Ardow. “The Death Whisperer, Ardow? What in the gods did you drag me into?” Venko shook his head, his face contorted with betrayal, before hurrying up the stairs.

Lessia flinched again when the hatch slammed shut, and she squeezed her eyes together when memories of another door shutting invaded her mind.

Gripping the rough blanket tight, she tried to push the thoughts away—tried to drown out the sounds of metal and dripping water.

“Lessia?”

Ardow’s voice sounded far away, and a whimper fought to leave her throat when a Fae with blue eyes squatted down before her in a dark corner, a wicked smile on his face as he whispered her name.

You’re never leaving this place.

No.

Enough.

She wasn’t going back there.

Violently shaking her head, she let the fury of Ardow’s betrayal, of Loche’s dismissal, and of the helplessness she felt thinking of her friends flood her veins, tinting the darkness before her eyes crimson.

A warning snarl escaped her when warm hands settled on her knees, and she pried her eyes open to dark eyes and an inhumanly tall form crouched before her.

Lessia scrambled backward on the bed, dashing for the daggers she’d placed beside her.

“Get away from me,” she hissed as she tightened her grip on the hilts.

“It’s me, Lessia,” the figure said quietly.

“No!” she shouted. “Leave me alone!”

But the Fae didn’t.

Instead, he shoved someone off the cot, the grunt from the person hitting the floor echoing in the cramped cabin.

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