Page 124 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

He actually looked disappointed, and Lessia shook her head at him.

“Because we need him on our side. The people of Ellow—well, most of them—love and respect him. We need him to believe us so that they’ll fight with us.”

“Another leader can take his place.” Merrick’s brows rose in challenge. “He hurt you. And his guards are planning on hurting you again. I usually don’t even give one chance, and this man is pushing my patience.”

“This is not about me.” Lessia tilted her head as he frowned. “That’s why I didn’t set after Frelina right away. It’s about Havlands, about every innocent person here. We need him to save them.”

Merrick’s teeth ground so hard she was surprised Raine and Kerym didn’t hush him. “You’re wrong, you know.”

“What am I wrong about?”

“Everything is about you.”

Her face heated when Merrick’s eyes burned into hers, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into him, resting her head against his shoulder.

A deep breath rumbled through him as he lay his head atop hers, and that sense—that sense of home—came over her.

Even in this small, dark, and terrifying place.

ChapterThirty-One

Merrick’s fingers traced over her palm when she woke, and even though hunger gnawed at her stomach, it was soon replaced by the lightheadedness—the borderline euphoria—that told her they’d been locked up here for a few days by now.

Maybe even a whole week.

Tucking in his legs, Merrick made space for her to crawl over to the small stream of water that dripped down one of the walls.

Lessia greedily opened her mouth, using her tongue to capture as many drops as possible and trying to ignore the stings of pain that accompanied it from the Vincere that mixed with the dirty water.

At this point, the dirty stream was the only thing keeping them all relatively conscious, although Lessia was becoming unsure whether it was for the better.

Raine and Kerym had become grumpier by the hour, and not even Merrick hissing at them to focus—as once the soldiers came back, they’d need to be ready—could quiet their grumblings.

She could tell Raine regretted ever coming with them, and while his constant complaining would have usually annoyed her, she’d been awake last night when sobs shook his large frame, and his whispered “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Solana” had nearly broken her.

He’d probably been under the influence of that liquor every day since her death, and right now, all the feelings he’d repressed were coming right back.

She tried to smile at him as she made her way back, but as she bent her neck toward him, something whistled through the air, leaving a stinging kiss on the skin between her shoulder and throat.

“What…” Lessia lifted her bound hands to her neck, but she couldn’t reach it.

Cocking her head instead, she sensed some type of dart, or at least something with a sharp tip piercing her skin, as Merrick collapsed before her.

Blinking slowly, she tried to move toward him, but her limbs went sluggish, and darkness began pressing at the corners of her eyes, soon filling her entire vision.

But it wasn’t like falling asleep.

No, she was aware of the hands that unclasped the chains she was bound in.

Could feel the arms lifting her, dragging her boots on the hard floor as they moved her, and hear the men’s breathing, the words that seemed slurred to her, talking about something she couldn’t quite understand.

Lessia didn’t know how much time had passed, but after a while, she was placed in something.

A chair?

It must be, she decided when cold metal wrapped around her wrists and ankles again, and something leathery wrapped around her face.

But not over her eyes.

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