Page 125 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Instead, the strap tightened across her forehead.

As if to hold her head in place.

If she were able, she would have frowned.

It wasn’t like she could move anyway…

She could feel and hear, but it was as if she couldn’t communicate with her muscles.

Even her eyelids remained closed, no matter how hard she tried to pry them open.

“She done?”

A male voice broke through the clinking of fetters.

“She’ll need some time to be fully aware.”

Another male voice.

One she unfortunately recognized.

One that she’d heard speak but never seen the face of.

It was one of the guards who’d overseen her torture during the election process.

Lessia’s heart fought against whatever they’d injected her with, the slow beats pushing to accelerate, for adrenaline to rush through her blood.

If that man was here, this couldn’t be good.

“He’s waking up.”

She already hated that too-high-pitched voice.

And who was the “he” who was waking up?

Lessia’s eyelids fluttered as her heart gained more momentum, and she could finally get her fingers to twitch.

“So is she.”

“They’re strong—even her only being half-Fae.”

Lessia pressed her tongue against the back of her teeth as she regained more motion.

First her hands began flexing.

Then she could feel the ground beneath her feet.

Warmth flooded her veins, her pulse thrumming against the cold metal.

And finally…

Finally her eyes popped open.

Lessia had to snap them shut when bright light blinded her, and the shackles rattled as she instinctively reached up to rub her eyes, the jangled sound mocking her as it halted her movement.

Trying again, she opened her eyes a fraction, and the warmth that had begun heating her blood ignited to a burning flame when she took in the scene before her.

Merrick sat half dressed in a chair a few feet from her, thick chains with white powder sprinkled over them wrapped around his entire bare torso.

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