Page 132 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

When only his touch could bring her back from the darkness.

She nodded, and his half smile widened into a full one.

It wasn’t the snake mark—the mark they’d shared with countless others who’d gone against King Rioner…

It was their mark.

And regardless of how ugly it was or what it said about them… it was theirs.

Merrick’s and Lessia’s.

“How long are you going to keep us waiting here?” Raine grumbled through the stone, breaking the loaded silence—the conversation she imagined she’d been holding with Merrick’s eyes.

Rolling her neck, she snatched the keys from Merrick and, after trying a few different ones, managed to unlock the thick stone door.

Raine leaned one of his hands against the wall, his back arched because of the short chains fastened in the ground and his head hanging between his shoulders.

Kerym barely reacted, still sitting on the floor, his dark hair shining in the light from the lanterns bordering the hallway that spilled into the cell.

They looked like Lessia felt—tired, dirty, and very, very hungry.

Approaching Raine first, she undid his restraints as swiftly as she could, then crouched to do the same to Kerym.

He reached out to stabilize her when she wavered, the lightheadedness from earlier returning in full force now that the adrenaline was leaving her blood, and before she had time to react, Merrick’s arms slipped in under her own, guiding her to the spot next to Kerym.

After grabbing the keys from her, he finished what she’d started, and when Kerym rose on shaky legs, she made to do the same, grateful for Merrick’s hand, which shot out to help her when black spots flickered before her eyes.

“These twoare our rescuers?” Kerym leaned against the doorframe as he nodded toward Soria and Pellie, who watched the Fae intently. “We’re truly rusty in the ways of war.”

Soria’s brows crashed, and Pellie let out a disapproving sound, but neither responded as they took a few steps back to allow Raine and Kerym to get out of the cramped room.

Raine tried to double back to help Merrick when the latter bent down to drag the two guards into the cell, but after he hissed, “They’re. Mine,” in the lowest voice Lessia had ever heard him speak, Raine backed up, his hands in the air.

Merrick’s eyes landed on hers as he began to shut the door—keeping himself on the side with the guards—and Lessia knew she should have been afraid of the look in his eyes, the one that told her exactly what he planned to do once the stone door slammed shut.

But she wasn’t.

She gave him a nod, and his features softened for the briefest second before they disappeared behind the closed door.

They all remained quiet, trying not to listen to strange noises coming from within the thick wall—the ones Merrick’s whispers might have been preferable to—and while there wasn’t fear in the sisters’ eyes when they tracked Raine and Kerym as they leaned against the wall, there was something else…

Curiosity, Lessia realized.

They weren’t strangers to death, nor to revenge, based on the vague responses Lessia had been given when she found out their mother had died in strange circumstances, but perhaps they hadn’t lied when they said they hadn’t encountered full Fae before.

It wouldn’t be too surprising, given that their mother had kept them locked up in the attic for most of their lives—too afraid of the sisters leaving her once they realized there was a whole world out there.

The smell of iron joined the wet stone when Merrick finally opened the door, but although blood painted his left arm and chest, it was all his own, Lessia realized as he walked over to her.

For a second her thoughts drifted to the harsh sounds that had bounced against the door, wondering what he’d done to the men, but upon remembering the screams from the rebels Merrick had killed back in Ellow, she pushed it from her mind.

That lethal look still remained in his eyes when Lessia caught them, but it softened with every second they stayed locked with hers, and when she kept her chin raised and shoulders down, his taut posture eased—at least a little bit.

“Let’s find our weapons and get out of this damned place.” Merrick’s fingers laced with hers before he gently tugged her down the hallway, with Raine and Kerym following closely behind while Soria and Pellie started up the stairs, stating they’d wait for them by the fire.

As Merrick peeked through the doors lining every few feet of the hallway, Lessia found herself watching him instead.

She sighed deeply when she realized he didn’t look much different than he usually did.

---