Page 142 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

But when the muscles in Merrick’s back tensed, she bit it down and placed a hand on one of his knees. “Then you know I don’t have a choice.”

Merrick’s head jerked up. “You have a choice. You have the path that we were on! The basta—Loche is already on your side. And we’ll get your sister away from him.”

She shook her head. “But that path was never more than a fragile hope. It’s what everyone’s been telling me the past few weeks. It’swhyRaine and Kerym joined us. This is bigger than me. Even if I am the one who can end it. I need to let Rioner know that he’s wrong about Loche, even if… if it means I won’t be able to fulfill the prophecy. I could save a whole people, Merrick.”

Merrick gripped her face with his hands, his eyes darting between hers.

“Fuck them, Lessia,” he growled. “I don’t care if every single one of them dies. I don’t care if the whole realm burns to the ground and not a single grain of dust remains. I am not letting you go anywhere near Rioner.”

“He’s right, you know.”

Lessia’s and Merrick’s heads snapped to the door, and while Merrick dropped his hands from her face, one of his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her closer as Loche strode into the room.

“I didn’t risk everything for you to just… hand yourself over.” Loche walked up to her desk, his gaze lingering on the melting icicles hanging from the window casing.

“But we’re also not going to let my people die.” His sharp gaze returned to hers. “We’re going to have to kill him. Together.”

“Kill Rioner?” Kerym strutted through the door, his hair still wet, and a few drops landed on Lessia as he plopped down on the bed and shook it out like a hound. “Sounds much more fun than watching the oh-so-noble Faeling sacrifice herself.”

“Of course, you’d also be a martyr.” Raine leaned against the door, a full glass of wine in his hand, which he lifted toward Loche before taking a deep sip.

Loche’s narrowed gaze sliced across the room before settling on hers. “He has your sister?”

Lessia nodded, her heart clenching at the thought of Frelina.

Frelina in those cellars…

Her jaw tightened.

No, she couldn’t go there.

“Why?” Loche demanded.

“This should be fun.” Kerym crossed his arms over his chest as he settled in with his back against the wall, feet dangling off the bed.

“He’s my uncle,” Lessia responded quickly.

No point in dragging this out.

Loche would need to find out sooner rather than later.

“He’s your uncle?” Loche repeated slowly.

“Yes.”

“Your uncle kept you locked up for years and then bound you to him like a puppet?”

It was as if lightning blazed in Loche’s dark eyes, and Lessia averted her own as she mumbled, “He didn’t know. My father—his brother—kept us hidden.”

“Alarin…” Loche threw his head back and groaned. “I should have seen it. You have the same hair.”

Lessia grimaced. “He didn’t remember me. I… I might have removed his memories.”

“Seems like you have a bit of a habit of doing that, then.” Loche raised his palms when Merrick snarled beside her, his fingers hardening against her back as if he was fighting against balling his hands into fists. “It was only a poor joke.”

It was quiet for a few moments as Loche seemed to fall deep into thought, and the only thing that echoed across the room was Raine swallowing more gulps of wine.

As Lessia watched a drop of it lodge itself in Raine’s reddish stubble, she wondered whether she should ask for a sip to calm her empty stomach, and as if she’d conjured it, her gut roared in response.

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