Page 151 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

A shocked scoff left her as Loche whirled around and disappeared down the hallway.

But she didn’t follow him.

That might not have gone exactly as she had planned… but it had the outcome she’d wanted.

She’d needed him to know.

Needed to tell himfirst.

She owed him that much.

Some of the massive weight on her shoulders lifted as she made her way back to the dining room, and she had to hold back her feet from falling into a run when she turned the final corner.

She wasn’t sure how much time she had left in this realm—not after what she’d found out today—and she was not wasting another moment of it avoiding life.

Avoiding love.

She’d spent enough years doing that.

Lessia was surprised that the air was still thick with unspoken tension when she walked over the threshold into the room where the fire burned softly in one corner and the table—still filled with food—stood in the other.

Frowning, she took in the three males: how taut their shoulders were as they sat silently in their chairs, how jerky Merrick’s movements were as he absentmindedly lifted a glass to his lips, how they all froze as she walked up to them.

“Did something happen?” Lessia asked as she rested her hands on the back of Loche’s chair. “Or are you practicing your brooding?”

Kerym began laughing, but after Raine, of all people, gave him a dark look, he grimaced and focused on nursing the wine in his glass.

“How did it go with the regent?” Raine asked, his voice worryingly low.

She tried to catch Merrick’s eyes, but the Fae kept his gaze on the table, his features not betraying a single thought that might be crossing his mind.

Lessia winced, her eyes drifting down to the hands clenching the wooden backrest. “I think he needs a bit more convincing that I came back for him, not just for the stone.”

A loud crash had her whip her head up just in time to catch a glimpse of silver as Merrick stormed out of the room.

She gaped after him, watching as the doors swayed slightly from the haste of his steps.

Turning back to the two Fae warriors, she shook her head. “What just happened?”

“What do you think happened?” Raine stared at her, and the look in his eyes chilled her to her bones.

Lessia scolded herself as she thought back to her words.

I think he needs a bit more convincing that I came back for him.

She dragged her hands down her face.

She should have phrased that better.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she got out. “I didn’t… come back for Loche. I just meant that I came back to help him and Ellow.”

Still, Merrick hadn’t even let her finish before he left the room…

“He is losing his mind!” Raine rose so fast that his chair also fell over.

“We shouldn’t,” Kerym warned. “He’ll kill us. As in actually kill us, Raine.”

“He might very well be dead before that, so I’ll take my chances,” Raine snarled back. “I’m sick and tired of watching you two dance around each other, especially when it’s hurting someone I love.”

---