Page 34 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Turning around again, she leaned against the shelf, careful not to shift any other strange artifacts—a few crystals, shells, and other things of which she had no idea what they were.

“I heard she died. I’m sorry,” Lessia said softly.

Raine’s eyes snapped to the floor, his shoulders tensing. “She was killed.”

Lessia remained quiet when Raine’s mouth opened and closed a few times, her chest aching at the agony playing across his features.

Loche hadn’t even been her mate, and she could barely hear his name without wanting to fall into a heap on the floor.

She couldn’t imagine the excruciating pain Raine must be in.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again when the silence became too loaded, the air so thick from sorrow she struggled to draw it into her lungs.

“She’d have liked you, I think.” Raine walked up to the chair, sat down, and poured himself another glass. “She always fought for what she believed was right too.”

Lessia’s eyes trailed his hand as it shakily set down the flask on the desk, where stains, probably from the contents of the many bottles in the room, marred the beautifully carved wood.

“I saw what he did to you.”

Her eyes flew to Raine’s, and she couldn’t stop herself from flinching, her arms wrapping around herself to keep whatever pieces were left together.

Raine shook his head as he observed her.

“So broken,” he whispered before swallowing more of the liquid, a drop trickling down into his unkempt stubble. “You won’t always be, though. Not like me…”

Lessia frowned as she hugged herself tighter.

She wasn’t so sure of that.

Every breath she’d drawn since that last night in Ellow felt as if it might be her last.

Not just because of Loche.

While what happened between them had nearly killed her, there were so many others she needed to do right by.

So much damn guilt to live with.

Rubbing his eyes, Raine continued. “When Solana died, so did I. I’m merely a wraith in Fae form at this point. But you kept moving—kept walking. I saw how you saved Merrick and your friends. You didn’t give up. You haven’t given up.”

“I had no choice,” Lessia responded quietly.

Raine’s head jerked up. “Of course you had a choice. Everything you’ve done in your young life has been the result of a choice, whether you believe it or not. I can see you think all things merely happened to you, but each heartbreak, every moment of pain, of happiness, of love, happened because of the paths you chose.”

Tears burned behind her eyes. “I guess I chose all the wrong ones, then.”

Raine slammed a hand against the desk. “There are no wrong paths! Dark ones, sure. I nearly drove myself mad thinking about the choices that led to Solana’s death. But if I hadn’t chosen them, I wouldn’t have met her in the first place.”

“Was it worth it? Meeting her just to lose her?”

When Raine remained quiet, Lessia wondered if she’d gone too far, but then he cleared his throat, tears glistening in his own eyes. “I will never regret meeting her. Not for all the pain in the world.”

Lessia nodded, her eyes fixed on the carpet.

His words sounded so similar to the ones Amalise once had spoken about her lost love, pain emphasizing every letter.

She heard Raine lift the bottle yet again, the splash of more liquor hitting the glass.

“I wanted to thank you.”

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