Page 4 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Tension strained Ardow’s face as his eyes drifted toward Venko, and her magic pressed in her veins again when he remained quiet for a moment.

But then he sighed, his gaze returning to meet hers. “It started many years ago. Before you and I were even born… The books have it wrong, Lessia. Not all shifters were on their king’s side, but they were slaughtered all the same. No man, woman, or child the humans and Fae encountered was shown mercy. Still, some survived, and they’ve been hiding out across Havlands ever since.”

Lessia nodded slowly.

Geyia had told her the same thing back in that cave.

But she didn’t want to stop him now that he’d finally started talking, so she waved for him to go on when he eyed her.

“Like you and me, they’re outcasts… and they’ve grown tired of it. They can’t return to rebuild their home for fear of discovery. They can’t integrate into society…” Ardow leaned his chin in his hands, his gaze fixed on the battered table. “Their numbers started dwindling a few decades ago… until they ran into a group of half-Fae that had managed to flee Vastala. Initially, they fought for the small piece of land both sides wanted to claim, but they soon realized they’d be stronger together—that it would give them the numbers they needed to fight back.”

“Wait—” Venko started, but when Lessia cast him a warning look, he sealed his mouth shut.

Still, a crease marred his forehead as he picked at the bowl before him.

With a quick glance at the merchant, Ardow straightened. “As they began planning for the rebellion, the half-Fae and shifters realized they weren’t so different after all and that there were more people like them all across Havlands—living in Vastala and Ellow. Well… if you can call it living.”

He shot her a penetrating glare, and Lessia had to look away when something stirred inside her.

What Ardow spoke of wasn’t so different from what she’d told Amalise whenever she felt guilty for keeping the children locked up.

But thiswasdifferent, wasn’t it?

The children were innocent, while these… rebels were not.

The ancestors of the shifters amongst them might not have followed their king.

But the rebels had killed people.

Woven their way into an election to manipulate the process—the will of the people of Ellow.

Is that so different from what you did?

Lessia shook her head as the voice flitted across her thoughts.

She hadn’t had a choice.

These people did.

Merrick was quiet—worryingly quiet—and she glanced his way, finding him glowering at Ardow, his long fingers impatiently tapping his knee.

As if he felt her eyes on him, his gaze shifted to hers, and she nearly flinched at the thunderous darkness swirling in it.

After throwing a sharp glare Ardow’s way, Merrick rasped, “I knew humans were slow, but your friend here has surpassed my expectations.”

A muffled sound left Ardow, and one of Merrick’s silver brows lifted, but his eyes remained locked on hers as he drawled, “What he—very slowly—is trying to say is that this group banded together to overthrow the leaders in Havlands and has been recruiting people across the realm ever since. Some, like Ardow here, believe in their cause, believe that they’re working for a better world… and others, like that one”—he waved toward Venko—“are bribed to help them. That’s what they tried with Loche as well, but apparently he wasn’t as pliable as they’d hoped.”

Lessia tensed when Loche’s name left his lips, and Merrick’s eyes slitted as they followed her raised shoulders down to the shaking hands in her lap.

Shifting so she sat on them, Lessia tore her eyes away and focused on Ardow.

“Is it true?” she whispered.

His nostrils flared as his gaze flitted between her and the Fae beside her. “In his world, perhaps. But he’s right in that I do believe in our cause. We believe in a world where everyone is treated the same! Where part-Fae and shifters and outcasts can all walk the streets and into whichever establishment they want without worrying about being stared at, attacked, or even killed. It’s time for a shift, and it needs to be now! We’re done waiting around for a change that’ll never happen.”

“And you’re trying to accomplish this by killing people who disagree with you? Aren’t you doing the same thing you’re accusing Rioner and L—” Lessia sucked in a breath when the regent’s name stuck in her throat and pinched her thighs to relieve the pain in her chest.

“That you’re accusing the leaders of Havlands of?” she finally got out.

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