Page 43 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Brows pulling, Lessia stared after the two Fae warriors as they stomped a few feet away, the fury rolling off Merrick’s shoulders as clear as the liquor Raine clung to like a newborn to its mother.

Raine was apparently trying to agitate Merrick, but she didn’t understand why.

The way he’d spoken about him last night had been with love.

But whatever was happening now definitely wasn’t love.

Or even friendship.

At least not the friendships she was used to.

“Come on, let’s sit over there.” Ardow’s fingers wrapped around her wrist, and she almost pulled out of his grasp, ready to snap at him, until she accidentally met his eyes.

Pain touched his brown gaze as it traveled to Venko, who’d shuffled backward toward one of the taller dunes by the edge of the beach—where the tall grass met the white sand—and a knot formed in her gut at the emptiness of his eyes when he met hers again.

With a sigh, she let Ardow pull her with him to sit next to the merchant.

She could taste the hurt in the air when Venko moved to sit on her side, and Lessia fixed her gaze ahead, where Merrick and Raine now circled each other, each with a terrifying expression contorting his face.

As Merrick reached for the sword on his back, her eyes trailed the bright reflection bouncing off it.

She wasn’t surprised they trained with real weapons. Merrick had refused to let her train with wooden weapons in Ellow.

Apparently the wood would throw her off.

She knew Fae healed quickly, but still… that blade was sharp.

Lessia shook her head as Raine pulled out a small flask from his tunic. “Shall we make this more fun?”

Only the slightest downward movement of his mouth betrayed Merrick’s second of hesitation.

It was so fast that Lessia was certain neither Venko nor Ardow had noticed.

But the grin on Raine’s face told her he hadn’t missed it.

“We can do it the easy way if you’re out of shape.” Raine winked.

“Just give it to me,” Merrick hissed.

When Raine offered him the shimmering bottle, he swiped it out of his hand and swallowed something red-tinted so quickly that his movements almost blurred.

“What was that?” Ardow breathed.

Hushing him, she observed Merrick closely as he licked his lips, letting his tongue drag across the top row’s canines while Raine took a sip—a much smaller one than what Merrick had downed.

The Fae stared at each other for a moment.

Then Merrick’s shoulders grew taut, and Raine’s features twisted.

Not with anger, but…

Pain.

Whatever was in that drink was causing them pain.

She wasn’t sure if the men on either side of her realized, but she could see it in every hard line of Merrick’s face, in the way his boot-clad feet sunk into the sand, in the slight tremble of his hand as it reached for the sword once more…

Despite the warm day, a biting freeze crawled over her skin.

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