Page 44 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Was this how they had been trained growing up?

“Sh-shall we?” Raine stuttered as he unsheathed the twin blades.

When Merrick’s chin dipped, both males leaped.

Lessia’s eyes widened as Raine rushed forward, those lethal blades glittering in the sun as he charged Merrick head-on.

Merrick didn’t even lift his sword as he spun around, sand spurting around his feet, and easily shifted out of the way of Raine’s massive body and sharp steel.

After letting out a roar as he skidded to a stop in the sand, Raine’s eyes slitted as he faced Merrick again.

Without even drawing a breath, Raine lunged, thrusting both blades fiercely before him, but Merrick sprang into the air, his body seemingly flying for a moment before he landed behind the crimson-haired Fae.

Raine nearly fell on his face from the force of his own attack, and he remained upright only because he managed to use one of his swords as a cane, the blade splitting through the sand beneath him.

A huffed laugh left Merrick as he flipped the sword in his hand, watching Raine breathing raggedly as he regained his balance. “That’s all you got?”

A snarl was the only warning of Raine’s attack.

Flying forward, he anticipated Merrick’s shift to the left, and sparks showered the sand as Merrick was forced to parry the blows from Raine’s curved weapons.

Lessia’s heart pounded as she watched the two males fight each other, their sharp breaths mingling with the clash of steel and occasional groan, either from getting a hit in or from whatever they’d ingested.

She took a shallow breath when the Fae males continued their dance of death, moving with inhuman swiftness and force, whipping up sand and sea as they spun, twirled, and collided.

Raine relied on brute force, using his weight and body mass to his advantage as he tried to strike wherever he could reach—again and again.

It was terrifying, and she knew without a doubt she wouldn’t withstand a second in a duel with him.

But Merrick…

Merrick was something else.

He moved with a skill she’d never seen before.

A skill she’d probably never see again.

It was as if he was truly dancing.

His every movement was agile and calculated, and his weight expertly shifted with every step, keeping him steady on the uneven sand as he struck back with lightning-fast movements.

Still, a sheen of sweat covered his forehead when Raine forced him to face the huddled group, and when she met his eyes and flickers of pain burned bright in them, she pushed her hands into the sand to get up, the energy from before fueling her.

Merrick’s gaze flew to hers.

That was all it took.

The hardness usually masking his face warped into agony as the hilt of Raine’s sword slammed into the back of his head, and the silver-haired Fae stumbled a step forward.

She cried out when Raine lifted the other sword, the light dancing over his wicked smile making him seem like a madman.

Merrick’s eyes remained locked with hers, his sword hanging limp by his side.

“No!” she screamed, fear slithering along her spine at the cruel twist of Raine’s mouth as he let the blade fall.

Then Merrick grinned.

A crimson-stained, lethal grin that did nothing to drive away the dread within her.

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