Page 5 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Ardow shook his head, his eyes burning into hers. “I’ve been an outcast my entire life, and I’m done with it! I’m tired of being looked down upon as soon as people realize the heritage I bear. If we need to take drastic measures to get there, so be it! And you should be on our side! How many times have you been called names? How many times have you been hurt by humans and Fae alike?”

He leaned over the table and waved his finger in her face. “Remember why you’re on this ship! Your king and the regent you desperately wanted to believe would treat you fairly forced you on here. How can you not see that we’re the good ones, Lessia!”

Casting her eyes down, she pinched her legs harder as Loche’s cold eyes flashed in her mind.

Take them away, he’d told her.

I only want to remember you as the spy who snaked her way into our election. Nothing else.

She swallowed a whimper as the coldness in Loche’s eyes faded to mere boredom.

He’d finally seen her for what she was.

Andgoodwasn’t the word she’d use.

“Good ones…” Merrick scoffed. “You’re so naive. I’ve lived long enough to learn the belief in inherent goodness is a delusion.”

Ardow shot up. “That’s why you’re trying to stop us? Because you don’t believe shifters can be good? What about halflings? You seem to have stopped trying to kill Lessia, but perhaps that’s just another way to trick us into listening to you?”

“As I’ve been trying to inform your leaders, we also believe in a world where everyone is welcome!” Merrick growled, his hand gripping the edge of the table so hard it shifted with a loud squeak. “But bigger things are happening in Havlands than your little rebellion, and we all need to work together if we’re going to survive them!”

A hollow chuckle left Ardow when Lessia’s eyes snapped to Merrick, but Venko’s injured face paled as he asked, “What do you mean?”

With a huff, Ardow threw himself onto the chair again. “He’s making up wild stories to save that king of his and stop what he knows is coming. Don’t believe a word he tells you.”

Merrick let out a laugh that made Lessia’s skin prickle.

Raising his brows, Merrick ignored the scowling Ardow, keeping his gaze on the increasingly flustered Venko. “How much of what Ardow has now entertained us with has he actually told you? Did you know who you were truly working for? Did you know they’re planning an attack that will end up with more innocent blood spilled? Much, much more.”

Venko shrunk into his seat at the intensity of Merrick’s glare, his blond hair falling into his eyes as he cowered.

“That’s what I thought,” Merrick sneered.

“I couldn’t tell you! Not with Lessia…” Ardow trailed off when Lessia’s eyes found his.

“I’m sorry,” he pleaded. “But it’s true. I was supposed to be the one going into the election, but we had to adjust when we found out what King Rioner had planned for you. I knew too much, and while you hadn’t used your gift on me… we couldn’t risk it.”

Her teeth slammed together as the urge to pound a fist into his face overwhelmed her.

“I told you I’d never,” she gritted.

Ardow’s eyes flashed with pity when hers glossed. “Perhaps not willingly. But you did it to Venko… and I’m guessing you did it to Loche as well, since—”

“I suggest you stop talking now.” Merrick’s voice was soft, but whispers began to reverberate between the walls of the cramped cabin, layering over her skin as they intensified.

“I don’t care who you are! You don’t tell me what—” Ardow started.

She couldn’t stand the arguing, couldn’t stand the raised voices joining the guilt and fear inside her.

And she really couldn’t stand the whispers that seemed to state the same words again and again:It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault.

It was her fault!

Of course it was her fault.

Lessia closed her eyes and pressed her hands against her ears to drown out the staggering whispers.

“Stop it!” she screamed when her hands did little to quiet them.

---