Page 6 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

After a moment, Merrick’s magic seemed to still, even though the air still flickered with the ancient gift that filled his veins, and Lessia drew a deep breath as she lowered her hands, ignoring the wide-eyed stares from the males around her.

“Stop it,” she said again, quieter this time, but forcing her voice to remain strong.

It was her fault.

It was her fault Loche had banished her.

It was her fault that Amalise and the children had to flee Asker.

It was her fault for getting tangled up with the Fae king—the one thing her father had devoted his life to not happening.

And now she needed to do something about it.

Arguing on a stupid ship in the middle of the Eiatis Sea would be of help to exactly no one.

“None of you will talk unless I say so.” She let the magic brimming under her skin shine through, her golden eyes casting bright shadows across the dark wood as they darted between the three males. “Otherwise, I swear Iwillbreak all promises I’ve made and use my damned magic to make each and every one of you tell me your deepest, darkest secrets and use them against you.”

She wouldn’t, but she refused to let them know that when Venko whitened further, and even Ardow leaned back in his chair, his eyes everywhere but on hers.

Merrick shifted beside her, and when she flicked her glowing gaze his way, he met it, but she didn’t miss the flicker of unease in the silver swirls.

“Now that that’s established… Merrick, what is happening in Havlands?”

The Fae hesitated momentarily, and it was enough to stop her from pushing the magic down again.

Instead, she tilted her head and raised a brow in the arrogant way he’d done earlier.

A vein in his neck bulged as he glared back at her, but the whispers didn’t surface again as he finally responded, “We have reason to believe a neighboring realm is planning on invading Havlands.”

A shiver racked her shoulders at the gravity of his tone, but she forced herself to ask, “Why?”

“I don’t know much, only what your father could risk to tell me.” Merrick pulled the cord from his hair, shaking his locks out. “A few years ago, a group of Fae that used to be ruled by a royal family called the Oakgards entered our waters, their ships bearing the mark of what we called the Old World—the realm our kind migrated from a few millennia ago. They asked to speak to King Rioner and informed him that their realm was dying, their lands rotting, their forests burning, their water turning poisonous, and that the people were at a loss for what to do. They asked him for sanctuary in Vastala… but he turned them away, forced them to leave and go back where they came from.”

“So what?” Ardow sneered, but he quieted when Lessia glared at him.

With a low growl that vibrated right through Lessia, Merrick continued. “They were desperate. The king’s brother even got on his knees and begged him to at least take the children… But Rioner refused. He told them they were too many—that he couldn’t risk his own people to save another—one he didn’t even remember.”

Lessia swallowed when the memory of her on her knees before Loche in his office struck her like a dagger to the chest.

Stiffening, Merrick balled his hands on top of his knees. “We believe they’re coming back. That they’re not here to ask nicely but to take our realm by force. If we’re right, Havlands can’t risk not standing united. If we’re in the middle of an uprising… it will be easy for them to pick us off one by one.”

“Does Rioner know?” she asked, driving the image of Loche’s office from her mind.

“He does, and he doesn’t believe it.” Merrick’s lip curled, his sharp teeth rasping against the bottom one. “Your father has seen foreign ships when he’s traveled from your home, but since he can’t say exactly where… Rioner seems to believe it’s L… it’s the regent who somehow wants to intimidate him.”

She realized her magic had faded from her eyes when she stared into Merrick’s dark ones and fear wrapped around her heart like an icy hand.

The fact that her father had even mentioned being somewhere outside the castle Rioner had so graciously given him when he ascended the throne had erased any doubt she might have harbored.

Her father wouldn’t risk the king’s men stumbling across their hidden island—the sanctuary he’d discovered after meeting her mother, and the place he actually called home—the place Rioner knew nothing of, as he had no idea her father only visited the castle a few times a month to keep up appearances.

Especially not if Frelina somehow was alive.

He must be convinced in what he’d told Merrick.

And that meant the people she loved were in more danger than she’d realized.

Not just from the rebellion…

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