Page 68 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

ChapterNineteen

Lessia couldn’t breathe as the ramp from the small boat landed on the beach, and the thud of wood hitting sand reverberated through her so loudly it drowned all other sounds.

The sun had already begun its descent behind the house at their backs, and she blinked in the dappled light when a hand landed on her back.

“Is that your father?” Ardow breathed.

Without turning around, she nodded.

“Are you all—”

Ardow’s question was cut off when someone—she suspected Merrick—slapped their hand over his mouth.

Regardless, she was grateful for it when her father’s golden-brown hair came into view, and the lump that seemed ever present in her throat grew.

Her father reached out a hand, and when a smaller figure emerged from the boat’s head to be helped off, she thought she might tumble to the ground.

Her sister’s eyes found hers, and she didn’t hesitate as she overtook their father.

Frelina’s skirts billowed in the breeze as she stormed up to them, and Lessia took a stumbling step toward her, drinking in the sight of her round face, the amber eyes that were identical to her own, and the hair that had flowed nearly down to her waist—like Lessia’s still did—but was now cut short, coming just beneath her ears.

Lessia opened her arms when Frelina was a step away, her eyes closing as her sister’s flowery scent floated toward her, and a small piece of her broken soul seemed to fuse together.

Then, her head slammed to the side.

“Well. Shit,” Ardow gasped somewhere behind her.

Eyes flying open, Lessia touched her burning cheek and met Frelina’s furious gaze.

“How could you, Elessia?” she hissed as she lifted her hand once more.

“I’m so—” she started, but Frelina slapped her again, so hard the taste of iron filled her mouth, and the words were clipped by a sob.

“Enough!” Merrick stepped in between them, his glare fixed on her sister. “Do not hit her again,” he warned quietly.

Or perhaps the maddening noise in her ears made his voice seem soft.

Her blood roared inside her, heating every inch of her skin, not just the cheek her sister had struck, as devastating grief filled her to her core.

Her sister’s blazing gaze became blurry as Lessia’s eyes burned with tears.

She had been so occupied with the guilt toward her parents when she found out Frelina was alive…

She hadn’t even considered what she’d say to her sister.

The sister she’d compelled to jump off a roof.

Her father rushed to their side, but as he tried to pull Frelina behind him, she ripped her arm free and slammed her finger into Merrick’s chest. “The Death Whisperer, Elessia? Really? That’s what you’ve been doing all these years?”

Upper lip curling back, she turned to Raine, who’d stepped up to Lessia’s side. “Get the fuck out of my mind. I won’t tell you a second time.”

“Frelina…” Her father reached out for her sister again.

Spinning toward him, she snarled, “No! I lied about Elessia to protect you! You do not get to lecture me.” Her burning eyes flew across the group before she stalked off toward the cabin with a loud “Fuck all of you!”

Lessia breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth as she tried to stop the pressure building in her chest and the familiar black spots flickering in the corner of her eyes.

Staring at the rest of the group, she fought with everything in her so as not to succumb to the panic.

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