Page 79 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

He’d told her he’d kill her if she ever returned to Ellow…

Her fingers clenched around the glass, and without a second thought, she lifted it to her lips and downed the whole thing.

“Shit.”

Unable to hold back a grimace at the burning sensation, she lifted her eyes to Raine’s wide ones.

“What?” she asked after she licked her lips.

“I didn’t think you’d drink it,” Raine said as a smirk replaced his surprised expression. “This will be fun.”

“What will be fun?” Merrick stalked into the room from the kitchen, where he’d done his usual brooding or whatever else he did when that sour mask hardened his features.

Lessia giggled as she studied his drawn-down brows and the muscle that twitched in his jaw.

He was so damn broody.

Merrick’s eyes slowly moved from the glass in her hand to her eyes, and she giggled again when his expression went from sour to murderous. “What the fuck, Raine?”

Raine quickly slipped behind the couch, and Lessia tilted her head back, finding him with palms out and shoulders raised. “It’s fine. She’s half-Fae. It won’t be so bad.”

“I swear, one of these days, I will kill you,” Merrick snarled.

The world began spinning, so Lessia quickly dipped her head back down.

As she eyed the few drops left in her glass, a wave of warmth embraced her, the feeling eerily similar to her mother’s hugs, and Lessia braced herself for the stab of pain at the image of her mother.

But it didn’t come.

Instead, another rush flooded through her.

She blinked as the colors around her softened, the sounds in the house muting.

Oh.

She was drunk.

Or something like it.

She didn’t exactly feel like she did when she drank wine with Ardow and Amalise.

She’d mostly get nostalgic, and then the guilt from what she’d thought she’d done would ruin the buzz.

But this felt good.

Better than good.

Merrick’s grumblings before her touched her ears, and when she stared at him, his entire body vibrated from the vicious sound in his chest.

Reaching out a hand, she placed it on his stomach, and another laugh bubbled out of her when all those muscles he was made up of flexed.

Merrick gripped her hand, removing it from his quivering body. “What are you doing?”

She stuck out her bottom lip. “Come on, Merrick. Don’t ruin this for me.”

“You don’t drink,” he seethed. “This is strong stuff, Lessia. Raine is the only one who can handle it. And that’s because he’s been drinking it for years!”

“Not true.” Kerym tsked as he raised his glass from the chair opposite her. “I’m thoroughly enjoying myself over here.”

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