Page 11 of A Promise so Bold and Broken (Compelling Fates Saga #2)

Chapter Eleven

W hen Lessia returned to the beach with her worn boots securely laced up, that nagging feeling still unsettled her, and it didn’t help when all four males stared at her as she made her way through two dunes.

She picked at the raised scars on her arm as she approached them, avoiding Merrick’s gaze when its warmth followed her hand’s movement before it landed on her face.

Instead, she kept her eyes on Venko, who sat in the sand, head tilted toward the sun as he ignored Ardow hovering beside him.

“You’re not training?” she greeted them as she approached.

Venko shook his head. “I am a tradesman, no soldier.”

“V, you should r—” Ardow started, but Venko interrupted him.

“No! You dragged me into something I didn’t sign up for. You’re keeping me as a prisoner, Ardow! I will not engage in this silly quest for revenge nor attempt to save our world when it’s clearly beyond saving. I will not fight, so I do not need to learn anything.”

Venko’s eyes landed on Lessia’s as he spoke. “Neither should you. Do you think you can go up against rebels and all of these Oakgards’ Fae, Lessia? It is sure death. We should get out of this realm, try to find somewhere safe to hide out.”

“Look at that. I’m clearly not the only coward here,” Raine drawled as he slumped down in the sand beside Venko, angling his already flushed face so that the rays hit it fully. “He’s right, you know. You should take a page from my book. Life is ever so much easier when you stop caring.”

“You—” Lessia seethed but quieted when Merrick’s scent flooded her nose and the warmth of his body brushed her back.

She didn’t want to risk biting him again.

“Just keep your damned mouth shut, will you?” Merrick snarled over her shoulder.

Something within her whirred when Merrick’s hand landed on her back, and for a moment, she wondered whether the rushing in her ears was his whispers, but then she realized it was her own rage crashing through her like a tidal wave.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you scared, Raine,” Merrick taunted, and she could sense the smirk that must have twisted his features.

“Ah, you got me! Seems like it’s going around. All of us scared and broken and ever so lonely…” Raine laughed.

A growl boomed through Merrick, and he stepped around Lessia to drag Raine to his feet, their faces barely an inch apart as he glowered at him. “Enough. Let’s settle this like we used to.”

Raine shrugged, nearly hanging limp off the sand from Merrick lifting him. “Care to make a wager?”

Merrick’s eyes flitted between his before he shook his head. “You know you’ll lose. You always lose.”

The grin Raine flashed sent a chill down Lessia’s back. “We’ll see about that.”

Merrick bared his sharp teeth at him before turning toward Lessia and barking, “Watch. You might learn something.”

Brows pulling, Lessia stared after the two Fae warriors as they stomped a few feet away, the fury rolling off Merrick’s shoulders as clear as the liquor Raine clung to like a newborn to its mother.

Raine was apparently trying to agitate Merrick, but she didn’t understand why.

The way he’d spoken about him last night had been with love.

But whatever was happening now definitely wasn’t love.

Or even friendship.

At least not the friendships she was used to.

“Come on, let’s sit over there.” Ardow’s fingers wrapped around her wrist, and she almost pulled out of his grasp, ready to snap at him, until she accidentally met his eyes.

Pain touched his brown gaze as it traveled to Venko, who’d shuffled backward toward one of the taller dunes by the edge of the beach—where the tall grass met the white sand—and a knot formed in her gut at the emptiness of his eyes when he met hers again.

With a sigh, she let Ardow pull her with him to sit next to the merchant.

She could taste the hurt in the air when Venko moved to sit on her side, and Lessia fixed her gaze ahead, where Merrick and Raine now circled each other, each with a terrifying expression contorting his face.

As Merrick reached for the sword on his back, her eyes trailed the bright reflection bouncing off it.

She wasn’t surprised they trained with real weapons. Merrick had refused to let her train with wooden weapons in Ellow.

Apparently the wood would throw her off.

She knew Fae healed quickly, but still… that blade was sharp.

Lessia shook her head as Raine pulled out a small flask from his tunic. “Shall we make this more fun?”

Only the slightest downward movement of his mouth betrayed Merrick’s second of hesitation.

It was so fast that Lessia was certain neither Venko nor Ardow had noticed.

But the grin on Raine’s face told her he hadn’t missed it.

“We can do it the easy way if you’re out of shape.” Raine winked.

“Just give it to me,” Merrick hissed.

When Raine offered him the shimmering bottle, he swiped it out of his hand and swallowed something red-tinted so quickly that his movements almost blurred.

“What was that?” Ardow breathed.

Hushing him, she observed Merrick closely as he licked his lips, letting his tongue drag across the top row’s canines while Raine took a sip—a much smaller one than what Merrick had downed.

The Fae stared at each other for a moment.

Then Merrick’s shoulders grew taut, and Raine’s features twisted.

Not with anger, but…

Pain.

Whatever was in that drink was causing them pain.

She wasn’t sure if the men on either side of her realized, but she could see it in every hard line of Merrick’s face, in the way his boot-clad feet sunk into the sand, in the slight tremble of his hand as it reached for the sword once more…

Despite the warm day, a biting freeze crawled over her skin.

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.

On the contrary, frost settled in her bones at the shadows deepening his eyes.

Something flickered across his features as he took her in, but then he tore his gaze from hers, and with a speed that should be unlawful, he threw himself to the side, out of the way of Raine’s second strike.

Lessia blinked as Merrick crouched low, taking out Raine’s legs with one of his own, so the latter fell to the sand with a loud thud.

After disarming him with one hand while the other held his ruby-decorated sword steady by his throat, Merrick said quietly, “I told you you’d lose.”

Raine only grunted, but he took the hand Merrick offered him, and after brushing some sand off his clothes, he pulled out another flask—the one she’d seen yesterday—and took a long sip.

“I forgot how much this shit hurts,” Raine muttered as he waved the flask Merrick’s way.

Ignoring him, Merrick’s eyes sliced to hers again, and she realized she was shaking when they flew over her body, his mouth tightening into a thin line.

As Merrick stalked up to her, she tried to lock down her uncooperative muscles.

But it was useless, and she was certain he noticed when his eyes flicked down for a second before he nodded toward the daggers dangling from her waistband as he reached her. “Your turn.”

Lessia reached for them with trembling hands, but she mustn’t have moved fast enough for him, as Merrick swiftly sheathed his sword and slipped them out of her belt.

Shoving them into her hands, he stated, “You’re scared of me.”

She thought of arguing, but she wasn’t sure if her voice would betray her, so instead, she pressed her lips together as she tried to muster up a glare.

She wasn’t actually scared of Merrick…

She was scared of having to fight those like him.

Anyone with even half his skill would take her out in mere seconds.

Merrick’s tongue flicked one of his canines as he nodded. “You should be.”

Without sparing Venko or Ardow a look, he gestured for her to follow him, and Lessia didn’t dare glance at them, either, as she staggered after him.

She might just run back to Raine’s cabin and hide if she also saw fear in their eyes.