Page 35 of A Promise so Bold and Broken (Compelling Fates Saga #2)

Chapter Thirty-Five

R ubbing her frozen arms and holding back a whimper when the movement sent a jab of pain through the one Loche’s guards had branded, Lessia stared at the room she’d spent months in during the election.

It looked exactly like she’d left it.

Well, apart from her clothing not hanging in the closet anymore.

She tried to shake the eerie feeling of being here again, the one that had clouded her mind as soon as they’d ridden in through the metal gates of the castle courtyard.

But to no avail.

It had remained the entire time they dismounted the horses, when Loche sent the majority of the guards away, when the few who remained released them from their restraints, when Loche informed her she could take her old room while the others stayed in the same hallway, and when she walked through the large sitting room and up the familiar spiral stairs.

“Are you all right?” Merrick poked his head through the door connecting her room with his, and she jolted when the memory of him refusing to let her change rooms that first day struck her.

Back then, she’d thought he’d kill her the second Rioner gave the order.

But if what Loche said was true…

Her brows knitted as she nodded, and Merrick must have sensed the confusion because he didn’t return to his room to get in the bath he’d muttered about when they mounted the stairs.

Instead, he walked into her room, closed the door leading to the hallway, and opened his arms.

Lessia walked right into them.

She might have been annoyed with him for losing his temper with Loche.

Not because Loche didn’t deserve a bit of a telling off—because honestly he did.

But because they needed him.

They needed him on their side. Needed the stone she didn’t see anymore atop the dresser where she’d left it.

Needed his fleet of soldiers, who would not respond to a call other than his.

Still, whatever burned in Merrick’s eyes right now…

She couldn’t refuse him closeness if that’s what he needed.

Merrick’s arms tightened around her when she relaxed against him, and he whispered against her hair, “It’s going to be all right. I promise you Rioner will never hurt you. He won’t ever come near you again.”

Oh.

She had barely spared the curse a thought on the way here, her mind too occupied with what she’d discovered about Loche and Merrick.

Pulling back, she eyed the Fae before her, and her insides twisted when she realized the feeling that made the silver in his eyes shine so bright was fear.

Merrick was scared for her.

But she had no inclination to overthrow Rioner…

Nor to divide a people she’d never been part of.

Could they be wrong?

You need to kill him.

If not for yourself, for your sister…

For those like you.

Her eyes widened when the small voice touched her thoughts.

If he’d hurt Frelina…

She gritted her teeth.

Of course he had.

Like he’d hurt so many close to her already.

Of course the king would initiate the damned curse out of his own stupidity—out of his own hatred and narrow-mindedness.

Because there was no way Rioner wouldn’t punish Frelina when he realized who she was. And he wouldn’t spare her father either.

Not when he’d see it as the ultimate betrayal.

As if love ever could be a betrayal…

A chill—and not like the one she’d endured on the ride here, when Loche’s guards wouldn’t even allow her a jacket against the freezing wind and wet air—coated her skin.

She might not have had an inclination to usurp Rioner.

But now…

Did she have a choice?

Lightheadedness washed over her, and she didn’t have time to react before Merrick scooped her up in his arms and gently set her down on the bed.

Taking the spot beside her, he leaned his elbows on his knees and covered his face in his hands. “I know what you’re going to ask me.”

She nearly smiled then.

He always knew.

But when the muscles in Merrick’s back tensed, she bit it down and placed a hand on one of his knees. “Then you know I don’t have a choice.”

Merrick’s head jerked up. “You have a choice. You have the path that we were on! The basta—Loche is already on your side. And we’ll get your sister away from him.”

She shook her head. “But that path was never more than a fragile hope. It’s what everyone’s been telling me the past few weeks. It’s why Raine and Kerym joined us. This is bigger than me. Even if I am the one who can end it. I need to let Rioner know that he’s wrong about Loche, even if… if it means I won’t be able to fulfill the prophecy. I could save a whole people, Merrick.”

Merrick gripped her face with his hands, his eyes darting between hers.

“Fuck them, Lessia,” he growled. “I don’t care if every single one of them dies. I don’t care if the whole realm burns to the ground and not a single grain of dust remains. I am not letting you go anywhere near Rioner.”

“He’s right, you know.”

Lessia’s and Merrick’s heads snapped to the door, and while Merrick dropped his hands from her face, one of his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her closer as Loche strode into the room.

“I didn’t risk everything for you to just… hand yourself over.” Loche walked up to her desk, his gaze lingering on the melting icicles hanging from the window casing.

“But we’re also not going to let my people die.” His sharp gaze returned to hers. “We’re going to have to kill him. Together.”

“Kill Rioner?” Kerym strutted through the door, his hair still wet, and a few drops landed on Lessia as he plopped down on the bed and shook it out like a hound. “Sounds much more fun than watching the oh-so-noble Faeling sacrifice herself.”

“Of course, you’d also be a martyr.” Raine leaned against the door, a full glass of wine in his hand, which he lifted toward Loche before taking a deep sip.

Loche’s narrowed gaze sliced across the room before settling on hers. “He has your sister?”

Lessia nodded, her heart clenching at the thought of Frelina.

Frelina in those cellars…

Her jaw tightened.

No, she couldn’t go there.

“Why?” Loche demanded.

“This should be fun.” Kerym crossed his arms over his chest as he settled in with his back against the wall, feet dangling off the bed.

“He’s my uncle,” Lessia responded quickly.

No point in dragging this out.

Loche would need to find out sooner rather than later.

“He’s your uncle?” Loche repeated slowly.

“Yes.”

“Your uncle kept you locked up for years and then bound you to him like a puppet?”

It was as if lightning blazed in Loche’s dark eyes, and Lessia averted her own as she mumbled, “He didn’t know. My father—his brother—kept us hidden.”

“Alarin…” Loche threw his head back and groaned. “I should have seen it. You have the same hair.”

Lessia grimaced. “He didn’t remember me. I… I might have removed his memories.”

“Seems like you have a bit of a habit of doing that, then.” Loche raised his palms when Merrick snarled beside her, his fingers hardening against her back as if he was fighting against balling his hands into fists. “It was only a poor joke.”

It was quiet for a few moments as Loche seemed to fall deep into thought, and the only thing that echoed across the room was Raine swallowing more gulps of wine.

As Lessia watched a drop of it lodge itself in Raine’s reddish stubble, she wondered whether she should ask for a sip to calm her empty stomach, and as if she’d conjured it, her gut roared in response.

Loche’s eyes darted to hers. “Let’s discuss more over dinner. It seems my guards didn’t just take it upon themselves to dole out punishment in a form I’d never approve of but also kept you starving.”

“Fucking locked us up in a cupboard,” Kerym muttered.

Loche nodded, staring at her as he stated, “They’ll be punished.”

Merrick snorted.

Loche eyed him, and his eyes widened for the briefest moment before he drawled, “I’m guessing the Death Whisperer had more creative ways than I do to deal with them.”

She couldn’t muster a smile, even if it felt like that was what Loche expected, and as the others began rising, heading toward the lower floor, Lessia gestured for them to go ahead.

She needed a bath.

And to be alone with her thoughts instead of with four males who all seemed entirely used to getting what they wanted.

When Merrick lingered, she gently shoved him out the door, even as her hand reached for him of its own accord to pull him back.

Lessia stared at it as she flexed it, trying to push the sense of loneliness away.

She needed time alone .

To process.

Think.

Plan.

And for some reason, whenever Merrick was anywhere near her now, she couldn’t focus on a single other thing than the tingling feeling racing up and down her spine and the damned fluttering that started in her gut as soon as his eyes bore into hers.