Page 5 of A Promise so Bold and Broken (Compelling Fates Saga #2)

Chapter Five

T he boat wasn’t as vulnerable to the waves as Lessia had feared, moving smoothly over the choppy water.

It was challenging to steer, though, and every time she switched with one of the males to row in the direction Merrick pointed toward, she couldn’t focus on anything else but pushing through the water, keeping her eyes on the thickening mist around them.

Lessia gripped the wooden oars tight when a current threatened to pull them from her hands, letting out a wheezing exhale when she managed to push through.

“Do you want me to take over?” Merrick slipped onto the wooden bench in the stern, shifting the boat’s weight but helping her get a better grip against the water fighting her strokes.

Shaking her head, she forced another strong pull.

It felt good using her strength.

If nothing else, it kept all the thoughts and worry inside at bay.

“Those lazy humans are passed out back there,” Merrick sneered.

She shrugged as she let a wave hit the boat before pulling another stroke.

Neither Ardow nor Venko had been very helpful when it was their turn.

Even Ardow, with his Fae blood making him stronger than most humans, had almost let the oars slip out of his hands, and she was certain Venko’s muttering and venomous glares were the reason.

But there wasn’t room in her to pity him.

Not with everything else going on.

Although she’d been on the receiving end of similar stares, so she understood why he’d barely been able to move the boat a few feet forward.

“Where are we going?” she dared ask when they’d both been quiet for a beat.

Straightening his cloak, he captured her eyes. “Midhrok.”

The confusion must have been evident on her face because he continued. “It’s the land between Havlands and the next realm.”

She’d never heard of Midhrok—had only heard of a few other realms from the children’s stories her father had told her growing up. “Have you been?”

Merrick shook his head. “I’ve not heard good things.”

A cold sensation swept over her, and she quickly took another hard stroke. “How do you know Raine is there?”

“It’s where he told me he’d go if everything fell apart,” Merrick responded simply.

“So… so you don’t actually know if he’s there?” she whispered.

“He’s there.” Merrick stretched his arms over his head, and his hands disappeared from view in the mist that now surrounded them like white walls closing in on the small rowing boat.

When he brought them down again, the white clouds lingered over his skin, and he swatted them off his hands. “Let’s switch. You look ready to drop dead.”

As she started shaking her head, the boat listed, nearly turning fully onto its side, and Lessia gasped as it slammed back down into the waves.

“What was that?” Ardow yelled behind her.

Turning her head over her shoulder, she could barely see Venko gripping the side of the boat through the mist, which seemed to thicken with each passing second.

She only just made out Ardow crouched beside him, his eyes wild as he stared back at her.

“I don’t know,” Merrick muttered, and they were perhaps the most terrifying words she’d ever heard.

A slight tremor worked its way into Merrick’s usually hard voice, and she held her breath as he leaned over the side to stare into the water.

When it remained quiet for a few moments, Lessia relaxed slightly.

Then the boat heeled again, and it was so sudden that she lost her grip on the oars.

“No!” she screamed as she rushed to get a hold of them.

But it was too late.

The wooden oars fell from their oarlocks and crashed into the stormy sea below.

“Fuck!” Merrick snarled, his hair flying across his face as his back snapped straight.

“What is it?” Ardow shouted over the wind that began whipping around them.

“Sea wyvern,” Merrick responded as he unsheathed the sword on his back. “And it doesn’t seem to want us here.”

Lessia’s eyes widened as she followed Merrick’s gaze into the water, and a reflection of something broke through the dark surface.

A reflection of something very large…

“What do we do?” she got out through gritted teeth as she pulled the daggers from her waistband, clutching them in her hands.

As she stared from the huge shadow beneath the boat to the daggers, her stomach twisted.

The blades seemed quite small in comparison.

“Fight for your life,” Merrick snapped as the boat tilted furiously again.

“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Venko cried. “Do something!”

“Can’t you whisper it to death or something?” Ardow screamed as he pushed Venko down onto the floor, standing over him as his wide eyes tracked the creature now swimming in circles around the small boat.

“No,” Merrick growled as he clasped the gunwale so as not to fall into the water. “My magic—” His words clipped when the boat jarred again, the raging waves spilling into the hull and making Venko wail.

“Your magic what?” Ardow screamed.

“It has limits,” Merrick hissed as the boat slanted to the other side. “Magic only works on humans, shifters, and Fae.”

Merrick reached out for Lessia, but the boat turned so quickly that she slid backward, away from where he held on to the stern.

His dark eyes flashed when she scrambled to grip the wooden ridge best she could with daggers in hand, and she didn’t like the look on his face.

Not one bit.

Swearing to herself, Lessia squatted down when another hit nearly tripped her, and when she peeked over the side, her blood chilled.

A tail, twice the length of the boat and lined with purple scales and several thick spikes, rose from the water, whipping the mist viciously as it towered over the boat.

“Jump!” Merrick bellowed. “Now!”

When the tail slammed down, Lessia didn’t think.

Clasping her daggers, she threw herself off the side of the boat.

The chill water immediately bit into her skin, and she kicked her feet to dive when wild waves crashed around her.

Something nudged her, and she snapped her eyes open to find shards of wood joining her descent.

With the daggers in her hands, she forced herself to swim faster, even as her lungs protested at the exertion and lack of air.

When the water cooled further, Lessia threw her gaze around, but she couldn’t make out anything in the dark, murky sea.

Thrashing in place, she peeked upward—or at least where she believed the surface loomed—but no light broke through anywhere around her.

Lessia waited for a few moments, her eyes flying across the wet darkness.

When the waters remained calm, she decided to risk it.

It was either head to the surface or drown.

And hopefully she wouldn’t get eaten on the way.

Her pulse roared in her ears as she started swimming to where she hoped was the surface, and her lungs screamed for the air she hadn’t had time to draw before she dove—when something flickered in the corner of her eye.

Lessia whipped her head to the side, and when two huge violet eyes met hers, she let out a scream that was immediately swallowed by the water.

Only bubbles burst out of her mouth, shielding the wyvern from her vision for a moment.

Floundering backward, she kept her eyes open, her heart slamming so hard against her chest that each beat echoed in her ears.

When the bubbles floated upward, the violet eyes were no longer before her, but as she spun in the water, Lessia found them again, closer now and still fixed on her.

The wyvern began circling her, so tightly that its tail almost touched its mouth, and Lessia shuddered every time the violet eyes locked with hers.

She tried to remain as still as possible, moving her feet only when the lashing tail nearly nudged her.

Dread knotted itself in her stomach when the wyvern opened its maw, almost as if in a smile, displaying a row of sharp teeth the length of one of her arms.

Black spots flickered before her eyes as the little air she’d had left with a scream, and she realized this was it.

Either she’d die from lack of air… or this beast would eat her alive.

A whimper worked its way up her throat when the wyvern moved even closer, those cold eyes flashing with amusement when her face scrunched.

She wasn’t ready to die.

She had too much left to do.

Too many people to make up to.

Frelina.

Her mother.

Her father.

Amalise.

Kalia and the other children.

Ardow.

Merrick.

Loche.

She wasn’t ready.

A whisper of rage flushed her skin.

She wasn’t fucking ready.

More fury lapped her skin, heating the water around her and driving the panic from her mind.

Lessia tightened her grip on the daggers.

She was done not fighting back.

Look at what good it had done her the past months.

If she was to die… it wouldn’t be because she surrendered.

No, even if this creature swallowed her whole, she’d fight from inside it.

When her eyes flew open, a golden glow illuminated the water, and her features twisted into a snarl as she glared at the wyvern.

It slowed its speed until it finally stilled completely, its eyes tracking her slight movements.

You should be scared, she thought as her chest began caving in, pain shooting through her throat from the lack of air. I have nothing to lose.

The wyvern’s maw twitched as it tilted its glittering head, the creature’s violet eyes challenging hers.

It lurched forward, and while Lessia’s heart stopped for a second, she refused to take her eyes off the beast as she lifted her daggers.

When the wyvern was a few feet away, her magic roiled inside her, more strongly than it ever had before, and she didn’t care about what Merrick had said about magic not working on magical creatures.

Stop! she screamed in her mind. You will not hurt me!

The wyvern halted so fast that Lessia gulped down a few mouthfuls of water in surprise.

Coughing, trying to prevent more water from choking her, she stared at the wyvern with a hazy vision.

Its violet eyes still flashed, but a glassy hue tinted them.

Back up, she tried.

The wyvern inched backward.

She shook her head.

It worked.

But as a small smile spread across her face, her body convulsed.

With the adrenaline that had held her in an iron grip fading, black spots overtook her eyes, and panic once again chilled Lessia’s veins as her lungs forced her to inhale more seawater in their need for air.

As tears flooded her eyes, mixing with the salty squalls of the sea, she begged, Help me!