A Promise So Bold And Broken by Sophia St Germain

A week after Lessia’s heartbreak and breakout of the three others (Ardow, Marrick, and Venko), the four find themselves on a ship headed to Raine, a friend of Merrick’s. Lessia has been angry this whole time and hasn’t once talked to the men. But she can’t hold it in any longer—she wants to know why they all joined the rebellion. Merrick says that he is part of the fae who want King Rioner killed, while Ardow is part of the human rebellion group, and he dragged a reluctant Venko with him. They all tell her that war is coming to Ellow. Lessia’s anger rules her life at this point—that’s all she feels, and all she wants to feel, thanks to everything that has happened to her. Merrick tries to help, but mostly tells Ardow to stop messing with her and making her more angry.

As they get closer, the group has to force Venko with them. They have to get to a small ship and row the rest of the way to the hidden island where Raine is at. After a lot of rowing, their ship gets turned over and a sea wyvern attacks them. As Lessia is down under, she makes eye contact with the creature and uses her magic on it—and it works. The wyvern takes her to the beach, and Merrick is there helping her recover, even though he is angry that she would try something like that. But they make it to the island, and the powerful fae Raine makes his appearance by looking into Lessia’s head and memories. He sees they are there to convince him of the war and to join them. They also need a home base to get their plan together. He agrees, though he finds it fun to poke and prod at Lessia.

Merrick sends a letter to her father explaining more about the war and some potential plans. He also sends it to one of his fae soldier friends, who is famous for telepathy. They decide to wait for their responses by continuing her training. During this time, she learns more about Merrick’s past and also learns about Raine, as he is currently a drunk, living off alcohol ever since his mate died. He has no interest in helping with the war, but he still loves messing with Lessia. One day, Merrick’s training goes so far and Raine pisses her off so much that she accidentally stabs Merrick—though Merrick is proud of her. Also during this time, Merrick and Ardow try to get information out of Lessia, specifically what happened to her and Loche, or what Loche did to her that broke her heart. She refuses to tell them, thus adding more anger to her heart. Eventually, they get the news: her father will arrive the next day.

To take her mind off the arrival of her father—whom she knows she’ll have to talk to about taking his memories and actually being his daughter—they decide to go to a fae party. During that time, there is a storyteller who tells of the Rantzier family, which is Lessia’s family. The story says that anyone of the Rantzier family is pure evil. Merrick tells her that won’t be her—he’ll protect her. Lessia also drinks a bit at the party and makes a move on Merrick, but when she says she’s just using him as a distraction from Loche, he shuts her down. She goes to the beach, where the wyvern, Ydren, is at. She seeks comfort with the wyvern, saying that everything she does hurts others and everyone hates her. Merrick comes out to talk to her and promises her he doesn’t hate her. Then, her father arrives.

The first person Lessia sees is her sister, Frelina, who immediately goes to Lessia and slaps her, asking how dare she—then walks away. Another person gets off as well, a fae named Kerym, who happens to be the other fae that Merrick asked to come. Meanwhile, her father is in awe that he has another daughter he didn’t know about. He’s sad, but then also reveals that Lessia’s mother is dead, shortly after everything that happened with Frelina. Lessia feels even more guilt again. She has to push her feelings aside; they need to prepare for war. They decide that their first step is to tell Loche, then have Loche and King Rioner meet together to unite and fight against the rebels and the fae coming for them.

Her father then talks about a prophecy—one that says someone who is loved by fae and human will take down the Rantzier family. They believe that it is Loche, as he is loved by Lessia, who is both fae and human. King Rioner also knew about this prophecy, which is why he decided to get involved with the elections, and hoped that she did fall in love with Loche. The king wanted control over how the prophecy was to happen.

As they prepare to go back to Ellow and visit Loche, Frelina decides she wants to come as well. Lessia also has to say goodbye to her father, who doesn’t want his memories back in case Rioner decides to look into them. On their way to Ellow, Merrick continues her training, but also involves everyone else, as she needs to practice fighting with her magic as well. Her sister and Raine see a lot of her memories and start to feel sad for everything she has endured; they tell Merrick, who at the end of the night tries to tell Lessia she is doing amazing.

One day, they are stopped by a rebel ship, and the rebels come onto their ship. Lessia knows one of the men, Bowen, but it is Meyah, the rebel leader, they are worried about. Meyah looks at Ardow, who then reveals he’s let the rebels track them, and he is on their side. Lessia then tells the rebels what’s going on. Meyah doesn’t seem to care, and it turns into verbal fighting until one rebel uses his magic to steal Frelina away. They won’t tell Lessia where to—only that she belongs to them and the king. It turns out that King Rioner is working with the rebels, and they are on their way to Ellow as well to start the war. They disappear from the ship, and the group is left to travel as fast as they can to warn Loche.

On their way on foot, Merrick and Lessia finally share their feelings for each other, but then they are attacked. Lessia wakes up in prison with a blindfold on. She has a panic attack thinking of her time she spent as a prisoner. Merrick kisses her to calm her down, which it does for a time. Some guards reveal that they are in Loche’s prison, and that they want to have some fun. They take Merrick and Lessia aside and torture them, and end the torment by etching the letters “traitor” into their arms. Merrick says she should treat it as theirs and that it’s okay. Eventually, they are rescued, though they don’t make it far because Loche is waiting for them. He is upset that Lessia came back because that wasn’t part of his plan. He reveals that it was part of the plan to have his guard listen to everything back when Lessia took his memories. He wanted her to escape with the others—but he didn’t want her to come back. He didn’t want that because he knew about the prophecy, and he believes it’s about Lessia, loved by a fae (Merrick) and human (Loche). He figured if she took his memories, then had her banished, that would get her away from the war and the prophecy. But then she decided to come back, ruining his plans. Loche also mentions that he already knew that Rioner is working with the rebels. Loche has been trying to work with the fae.

The group leaves to make plans, but Lessia wants to talk to Loche. Merrick doesn’t like it, but she goes anyway. She wants to get a stone from him—a stone he once gave her when they loved each other. She reveals it is a stone that could help bring wyverns to them. Loche refuses to give it to her.

That night, Loche has everyone come to dinner. Lessia has nothing to wear but Merrick’s shirt, which he goes mad for. But Lessia wants to get the stone, so though she wants Merrick, she talks a lot with Loche in hopes of getting the stone back. It doesn’t work, and back in their rooms, Lessia says maybe she needs to go flirt with him. Merrick loses it and storms out of the room. Raine (who has decided he wants to fight now) tells her that Merrick and her are mates. She is stunned and runs to Merrick to fight with him about it. He says he knew about her years ago, when she went into prison, and King Rioner knew about the mate bond as well. That is why he forced Merrick to never look at her, why he put her in a prison, and why he was put as her guard during the elections. The king wanted Merrick to see his mate fall in love with someone else and not do anything about it. Merrick also says he didn’t want to share it with her the past few weeks because she has been struggling with emotions and fate, and he didn’t want to add one more thing to her. Their fighting turns into passion and they spend the night together—until they are interrupted, saying they need to meet with Loche again because he gained some news.

They go to Loche, who has a letter from her father that says “run.” Loche says his men have also seen Rioner and the rebels—they are close and will be there the next day. Lessia doesn’t want to sleep, but she feels compelled to go to her old home, and Merrick comes with her. While she makes Merrick go get something for her, Lessia follows her gut toward a particular book. When she reads the book, she realizes it’s the prophecy—but this prophecy has an extra couple of lines: in order to win, the ultimate sacrifice must be made. Lessia doesn’t like the sound of that but keeps it to herself, though finds comfort in being with Merrick, who knows she is hiding something.

The next day they are prepared. Lessia is to play a part: acting like she has full control of her magic and is controlling Loche, Merrick, Raine, and Kerym. When Rioner arrives, they strike a deal—she wants her sister back, and in return, he can have the fae men. He wants proof that they are actually under her spell, so he creates a couple of tricks to see. He brings out her father, who undoes the memory curse on Loche. He now remembers all of his feelings for Lessia. He doesn’t flinch though. The king pulls one more trick out and brings out a bruised fae. Kerym jumps for him—because it’s his twin brother, Thissian, who he believed dead. Because Kerym moved, the king knows Lessia is lying. Merrick, seeing that the ruse is up, goes next to Lessia to protect her, as does Loche. Rioner then realizes that the prophecy is about Lessia, not Loche. The king decides to sink the ship. Loche kisses Lessia and puts something in her hand. As she feels pain and darkness, the something Loche gives her leaves her hand—and he falls unconscious.

In the last chapter, it’s from Merrick’s POV, and he is livid. He wants to kill Loche for kissing his mate. He wants to kill King Rioner for taking his mate and starts to feel guilt and worry that she may be experiencing torture again at his amusement. Merrick swims back to the surface, his magic frantic and angry—he wants his vengeance and his mate.