Chapter 12 Lily
LILY
I knew Hawk was particularly bothered by what had happened because he didn’t speak to me for a day.
He remained below deck in his bunk as we made the journey home.
By the time we got back, we would have only been gone a week.
According to Zehemoth, nothing had changed in the Southern Isles.
My mother and father had made it across the sea, and now my father was in the castle.
I wasn’t given a job on the boat, so I could spend my time below deck if I wished, but I preferred to be level with the sea, to feel the breeze through my hair. I sat on a crate alone as I sliced an apple and ate the pieces, in the shade of one of the sails because the angle was just right.
Someone came to join me, grabbing an apple from the basket, the contents of which had already started to turn brown as they began to spoil.
When he sat on the crate beside me, I realized it was Hawk.
He didn’t pull out a knife to cut it, but instead bit into it with his teeth.
The crunch was audible, the slice of his teeth through the flesh.
I looked over the bow of the ship, seeing nothing but blue in our path.
“How did you do that?” He took another bite of his apple like this was a normal conversation, when it wasn’t normal at all.
I knew exactly what he referred to and didn’t play dumb. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Try.”
“It’s like throwing out a fishing net and using the pulley to bring it to the surface. I felt a presence bigger than all the others, and without knowing what it was, I commanded it to send my enemies to a watery grave.”
“And it could understand you?”
“It’s a nonverbal command.”
He took another bite and chewed for a while, appreciating the view for a second. “And you’re going to tell me that a god granted you that gift with nothing in return?”
“I told you he wants the Barbarians to fail.”
“I know what you said, and I don’t believe you.” He turned to look at me, his eyes sharp like the razor Father used to shave his chin. “A god would never impart such a tremendous ability to someone without payment.”
“I didn’t sell my soul—”
“Did you sell your body?”
My head whipped back to him, surprised he would make such a crass accusation.
I was actually offended he would accuse Wrath of such a thing, until I remembered that’s exactly what had happened.
It felt so long ago, and we felt like different people.
From the moment we kissed, I was lost to him.
And the moment he touched me and lit a fire inside my heart…
the circumstances of our beginning didn’t matter. “No.”
“Then—”
“What are you worried about, Hawk?” I asked bluntly.
His eyes shifted back and forth between mine. “That you’re in trouble. That you’re a prisoner to a god but you can’t tell me.”
“I’m not a prisoner,” I said as I looked him in the eye. “He truly offered these gifts to me freely. He’s different from his predecessors, trapped in a position he never wanted. He’s different from all the others, and that’s why he cares what happens to mortals.”
“To all mortals…or just one mortal?”
Maybe Hawk did know. Maybe he knew I’d given my heart to someone who could never give it back. I continued to eat my apple and refused to entertain this conversation further, knowing he would never understand.
“I’ve witnessed your strength in battle. And now I’ve witnessed your ability to raise the dead. I don’t think we need allies, not when you can sink their ships beneath the waves and crush their army on land.”
“This enemy is different.”
“Even if they are, we’re thoroughly prepared.” He took another bite of his apple, taking it down to the core. He tossed it overboard, the splash not seen or heard from the ship. “What’s the next step?”
“We fly to the Northern Kingdoms and speak with Aunt Eldinar.”
“The Northern Kingdoms are bound by their alliance with us to fight.”
“Yes, but it’s always good to give a friendly reminder. Then we’ll return home. Now that I’ve earned Jack’s respect, I want to ask him where we can find the antidote to the gold. If he doesn’t know, then perhaps Aunt Eldinar has figured out something since we last spoke.”
“I doubt Jack would know. He would have mentioned something the second you told him about the cursed blades. But he can tell his pirates to be on the lookout for whatever it could be.”
It was sunset, the bright sun dull as it sat on the edge of the horizon, about to dip over the edge of the world.
I was always sad to see it go, but I loved a sky full of stars during the darkest part of the night.
That always reminded me of my father, when he would get me out of bed so we could see them the most clearly.
We’d bring bedrolls to the courtyard and lie under the stars and learn them together.
All those memories of everything my father imparted to me slowly came back to me during this journey. Made me realize he’d truly molded me into the person I’d become. There really was no Lily Rothschild without Talon Rothschild.
Jack came to my side where I stood on the starboard, the spray of sea salt occasionally hitting my face. “Where’s the next stop on your journey?”
“The Northern Kingdoms and Riviana Star.”
He gave a nod like he understood, but Riviana Star was just a spot on a map that he’d never seen because it was far from the sea.
“I need a favor.”
“Anything, Pirate Queen.” His attitude toward me was subtly different.
Not enormously, but something in his tone, the way he chose to look over the bow of the ship rather than stare directly at me.
It reminded me of the way my father’s general would stand at his side, like too much direct eye contact was insulting.
“You’re really going to call me that?”
“Queen Lily Rothschild of the Southern Isles is a little long, and we’re not part of the Southern Isles.” He turned slightly to look at me. “What do you need?”
“I told you about the effects of the cursed blades. The inability to heal. I need to find the antidote to save my father. To save everyone who’s going to need to be saved in this war. Perhaps you can ask your constituents to keep their eyes peeled on their journeys.”
“Of course I can ask. But it would be a lot easier to know the properties of the cure and search for it that way. I’m sure most people will be completely unaware of these cursed blades, so it’s hard to find a cure to an affliction that no one knows exists.”
“I understand what you mean.”
“But yes, I will ask.” He stepped away as if the conversation was over. The sun finally slipped beneath the horizon, and the sky immediately changed colors. Now it was mostly pink, the world growing quiet.
Then I felt him, a presence that made the air warmer and thicker and harder to breathe.
It was a quiet ringing in my years, a subtle warning in my heart that I wasn’t alone.
My eyes flicked back to where Jack had been a moment ago, and I saw the kingly man beside me, his cape lifted by the sea breeze.
A mammoth of a man who would terrify men in battle with just a look, he physically fit the bill as god of the underworld, but his heart wasn’t suited for the title whatsoever. “Thank you for your help today.”
He turned to look at me, dark eyes taking me in with that look, like he wished we were alone together. Like he wished my voyage was over so he would whisk me away to our island to make love in the sand near the shore. “Everything I have is yours, Xivin.”
He always knew exactly what to say to drag me deeper into the depths of his rivers. I wanted to move into him, rest my head against his chest plate, feel those strong arms envelop me like my favorite blanket in front of the fire. “For as long as I have your strength, does that mean you lack yours?”
He considered the question for a long time before he answered. “I have the strength of the mortal man I was before—and not a god.”
“Then take it back. The battle is over—”
“And war has just begun.”
“But I don’t need it right now.”
“It is a gift,” he said sternly. “My strength. My armor. My speed. I give it all to you, Xivin.”
“Wrath…” I wanted to reach out and touch him, to grip the armor that concealed his flesh from my touch.
My father was the only man I’d ever known who would give up everything for me—even his life.
But now I had Wrath, a man who would literally cross the barrier between life and death for me.
Who would grant his powers as a god to me, a mortal.
He would give his life for mine without hesitation… if he had a life to give.
“Wrath is the name granted to me upon my entry to Xian. It never suited me, but as the centuries passed, I embraced it and forgot the name I’d known for my brief time as a mortal. It wasn’t until recently someone reminded me what I’d been called before.”
I waited for him to share it with me, wanting him to speak the name freely instead of me begging for it. He didn’t share details of his mortal life with me, and he was so secretive that I expected he would never tell me. This might be the only piece of him I’d ever have.
His eyes found mine. “Callum Riverside…that’s what they used to call me.”
Inexplicably, I felt tears burn the corners of my eyes like he’d given me another gift as kingly as his strength and his command of the dead. He gave me a piece of himself, a piece of his soul that somehow survived the constant darkness of his existence of servitude. “Can I call you that?”
He watched my emotional reaction without giving a hint of emotion himself. To anyone else, he seemed dead behind the eyes, but I knew his soul was a cascade of feelings. “You’re the only one who can, Xivin.”