Chapter 8 Lily
LILY
When I walked in the door, Callum was in the kitchen.
“Something smells good.” I slipped off my sandals by the door and joined him in the kitchen.
He was in a new pair of trousers, like he’d gone into the village that day and shopped for attire.
But he was shirtless, exactly as I preferred, a mountain of a man.
A large pot was on the stove, and the smell of onions and carrots wafted to my nose.
He turned to me, a subtle smile on his lips but with a luminous light in his gaze.
His arm circled around the small of my back, and he bent his neck down to kiss me, slow and soft but with a passion I could feel.
When he pulled his mouth away, he glided his hand over my ass and gave it a manly squeeze before he turned back to the stove and turned off the burner.
He didn’t say a word, but that was just fine with me.
I set the table with napkins and silverware and wine with glasses while he plated the food.
I hadn’t expected him to be able to cook.
This was a bonus I hadn’t anticipated. He carried the bowls of hot food to the table and set them on the plates before he sliced up a baguette he must have gotten at the market.
He tossed the slices in a fresh linen in a basket then set it on the table before he took a seat across from me.
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“It’s just meat and potatoes.”
I looked at the dark gravy that covered the beef filets and the carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. “It’s the best meat and potatoes I’ve ever seen.”
It was too hot to eat right away, so he sat with his elbows on the table and just stared at me.
I couldn’t believe I could look at him all I wanted, whenever I wanted.
I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have dinner together, to live in the space together as man and woman.
And he was so damn sexy, the muscles of his shoulders like mountains and his hair so dark against his fair skin.
He was even more beautiful alive than when he was dead.
“How was your day?” I asked, knowing I’d probably just watch his lips move but not listen to a word he said.
“I hunted in the forest, sold the meat at the market, and bought a couple things.”
“I noticed your pants were new.”
“Got some attire and boots.”
I had access to the treasury of the castle, was welcome to take anything I needed, but I’d chosen to make my own way in life ever since I’d moved out.
I made money playing cards at the pub and helping out on the different farms. I knew Callum would never take my money, so I never offered.
I knew he was the kind of man that preferred to make his own way in life, to earn his own money.
We were the same in that regard. “What did you think of the village?”
“It’s nice. People are friendly.”
“Whenever I need extra money, I’ll take out the boat and fish. Seafood seems to fetch the highest price.”
“You know how to fish?”
“I know how to do everything.”
A hint of pride moved over his gaze before he grabbed a slice of bread and tore off a piece that he dunked into the gravy. It seemed to be cool enough because he took a bite before he grabbed his fork. “I never saw the sea before I sold my soul to Bahamut. You’ll have to teach me.”
“I’d love to.” The food seemed to have cooled down enough, so I started to eat my meal. It was great, full of seasonings and flavor, the meat tender like he’d seared the outside before he’d tossed it into the pot with everything else. “This is great.”
He nodded in acknowledgment of what I’d said.
“Where did you learn to make this?”
“Something I used to eat all the time.”
I noticed he continued not to share many details of his life before he was taken to the underworld. It was still an off-limits topic. But I guess being free of eternal enslavement wasn’t enough to get him to share. Maybe he needed more time.
“How was your mother?”
“Good. Talked to her about the wedding.”
He continued to eat, elbows on the table, a man who rivaled the size of a bear.
“She said it would mean a lot to my dad if you asked for his permission first, something I don’t really agree with.”
“I agree with it.”
I finished my bite as I looked at him. “You do?”
He gave a nod.
“Then why haven’t you asked him?”
He’d just taken a large bite of his food, so he leaned against the wooden back of the chair and chewed as he stared at me. His chest alone was the size of a fireplace. His arms were plump and cut with so many different sections of muscle. He was just big, somehow bigger as a mortal man than a god.
I waited for him to finish eating before he answered.
He swallowed, but words still weren’t forthcoming.
I continued to wait, feeling dread slowly creep from the shadows into the corners of my heart. My intuition warned me about an incoming threat, but I didn’t know why Callum would ever be the cause of harm.
His eyes dropped to the table then he grabbed the linen and wiped his mouth with it.
“Callum?” I thought the pause was innocent at first, but now I knew there was something hidden behind his eyes.
He took a breath before he looked at me again, and his stare… It was so hard and empty and defeated.
“You’re scaring me.”
“I haven’t asked him or you because…there’s something I need to tell you first.”
I’d walked in the door after spending the afternoon with my mother and found him making dinner in the kitchen, something that ordinary people did every day, but for me, it was a dream come true. It was the one thing I wanted more than anything else, and I felt it slip through my fingers. “Okay.”
His eyes shifted away again as his long fingers moved over his jawline while he prepared himself for whatever he was about to say.
I literally stopped breathing because of the tension in the air, because of the way he paused like it would kill him to tell me whatever he was about to tell me. Like he knew he was about to crush me to dust. “Callum, was there someone else when we were apart—”
“Never.”
“Has—have your feelings for me changed—”
“My feelings for you will never change, Xivin.”
“Then…what is it?” If it wasn’t infidelity or a loss of love, then what could it be?
He inhaled another slow breath as he stared at the table. “It happened before we met.”
I couldn’t control my surprised expression, not expecting him to start with that.
“As the god of the underworld, I made deals with lots of people. Granted them gifts in exchange for their souls. I was in the middle of a deal when your ship came to my shores…”
I stared without blinking, unsure where this tale was headed.
“And the person I made the deal with…was Kennt.”
Flashes of images moved across my mind, seeing his golden mask obscuring his face from view, the maroon hood that covered his head and the sides of his face.
I pictured him at the top of the castle, accompanied by eleven of his strongest—and I’d defeated them all.
The leader of the Barbarians, who had killed my entire crew.
The ruler of the enemy who tried to take Riviana Star.
The man who threatened to make me his wife and birth his children.
Callum watched my expression change, and the horror I felt slipped into his features.
“They lost their kingdom in an ice age. With their home destroyed, they looked to colonize elsewhere. And I suggested the uninhabited lands north of Riviana Star that are only occupied by various colonies of orcs. They asked for an army to help them defeat their foes, so I helped them form an alliance with the Behemoths.”
The enormous seven-foot orcs who’d marched into the forest with torches of fire…and burned the trees to the ground.
“They turned their attention to the forest after that.” He had the courage to look me in the face as he told me all of this, as he shattered my world with context that altered my entire perception.
“They were met with the powers that I granted to you, and Kennt claimed that the deal we made was unfair. When I refused to give them more, Kennt threatened to report me to my superiors, so I obliged.” He didn’t tell me what he had granted them.
But there was no need, because I figured it out. “That was how they became vampires…” I’d faced none in Riviana Star, but then I’d realized half their army was made of powerful monsters my soldiers couldn’t defeat.
Callum’s eyes shifted away before he gave a nod of confirmation.
“You were playing both sides.”
“No.” His eyes immediately lifted to mine. “I was a traitor to them and an ally to you.”
“That was how you knew everything—where they would be, what they were doing.”
He didn’t deny the accusation. “Once Kennt figured out how profoundly I was aiding you, he reported my actions to the Covenant. I believe he chose the time strategically, so I wouldn’t be with you when he attacked.”
I heard every word that came out of his mouth, but I was in such shock…
more shock than when I’d seen my father fall to the ground with a large golden sword sticking out of his shoulder.
The thought of it made my heart clench into the tightest fist it’d ever made.
“My father almost died because of them…was incapacitated for months because of them.”
He wouldn’t look at me now, eyes down in shame. “I know.”
Tears welled in my eyes when I remembered that horrible night, leaning over my father while he looked terrified, not for his own demise, but because I’d made an alliance with a god who was untrustworthy.
And he’d been right.
He’d been right…all along.
I was a woman who always had something to say, who reacted before I thought things through, but I was stunned into silence.
Callum lifted his eyes to look at me, his features tight, like he was waiting for me to yell and scream.
But I wasn’t angry.
I was devastated.
Hurt.
Betrayed.
Shocked.