Chapter 15 Lily
LILY
The next day, I visited my father in the castle.
He seemed to be fully recovered because I found him working in his study.
I knocked on the open door. “Dad, can you talk?”
He was writing in a hardbound book, but he immediately closed it and set it aside when I walked in. “For you, always.”
I took a seat in the armchair across from his desk, immediately noticing the hint of turmoil in his face. “Everything okay?” I realized it’d been a long time since we’d sat together like this, long before I’d met Callum on that island. It would feel normal…if my circumstances weren’t so dire.
“Yeah, just have a lot on my mind.”
“What could you possibly have on your mind right now?” The kingdom was safe, and no enemies existed who wanted to claim the Southern Isles.
He sat back in the leather chair, his arms moving to the armrests. He propped one elbow on the wood before he scratched his chin underneath his beard. Then he gave me a defeated look like he was exhausted. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Why?”
He stared me down.
“If I can lead an entire kingdom against invaders, I think I can handle whatever you have to say.”
His fingers interlocked in front of his chest, and he gave a sigh.
“Khazmuda has had a hard time coming to terms with Callum’s involvement in the war.
He lost good dragons, dragons he’s known a very long time, and he’s not sure if he can accept him as part of our family.
He felt bound by his duty to his kin to share this information with them, and they’re equally upset.
They wanted to burn him alive, but Khazmuda was able to talk them down from that—not that he wanted to. ”
The horror that must have been written all over my face.
My dad shifted his gaze elsewhere, like he didn’t want to look at my heartache.
Now I wished he hadn’t told me. Wished I hadn’t pried.
“I’m sorry, Lily.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. My own family had been supportive of whatever decision I made about Callum, and now I realized how momentous that was. “You—you think you can talk to him?”
“He’s still in mourning with the others.”
“Zehemoth hasn’t mentioned this to me.”
“It might be because he’s afraid he’ll lose you.”
I turned to look at the portrait on the wall, my grandfather, a man I’d never met. Burned alive with everyone else I’d been related to. “I—I didn’t see this coming.”
“Dragons are different from us. They see situations in pairs, black and white, good and evil. I think you can surmise how they feel about this. Callum was responsible for everything that happened, and therefore, many dragons are dead that should be alive. They risked their lives to fight alongside us, a fight that didn’t need to come here.
I can’t even say Callum’s name to him without his nostrils flaring with fire. ”
I pulled one knee to my chest and crossed my arms, suddenly ice-cold. “Maybe they just need some time.”
“Time passes differently for them than it does for us. I think that might make it worse rather than better.”
“Then perhaps I can say something—”
“I don’t think there’s anything you can say, Lily.”
“Then Callum—”
“Under no circumstances is Callum allowed to go near a dragon—not unless you want him ripped into pieces.”
I sat back in the chair. “Can this really be happening?”
My father’s eyes dropped back to the desk.
“You’re the only person Khazmuda will listen to.” I looked at him again.
“I can keep trying, but I really don’t think it’ll make a difference. He’s angry that I allow Callum to stay here. He’s angry I gave Callum that vineyard.”
Why did I fall in love with the one man I couldn’t have? The man who was the most difficult to love? Convincing Khazmuda and the others to pardon Callum sounded far harder than any other challenge we’d had to face thus far.
“Does that mean you’ve made it work with Callum?” my father asked.
My eyes had been on the portrait of his father when he asked the question. I brought them back to him. “Told him I still needed space.”
“You seemed pretty devastated when I told you Khazmuda won’t accept him into our family.” He accompanied the accusation with a piercing stare, analyzing me from across the room.
“I love him, and I can’t live without him. I’m just not ready to live happily ever after right now.”
He gave a nod in understanding. “And if you feel this way, imagine how Khazmuda must feel.”
“He has every right to be upset. I completely understand it. But he needs to find a way to coexist with Callum.”
“He asked me to exile him from the Southern Isles.”
I felt every drop of blood drain from my face.
“Obviously, I said no…for you.”
There was never an end in sight with Callum. It was just a hurricane after an earthquake after a tsunami. “Viper really is the easier choice, isn’t he?”
My dad caught my sarcasm and released a quiet chuckle. “What did you want to talk about, Lily?”
My tale seemed insignificant compared to the one he just shared.
“Leviathan came to me when I was in my kitchen…” I told him the story and the lie the demon had tried to provoke me with.
“Callum thinks he’s trying to bait me to go to the island.
But I don’t think I could ever be upset enough to do that. ”
My father had sat upright in his chair, leaning forward over the desk when the conversation turned serious. “Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“How do you know what he showed you was a lie?”
“Because Callum denied it.”
“And you believe him?” my father blurted.
I lifted my chin, slightly hardened, and steadied my resolve. “Without doubt.”
My father took a slow breath. “I knew he would come back. I fucking knew it.”
“I think Callum is right—Leviathan can’t touch me. Otherwise, he would have just grabbed me and taken me back.”
“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have another trick up his sleeve.”
Hawk appeared in the open doorway, dressed in his armor because he was on duty. “Aunt Eldinar has just arrived with General Ezra. They’re in the courtyard.”
“Did she send word she was coming for a visit?” I turned back to Dad.
He was already out of his chair. “No.” It was the first time he was wearing his entire king’s uniform, the well-made tunic and trousers that fit him to his measurements.
His black armor was pieced together over him, and he was the only one in the realm who wore a cape with his uniform—because he was the king.
I’d removed mine since I’d stepped down as queen.
We headed to the courtyard, my father taking the lead and moving with normal mobility like his full independence had returned. The only thing that would forever remain was the dark scar on his shoulder where the platinum had permanently adhered to the skin.
His cape flapped in the breeze when he stepped into the courtyard, Aunt Eldinar having dismounted from her dragon Macabre when she arrived.
She was in her iridescent white armor that fit the curves of her body and her strong legs perfectly.
Her long hair was swept back into a braid similar to the way I wore mine.
She headed straight for my father with eyes that contained alarm, not serenity. “Talon, we need to speak urgently. Riviana has detected compromising changes to the portal between our world and the underworld.”
I immediately looked at Hawk as an automatic reaction.
He had the same instinct, turning to look at me.
My father was the only one who didn’t show emotion.
“She says the physical barriers are fading, and soon, the realms will become one. The progression is slow, slow enough that she didn’t detect it right away, and even when she did notice it, the changes were slight.
But now, it’s become very clear to her that the barrier is breaking down as we speak. ”
My father stared at her face for a while before he turned to look at me.
His gaze remained glued there for a while, though he didn’t seem to be looking at me…
but past me. Then he turned back to Aunt Eldinar.
“Lily just informed me that Leviathan visited her. Tried to manipulate her with a false memory about Callum.”
Aunt Eldinar looked at me. “Did he mention the portals?”
“No, he said nothing about that. Just tried to turn me against Callum—and then left.”
She looked at my face once again. “It takes great power, energy, and resources to attack the barrier in this manner. They probably tried an alternative plan in the hope it would spare them the fatigue. But since it didn’t work, they’ve continued their efforts.
It’s only a matter of time before they break through. ”
“And what will happen if they do?” my father asked.
“The two realms will become one,” she said simply. “We’ll live among elves and humans and dragons and demons and the Covenant. This is bad, Talon. Very, very bad. Lily may have escaped the underworld, but they clearly aren’t finished with her.”
“Can it be stopped?” Talon asked. “If they’re eliminating the barrier, perhaps Riviana can repair it simultaneously.”
“She said it doesn’t work like that. That they’re powering this magic with souls, which is something she can’t use.”
My father fell quiet as he considered his options. “There must be something we can do to stop it.”
“I can’t think of anything, and neither can Riviana,” she said. “But I agree with you, Talon. We must find a solution. Otherwise, our world and the one that comes after will be destroyed.”