Chapter 20 Talon
TALON
It was late into the evening when one of my guards knocked on my door.
He said Queen Eldinar wished to speak to me in private.
The fire in the study was started before I arrived, and because Queen Eldinar and I had been good friends for decades, I wore my casual clothes, trousers and a shirt that had a stain on the front where I’d spilled my scotch ten minutes ago.
She was already there when I arrived, dressed similarly but also covered in a pristine white robe that looked shiny and silky, like it was as soft as a rose petal. Her hair hung down her body in light curls, and she sat in one of the armchairs by the fire with her legs crossed.
It was one of the few times when the two of us were alone together, monarch to monarch.
I took a seat and slouched across from her, not needing to put up a front around her like I did with the public. Even with Lily and Hawk, I presented myself in a certain manner. Calista was the only other person to see me in the most intimate and carefree way.
She stared at me with her all-seeing eyes. “You look troubled.”
“My life was perfect until the day Lily set sail on that ship, and it’s been a disaster ever since.”
“It has,” she said in agreement.
“And now the underworld wants to steal my daughter, because she gave up her soul for a man she’s not even with anymore, while a vampire continues to sniff around her like a dog wanting to mark its territory.”
Her eyes softened in subtle compassion.
“But enough of my woes. Why do you seek this clandestine meeting?”
“I thought it was best we talk in private.”
My eyes searched her gaze, wanting her to share her motivations sooner rather than later.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, Talon, but it’s my duty to express it.”
“I’m listening.”
She was quiet for a long time, as if she needed to brace herself to speak her truth.
“Riviana has communicated to me that they’ve amplified their resources and are destroying the barrier at a greater rate.
We initially had weeks, but now we have days.
If we don’t defeat them, there’s very little chance that Riviana will be able to vanquish them on her own.
That means every mortal is at risk…and all of our loved ones who have passed on—”
“I’m aware of the stakes. What’s your point?”
She stared at me again, drawing another breath before she spoke. “Lily is what they want. She’s the one who made the decision to take Callum’s place in the underworld. Perhaps we should consider giving them what they want.”
I heard every word she said, but I refused to believe what my mind told me. That one of my closest friends was encouraging me to give up my daughter. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Talon, I know this isn’t easy to hear—”
“Give up my daughter? You think that’s an option?”
“We would figure out a plan afterward, but for now, yes. We shouldn’t sacrifice everyone who lives now and everyone who’s ever lived for one person.
I know it’s a horrible solution and one I don’t want to choose, but if it were me, I would make the sacrifice.
And if it were you, you would make the sacrifice. ”
“Of course I would,” I snapped back. “If they were willing to take me instead of her, the deal would be done. But that’s not our predicament.”
Despite my anger rolling like waves of lava, she remained calm. “Exactly.”
My eyes bored into hers, waiting for her to elaborate because I didn’t understand her point at all.
“That would be your decision. It would also be mine. But Lily doesn’t get a choice in the manner because you’ve concealed the truth from her.”
She and I had started off as enemies until we’d made unlikely friends, and through the decades, that friendship had solidified into a familial camaraderie. But now it was broken into pieces, irrevocably destroyed.
“She deserves the option.”
“If you had children, you would understand.” It was a cheap attack, but I meant it in that moment. “Until you have children, you don’t know what love is. Trust me, if you had your own, you would sacrifice the world for them the same way I would.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“You can’t say that.”
“If my husband were who they wanted, I wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Then you’re the coldest bitch who’s ever lived.”
She didn’t react to the harsh words I uttered.
She maintained her refined expression and her eternal elegance, like the armor around her heart hadn’t been dented by my fired arrows.
“If I were a cold bitch, I would have just told Lily the truth myself. Left her a note on her kitchen counter and none would be the wiser. But I came to you and looked you in the face like a man. I love Lily like my own—”
“Fuck you for saying that—”
She continued on as if I hadn’t interrupted her.
“But she made her choice to take Callum’s place and caused all this.
She’s strong and smart and honorable, and if she knew she was the reason all of us were in peril, she would want to face the consequences of her actions—like an adult.
But you shelter her like a child, Talon.
You keep her in the dark like she’s unable to handle the truth, when she’s handled so much on her own without you.
She was willing to sacrifice you to win the war, and you were proud. How is this any different?”
I shook my head as I felt the blood pump in my face. “It’s completely different.”
She was the one who had the audacity to look at me like I was in the wrong. “I will keep your secret because you asked me to take it to the grave. I will honor my word to you. But if Lily ever knew that you kept this from her, she would never forgive you.”
“And I will never forgive you for what you’ve said to me.” I rose to my feet and gave her the most venomous look I’d ever given to anyone. “If you’re lucky enough to have your own children someday, you will understand why.”