Chapter 29 Lily
LILY
When I woke up, Callum wasn’t next to me.
He usually got up earlier than I did, no matter how late we stayed up. He bathed and made breakfast and read by the fire until I joined him. I usually smelled whatever was fresh in the kitchen the second I opened my eyes, but now I didn’t notice anything at all.
I got out of bed, found one of Callum’s shirts because his clothes were so much more comfortable than mine, and then made my way down the hallway.
Ever since we’d wed, we’d been locked away in my villa, ignoring the world and everyone in it.
But I really didn’t know where we would stay, if we would remain out here or move in to the castle, where I would be better protected.
Because right now, guards were stationed around the perimeter of the villa, so it wasn’t exactly private.
When I stepped into the main room, I didn’t find Callum at the dining table. Didn’t notice the smell of whatever casserole had been dropped off. I found him sitting on the couch facing the fireplace, so absorbed in his thoughts he didn’t even notice me enter the room.
It was an abrupt change.
I moved to the front of the couch. “Callum?”
His eyes slowly lifted, and he looked at me, his usual intensity gone. A deep emotion had replaced it, his eyes red and the bags under his eyes puffy like he’d been crying.
I dropped onto the couch beside him. “What’s wrong?” I’d thought the worst was over, that we finally had our happily ever after, but whatever had transpired must have been extreme to bring Callum to tears.
“Everything’s okay, Xivin.” He moved his hand to my thigh and looked me in the eye. “There’s something I need to share with you.”
I listened to Callum talk for almost an hour, sharing every detail that he’d just experienced, traveling to the past to tell his sons the truth so they didn’t grow up thinking they were unwanted by their own father.
He told me Darius had shunned him at first but then embraced him when he was an adult.
Told me how he said goodbye to them in the Realm of Caelum.
I knew how much this meant to him, so of course it brought me to tears to listen to it. My hand moved to his, and I squeezed his big fingers between mine.
He stared at the fire, quiet and overcome with emotion.
“I wish I’d had more time with them, but I feel like I got enough.
Felt like I made a positive impact on their lives.
Made them feel loved. Made sure they knew how much I wanted to be there with them.
They told me I was a good father…and Darius named his son after me. ”
“Callum…”
“I feel like my broken heart has finally been put back together.”
“I know how heavy this weight has been for you.”
He turned away from the fire and looked at me. “They asked me about my life, and I told them about you. They told me I should have the joy of having children and watching them have their own children. I was already prepared to do that, but I feel differently about it now.”
“In what way?”
“I guess…” His eyes flicked away. “I’ve always felt a twinge of guilt about it. To have more children when I didn’t raise the ones I’d already had. But they’ve given me their blessing, and that means a lot to me.”
“They sound like great sons. I’m sure they get that from you.”
He looked away. “I’d like to hope so.”
“They may not have seen you every day, but they knew you were there every day. And that’s what matters. Your impact on them in a short amount of time is still exponential.”
He gave a slight nod and continued to look at the fire.
I scooted closer to him and rested my chin on his shoulder, just sitting in the silence with him while I held his hand in front of the fire. “Can I do anything for you?”
He turned and kissed my head, resting his lips against my hair for a moment before he turned back to the fire. “You’re already doing it, Xivin.”
It was a week before I left the house for the first time.
Locked away with Callum with no interruptions had been the greatest gift I could ever receive. Making up for lost time, enjoying the beginning of our marriage, just the two of us in our first home together.
My father and I took out a sailboat and sailed near the cliffs of the Great Sea. It was a beautiful day despite the fall chill, and the waves were flat this early in the morning. We dropped our lines into the water and waited for the fish to bite.
My father stared out across the sea as he sat on the opposite side of the boat. We chose a smaller two-seater boat because it was a lot easier to navigate with just the two of us. “How are things?” he finally asked.
“Good. He was quiet for a couple of days, but he’s bounced back.”
He nodded like he understood.
“He told me you’re the one who asked Riviana to do that.”
My father didn’t look directly at me or acknowledge what I said.
“Thanks for doing that.” I wished I’d thought of it myself.
“I was offered that gift once. Thought he deserved the same.”
“But she went back in time and changed the past, which directly interfered with the living.”
“I know,” he said. “But if anyone deserves it, it’s him.”
I loved how much my father had grown to care for Callum. He’d wanted him dead and then embraced him like a son. He seemed to forgive Callum’s deceit quicker than I did, when he had almost died because of it. “Dad, I wanted to ask you something.”
He turned to look at me directly.
“When I traveled to the island to trade my soul for Callum’s…” I remembered making my way through the forest and hearing a woman’s voice in my head, moving right past my ears like the wind. “I moved through the forest toward the line of torches, and I heard a woman’s voice.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he listened.
“I didn’t recognize it.”
“What did she say?” he asked quietly.
“Lily, go back.”
Those words seemed to mean something to him because his pupils actually dilated.
“Then she said…go back to your father.”
His expression was locked in place, but the rest of his body changed. It stiffened in places, and his breathing deepened.
“Do—do you know who that was?”
He hadn’t blinked since I’d broached this conversation. He seemed impaired by his own emotion. He eventually nodded then looked away, staring across the sea again as he became lost in thought. “I heard the same voice when I made my deal with Bahamut.”
“Who is she?”
He stared out at the sea for a long time, like he was debating whether he should tell me. But he eventually looked back at me again, a hint of emotion in his eyes. “Vivian.”
My father’s first wife, a woman who was still in his heart but never a part of my life. She knew who I was and tried to stop me from squandering my soul…because she cared. I wasn’t her daughter and she’d lost her own, but she still loved me like I was hers.
“When you really love someone, you always love them…and every extension of them.”
I walked in the door after a day on the boat, and Callum was on the couch, shirtless and beautiful as always.
His eyes lit up at the sight of me, and he rose to his feet.
“Don’t come near me. I smell like fish.”
His lips lifted in a smile, and he hugged me anyway, bringing me into him and kissing me like I was fresh out of the bath. He cupped my face and dug his hand into my hair too. “I couldn’t care less, Xivin.”
I pecked him on the lips before I headed into the bathroom to use the tub. I turned on the faucet so the water would fill from the tank, and I lit the fire underneath so the water would get warm as it filled the basin. It was a large bath, far bigger than most people had.
I dumped soap into the water to create the suds and then undressed before I got into the tub, the water level low and only up to my stomach.
To my surprise, Callum walked inside already naked, like he intended to join me.
It was a big tub, but it wasn’t that big. He was a six-and-a-half-foot-tall behemoth of a man with arms the size of my head.
But I didn’t dare say no either.
He lowered himself into the water, and the level immediately rose as his mass displaced the volume. The water that entered the basin continued to be cold, but between the fire and his body heat, it warmed up at lightning speed.
He took my feet in his hands and started to massage them on his chest, his big hands working on my little feet with just enough pressure but mostly gentleness. He stared at me across the tub, his signature intensity present.
I felt myself sink farther into the towel that supported the back of my neck, his perfect touch bringing me to a heightened level of relaxation. It made my eyes heavy and sleepy, even though I hadn’t been tired before I’d gotten into the tub.
When the tub was completely filled, he reached behind his head and turned off the faucet. The fire continued to burn beneath us, warming the water before it rose to the surface and heating the cold water that replaced it.
“You don’t have to rub my feet,” I whispered.
“I know,” he said. “I want to.”
“Like I said, I just went fishing.”
He brought himself forward and pressed a kiss to the side of my toe, just to drive the point home. Then he relaxed again and continued to rub my feet. “You’re beautiful.”
My heart softened in my chest because I knew he meant it. Even when I was sticky and gross from all the fishing. My father and I had fried up our catch and ate it in the castle, so even my lips probably tasted like fish.
“Still can’t believe you’re my wife.”
“I’m pretty sure every woman who sees me with you hates me.”
He stared at my feet as he continued to massage them. “How long can we stay like this?”
“Like what?”
“Free of all cares and worries. You’re a queen now, Xivin. You have a kingdom to run.”
I released a sigh. “I don’t want to be queen right now. I just want to be with you.”
He smiled. “Unfortunately, that’s not reality.”
“My father said he could handle things until I’m ready.”
“But he’s not the one in charge.”
“Queens can’t take honeymoons and vacations?” I asked with a sigh.
He smirked again.
“It took us so long to be together, and I’m just not ready to give up this time with you.
We both earned it.” We’d both risked our lives for each other and everyone else multiple times.
The kingdom was in a time of peace, the dragons were free, and after my dedication to everyone else, it was time to have what I wanted.
“So let’s take a little longer to ourselves… ”