Chapter 7 Lily #2
“Unnecessary,” Viper said. “Lily and I come to your lands for platinum. It’s a hard substance like steel with a diamond-like illuminance. It has healing properties against cursed gold. Her father has a mortal wound that can only be cured with this element. Do you have it?”
“I don’t know it by that name, but Huntley’s army uses blades as you’ve just described.” My heart leaped in a bout of uncontrollable joy. I was so close. So fucking close.
“Can I examine it?”
Aurelias stepped away and approached the guards at their post across the room. “Give me your sword.”
The guard wordlessly obeyed the command, removing it from the sheath at his hip and extending it to Aurelias by the tip.
Aurelias gripped the hilt then returned to us, displaying the blade across his open palms.
I stepped forward, seeing the way the blade gleamed in the flames, brighter than steel. I pressed my finger to the edge as if that would tell me more information. It was smooth under my fingertips…like glass. “This must be it. It’s exactly what was described.”
Aurelias grabbed the blade by the hilt then extended it to me—like it was a gift.
I took it by the hilt and brought it close, hugging it to my chest like it was the mightiest gift ever bestowed upon me.
Aurelias turned his attention back to his brother. “How much do you need?”
“It’s just the two of us on the back of a dragon,” Viper said. “So we can’t carry much.”
“I’ll speak to the blacksmith in the morning,” Aurelias said. “Pack it and secure it for your journey back.”
“Thank you,” Viper said.
Aurelias stared at him hard again, as if there was much he wanted to say but couldn’t with me there. “How long are you staying?”
“Just until morning,” Viper said. “It took a week just to travel here.”
“Then her land is very, very far away. How did your paths cross?” His eyes flicked back to me again.
Viper didn’t answer the question. “Will you provide accommodations for us?”
“Of course.” Aurelias nodded toward the stairs. “Follow me.” He headed up the stairs to the second floor, and then he gave an order to one of the servants. “Prepare a room for my guests.”
“Make it two,” Viper said.
“No, make it one,” I added.
He turned to look at me, his eyebrow slightly raised.
Aurelias glanced between us before he nodded to the guard to continue. “I’ll give you two a moment.” He stepped aside and approached the large windows across the room that showed the village below.
Viper continued to look at me with the same perplexed expression.
“I know he’s your brother, but I don’t know these people, and therefore, I don’t trust these people.
You’re the only one here I can turn my back to.
” I didn’t want to be alone in a room with Viper, but I hadn’t come all this way just to be stabbed when I closed my eyes.
I had to get back to my father with the platinum in tow.
“I give you my word no one here will hurt you.”
“I still don’t feel comfortable being on my own. I’ll sleep on the floor. I don’t care.”
Viper gave a nod before he stepped toward his brother. “It’s been a long day, and we are both weary. We’ll retire and leave first thing in the morning.”
Aurelias crossed his arms over his chest. “We live so far apart, but you’re going to rush off?”
“I can’t delay her,” he said. “Her father is the priority right now.”
Aurelias wore a glint of disappointment but gave a conciliatory nod. “A drink, then?”
Viper considered the request before he looked at me, silently asking if I would be alright on my own for an hour or so.
I was unnerved being in a kingdom I didn’t know, housed in the castle where Zehemoth couldn’t get to me. But Viper always had my best interests at heart, and I should trust him. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
The guard came to my side then escorted me to the bedchambers. They had already started a fire for me, had a tray prepared of tea and scones, and the room had a large sitting room as well as a four-poster king-size bed against the wall.
I took a seat in the armchair and placed my sword across my lap as I waited for Viper to return. I stared at the door, the only way into that room, as if someone might come for me any moment.
Did I actually think someone would try to kill me tonight? No.
But I couldn’t come this close to saving my father’s life and risk failure. The stakes were so much higher now. If Zehemoth could fly straight back to the Southern Isles without stopping to rest, I would tell him not to stop, not to risk an attack at the campsite in the middle of the night.
If only Callum were here, he could grab my arm and take me across the world in an instant. Could bring me straight to my father’s bed with the platinum in my grasp.
I sat there in front of the fire, and even though my eyes were tired and my body was weary, I stayed awake.
Are you alright, Sunieth?
Yes.
Now that we’re fused together, I feel your emotions so much more intensely.
I wish I didn’t have to make Zehemoth suffer through my erratic cycles of hope, joy, and then all-consuming despair.
The idea of saving my father brought me the greatest lift in happiness, but then I thought about Callum and felt so broken that I wasn’t sure if I could stand. And Zehemoth had to feel all of that.
Do you feel safe?
Yes. Viper is having a drink with his brother, and I’m waiting for him in the chambers.
Do you trust these humans?
Right now, I don’t trust anybody. I just want to get home as quickly as possible.
I will fly as hard as my body will allow.
It’s okay, Zehemoth. We both need to get there in one piece.
Viper returned to the room nearly two hours later, and his eyes immediately settled on me when he entered. “I said you have nothing to fear.”
“I know. I’m just paranoid and stressed.” I left the couch where I’d been seated and walked past him to the large dresser that had a flower vase and an enormous mirror on top. I normally wouldn’t have been able to move it, but I slid it across the wood floor with ease and blocked the door.
Viper watched me but didn’t belittle my fear. “I’ll take the couch.”
“It’s okay. I was the one who wanted us to stay in the same room.”
“I insist.” He pulled his sword out of the scabbard and rested it against the mantel where the fire burned.
Then he removed each piece of armor and placed them in a pile on the armchair, leaving his Kingsnake uniform on underneath.
He immediately sank into the couch and stared at the fire, a glaze over his eyes like he was either physically exhausted… or emotionally exhausted.
Now that he was there, I could finally sleep—and in a real bed. But all I could do was stare at the side of his face as he got lost in the fire. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you said all your brothers were vampires?”
“They were.”
“They were?” I came around the back of the couch then sat in the other armchair, watching the other side of his face now.
“Aurelias fell in love with a human and chose to live a mortal life with her.”
“I—I didn’t know you had a choice.”
“You can only do it once, and it can never be reversed.”
Now I understood the source of his sadness. Time wouldn’t move an inch for him…but a mile for his brother.
“I haven’t seen him in six months, but he’s already aged. It’s subtle, a hint in the corners of his eyes and his mouth, but it’s there. My life will remain stagnant in time, and he’ll pass away in what feels like a second to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“His wife wants to have children and join her family in the Realm of Caelum. If he wanted to be with her, he didn’t have a choice.”
“Do you think he made the right choice?”
His eyes never left the fire. “I would say no, except I’ve seen him without her. He tried to move forward with his life, but the misery somehow aged him anyway. I think a part of him will always regret the sacrifice, but he’ll never regret marrying his wife.”
My eyes dropped as I listened.
“Larisa wanted children as well, but she and Kingsnake didn’t want to sacrifice their immortality.
I’ll have them and my brother Cobra and his wife, but I’ll always mourn the brother I assumed I would have forever.
So every time I see him, it feels like a goodbye, because when I see him again, it’ll be a different version of him, an older version. ”
“Yeah.”
After a long stare at the fire, he turned to look at me. “Which is why you and your family are so lucky to have those dragons. The fuse grants you immortality, but because the magic is pure, you’re able to continue to have children.”
“And as a vampire, you can’t?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Does that disappoint you?”
He looked into my eyes and didn’t flinch at the deeply personal question.
“It used to bother me a long time ago. But I’ve learned that family can be defined by many other things.
Larisa is not my blood, but she definitely feels like it.
Would I give up my immortality for the opportunity to have children?
I can’t see that happening.” He turned to look at the fire again.
“When we were together, you said you were ambivalent about children. That you’ve never had that urge to be a mother.
But with this guy, it sounds like you’ve had a drastic change of heart.
” He didn’t actually ask anything, but the question still pressed against me.
“I can’t really explain it. I’m not interested in having kids right now and I still can’t picture myself being a mom, but when I’m with him, I just have these images flash across my mind of him holding our baby in the crook of his arm. Never felt that way before.”
He continued to stare at the fire.
Picturing Callum holding our child in a rocking chair nearly made me cry.
“And you do realize that’s not possible, right?
” he asked quietly, like he didn’t want to provoke me with too much intensity.
“With me, it is possible.” He turned away from the fire and looked at me.
Stared at me with an intensity he hadn’t shown in a week because he always kept to himself in his tent.
“You said you wouldn’t give up your immortality to have children.”
“With you, I wouldn’t have to. I could fuse with one of your dragons—if they would accept me.”
My eyes immediately flicked away.
“And we could both have everything we’ve ever wanted.”
I continued to avoid his eyes, guilty for even allowing this conversation to continue.
He must have felt my discomfort because he withdrew his stare. I could feel it leave the side of my face. “I overstepped. I apologize.”
I turned my attention to the fire.
“If things don’t work out the way you want…I hope that you’ll consider me.”