Chapter 14 Lily #2
We walked through the forest in silence, guided by the fireflies that illuminated our way down the path, the forest peacefully quiet but loud with a cacophony of wildlife.
There was still evidence of the battle that had taken place, burn marks on the trees, scorched grass that died and gave way to the dirt underneath.
We moved to the large clearing that led to the Great Tree, the grass dead and trampled in many places.
When we broke the tree line, I could see the sky and stars overhead, shining down on us like sunlight.
Sometimes when the stars were truly bright, I could actually feel the heat from their glow against my skin.
Aunt Eldinar walked up to the tree and stopped several feet away from the stage the elves had built. Nothing happened and nothing was said, but she continued to stand there as she gazed upon the tree, like she could feel something I couldn’t.
Minutes later, Aunt Eldinar turned to face me.
“Riviana approaches.” She stepped toward me and gently placed her hand upon my shoulder, on top of the armor that protected my skin from the elements and enemies.
“I wish you good fortune, Lily.” Her blue eyes looked into mine with endless depth before she stepped away, walking across the grassy clearing, her white dress gliding over the land behind her.
I turned back to the tree and waited, and before Riviana revealed herself to me, a strong breeze moved through the clearing, making the branches of the trees sway in its might. The sound filled the clearing, a natural but powerful reminder of the elements.
Just like with Callum and Leviathan, I blinked, and then she was there, appearing in the millisecond when the world disappeared as my lids closed. With fiery red hair that floated around her head like it was weightless underneath the sea, she regarded me with emerald eyes that sparkled like jewels.
With an intensity stronger than any man had shown me, she stared me down like a specimen rather than a person, taking in my features like pieces of a puzzle she tried to solve.
“Lily Lena Rothschild, the blood and empire of Talon Rothschild and the heart of Calista Rothschild. I know your identity without introduction, simply by standing in your presence.”
I didn’t know what to say in turn, how to greet a god, so I treated her like a queen and gave a slight bow. “You honor me, God of Caelum.”
“The Barbarians didn’t come for my tree, but they came for this forest, and you defeated them with your blade as well as your courage—as well as the protection of an unlikely ally.”
So she knew Callum had been there even though he hadn’t revealed himself.
“The god of the underworld is forbidden from my lands, but he encroached under the banner of aid. He interfered with the living and changed the course of the future for a mortal he should only serve in payment, not love.”
I didn’t have to explain or petition her because she seemed to already understand.
“A new leader of the underworld has emerged, and I suspect I know exactly what you seek.”
She knew.
She said nothing more, stared at me as her hair slowly danced around her, a woman beautiful in her fierceness.
“You opened the portal to save my father. I ask you to do the same for Callum Riverside. I vouch for the quality of his heart, for the depth in his soul, for the goodness that deserves to see the sunlight and not the deepest depths of darkness. The Southern Isles would have fallen without his aid. I would have perished, as well as all the members of my family, without his intervention. Riviana Star would have been claimed by the Barbarians, and it wouldn’t have taken long for them to understand the significance of the tree.
He’s the hero of this story—and I beg for your help. ”
With a steely gaze, she stared me down like an enemy rather than a friend.
An immortal being who must have guarded the Realm of Caelum since the beginning of time, her mind must work drastically differently than any living person, even someone as old as Aunt Eldinar.
“Callum Riverside sacrificed everything for the woman he loves. You’re right to say that he doesn’t belong with the wicked in the underworld, those who lack the ability to love at all.
His love for you is beautiful. I can see it like a bright aura that surrounds him.
But I’m unable to honor your request, Lily. ”
The disappointment stung harder than a bite from a wasp. “But he did so much—”
“And I honored his sacrifice when he last came to me.”
“When he last came to you…?” It took me a moment to understand her reference. Then I remembered how he’d discovered the platinum, because he’d asked her where it was located. “The platinum.”
“When he asked for the cure to your father’s ailment, I warned him he should be selective in his requests—because I will not honor more than one. I told him to reserve it for himself. But he chose your father instead.”
“Callum…” My eyes smarted automatically, moved and destroyed by yet another sacrifice he made for me.
“And this is the man my father refuses to help.” I blinked several times, forcing the tears back because I needed to focus on the task before me.
Needed to get Callum back, not weep over his absence.
“Your father is not coldhearted. He’s pragmatic, protective—”
“I don’t need pragmatic and protective. I need ferocity and loyalty.”
Riviana stared at me with those all-seeing eyes.
“I need his help, but he won’t help me.”
“The situations are very different, Lily. I opened the portal to help a mortal man. You ask us to take a former god from the Covenant. A man who not only gave his soul in exchange for a gift, but who served the underworld for hundreds of years.”
“I see no difference,” I said. “His heart is as pure as my father’s.
Why does my father get a second chance, but Callum doesn’t?
” Words that Callum had said to me came flooding back, and for the first time, I truly understood his perspective.
“He’s made the same sacrifices. He’s done the same amount of good for the living.
And his actions mean even more because he paid a bigger price.
Please, Riviana, help me get him back. He deserves another chance. ”
Her long stare returned, probing and intimate, reading me like I was words on parchment rather than a person whose feelings were trapped in a vault inside her heart. After what felt like an eternity, she gave her answer. “I’ve already intervened with the living enough. I cannot continue to meddle.”
“But you wouldn’t be intervening with the living—only the dead.”
“You don’t understand the dangers of such a provocation.”
“Callum understood the dangers of his actions, but he chose to make them anyway. You know I’m right. You know that he’s not like the rest of them. He’s a good man with a good heart who just made the wrong choice.”
“Perhaps. But he was of sound mind when he made it. And I know if we could ask him if he regretted that decision today, he would say no. I’m sorry, Lily.”
“Please.” I brought my hands together to plead. “I’ll do anything.”
“It’s not about payment. It’s about the risk to the mortal world—and the risk simply doesn’t outweigh the gain.
It saddens me to know that his story ended this way.
That he’s carried everyone’s burdens like his own.
That he’s a man who lives for others instead of himself. But there’s nothing I can do—”
“But there is something you can do.”
“I believe that if I could speak to Callum about this, he would tell me to let him go. That he wouldn’t want to risk your life or everyone else’s life because of his choice. That’s the kind of man Callum Riverside is.”
The tears started to pound my cheeks like hail in a storm. Riviana was the only chance I had to get him back, and I wasn’t enough to convince her. Not without my father there to sway her in my direction. “Which is exactly why we should save him anyway.”
“My decision is final, Lily. I’m sorry.” Despite the ferocity in her gaze, there was a hint of sympathy in her expression, impossible to see but easy to feel. “Truly.”