Chapter 15 Callum
CALLUM
“Leviathan calls for you.” One of the disfigured servants came to me in the forge where I worked, making sconces for the hall after Leviathan broke them. My hiding place in the woods had been discovered, so Leviathan stationed guards on the perimeter so I couldn’t dodge my responsibilities.
Now that I was certain Lily had survived the war and she knew I hadn’t abandoned her, I felt peace but also despair.
Our story was now over.
I continued to give her my strength just to know she was safe, but I also knew she didn’t need it anymore. That she would be fine without it, that another threat may never come for the Southern Isles again.
That meant I could eject myself into the void…and cease to exist.
I could either serve an eternity doing unspeakable things, or I could serve an eternity in the void. After being here for hundreds of years, I was ready to move on. Ready to fade from existence completely.
Lily was the only reason I chose to remain present, but now…now that was over.
Once she couldn’t feel my strength anymore, she would know.
And that would kill her.
It was the only reason I hadn’t done it yet, to give her time to grieve my absence and move on.
To find someone else and fall in love. That way, when my strength left her, it wouldn’t hurt so much.
But the problem was the passage of time.
A week for her in the mortal world was a month down below.
If I gave her a year, that would be at least three years for me, and I didn’t have the strength to wait that long for a reprieve.
I pulled the iron sconce out of the forge then set it aside to cool.
“Now,” the servant said from the top of the stone steps. Then he waddled away, one leg shorter than the other, so he had to constantly bend one knee to keep his hips level.
I tossed the tongs aside and ripped off my gloves before I climbed the stone steps and entered the main part of the castle. He wasn’t in the entryway or the dining room, so I went to the funnel, the next logical place he would be.
I spotted him from a distance, in his demon form, over eight feet tall, if you included the tips of the horns on his head.
I would feel more disdain for him if I felt anything these days.
Once I had the reassurance about Lily, nothing else mattered.
He couldn’t bait my emotions or twist my feelings because he no longer had leverage.
I came to his side and silently addressed him.
He turned to look down at me, his dark eyes rimmed by the rocky texture of his exoskeleton. “Come with me, Callum Riverside.”
Fear pricked my skin, because no one here called me by that name. I’d forgotten it until Riviana reminded me what I’d once been called. The name that my wife and brother had called me. The name my mother had chosen when she’d held me in her arms after she’d given me life.
He reached for my arm, like he was about to take me somewhere.
I didn’t fight it, wanting to know what was about to happen.
The world shifted in a blur at lightning speed.
It’d been a while since I’d transferred places like this, but it was still second nature to me.
When the world became still once again, I stood outside the enormous skull carved out of rock, surrounded by a ring of torches that surrounded the gateway to the underworld.
And there she stood before me, her fiery red hair flowing around her like it was immune to the effects of gravity. Her emerald eyes were vicious, thicker than plates of armor on a soldier’s body.
I blinked several times as I stared at her, unable to believe she stood before me.
Leviathan shoved me forward. “Five minutes.”
I stumbled slightly, not from the strength of his push, but from the shock of the moment.
It was nighttime, but nighttime in the mortal world was still infinitely brighter than in the deep recesses of the underworld.
I could smell the salt from the sea, feel the lightness of the air when I drew breath.
I continued several more steps until I stopped before her, my jaw locked in place from disbelief.
Riviana took another step closer to me. “I don’t have much time, Callum Riverside.
Lily Rothschild is on a crusade to rescue you from the underworld.
” She glanced behind me to make sure our conversation was truly private.
“Her father has declined to help her, so she turned to me and asked me to open the portal between our realms. I told her no.”
It was hard to process all of this, not when I’d been molding a sconce in a forge just five minutes ago.
“But her words pulled at my heartstrings, so I’ve come to ask what you want.”
“What I want?” I whispered.
“If I open the two realms, you know what will happen. Bahamut was killed because of it. This time, it could be me. Or it could be everyone. Or it could be the Realm of Caelum. Nothing is off-limits.”
I stared at her, all of this still feeling like a dream.
“I will do it for her—but only with your consent.”
I swallowed, forcing my mind to process what she said instead of taking in everything around me, wishing Lily were the one who stood before me.
“Because I remember what you said before, that you would never want her to risk her life for yours.”
I gave a slight nod in understanding. There was nothing I wouldn’t give to go back in time and change things, to make different decisions.
But I couldn’t undo what had already been done.
And even if Lily successfully saved me with no casualties, she wouldn’t want me after I told her the truth.
I definitely wasn’t worth the risk—not to her, not to her family, not to her dragons.
“You don’t have my consent. I made my choices, and I accept the consequences of those decisions. ”
She gave no reaction to my words, either because she was putting on a show for Leviathan behind me…or because she was always this diplomatic.
“I love Lily Rothschild with everything that’s left of my soul, but she needs to let me go.
” It hurt me to say the rest, but I forced the words out of my mouth.
“I want her to move on. I want her to find love. I want her to marry and experience the unbridled joy of parenthood…that I still miss every day. I want her to be happy. What we had was real and true, but it was just a moment in time. We need to appreciate it for what it was…cherish it…and keep it as a memory. Please tell her that. Perhaps it’ll help her move on. ”
Her expression didn’t change. She hadn’t blinked once since I’d parted my lips to speak. “You’re a soul that belongs in my realm, not this one.”
“I stand by my choices.” And regretted them wholeheartedly.
She moved closer to me, and with palms that glowed the color of gold, she cupped my cheeks. “It hurts to leave you here. To suffer for all eternity as punishment for the good you’ve done for others.”
I closed my eyes, feeling warmth, light, and joy at the magic of her touch. I basked in the glow, feeling like a seedling that quickly grew into a mighty redwood, passing through a lifetime of seasons and time in a split second.
“It hurts to leave such a beautiful soul behind…what’s left of it.”
I kept my eyes closed, clinging to her warmth, holding on to the last burst of joy I would ever know.
And then it was savagely ripped from me, the darkness back before I even opened my eyes, the stale and dank air corroding my lungs with the first breath I took. My eyes opened, and I was back to eternal night, a darkness so thick and rich it felt solid, ominous, ever-present.
Leviathan shoved me in the shoulder. “Back to work.”
I stumbled slightly before I reclaimed my gait, looking at the dark outline of the castle in the light from the torches, the place that would be home…until I had the strength to let go.