Chapter 17 Lily
LILY
I sat on the boulder in front of the rock, my knees pulled to my chest, the bonfire burning between Zehemoth and me.
He lay in the grass with his chin resting on his talons, his dark eyes reflecting the flames like mirrors as he looked at me.
My eyes got lost in the flames…lost in the grief.
I hurt when you hurt.
My eyes lifted to Zehemoth’s, his appearance the same as always since he couldn’t show an expression. His words and the plume of smoke from his nostrils were the two main ways he could convey the intensity of his feelings. “I don’t want you to hurt, Zehemoth.”
It kills me to see you like this, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Well, except my father…who chooses to do nothing.”
He still loves you, Lily.
“That’s not enough for me. The love of my life is trapped, and he does nothing.”
It’s hard to risk everything for a stranger.
“But he’s not a stranger, not to me. And that’s all that should matter.”
His eyes dropped down to the fire again, and he watched the flames for a while.
I’d run out of ideas to save Callum, but I still hadn’t given up.
I just didn’t have a direction or an objective.
Petitioning Riviana again seemed like a waste of time.
I might be able to convince Aunt Eldinar to speak on my behalf, but she would share whatever stance my father had, so she wasn’t reliable.
My father said he was not worth the risk.
Riviana said he was not worth the risk.
But…I would be worth the risk.
My whole body flushed with heat before it turned ice-cold right after. It was a sinister idea that could go wrong…and have eternal consequences. But in that moment, I knew it was the only option I had.
“Zehemoth.”
His eyes flicked back to me.
“I need you to do something for me.”
His orange eyes remained on me for several seconds before he lifted his chin above the fire, looking at me head on where I sat on the boulder.
It must have been something in my expression or my tone of words, but he understood the boon I would ask of him would be the greatest any person could ask of someone else.
“Can I trust you?”
He considered the question without asking for the details of the task, just somehow knew how heavy a burden I was about to place on his shoulders. Finally, he gave a nod. Without question, Sunieth.
We left Riviana Star and flew west over the sea—back to the place my father had wanted me to avoid like a lethal disease. By the time we arrived, it was an hour past sunrise, the sun still low on the horizon and bright in our eyes.
We landed on the same beach as before, the tide low now that the moon had passed with the night. The waves were nearly nonexistent on the shore, like even the water didn’t touch this landmass the way it touched the others.
I hopped down and looked into the forest I’d traversed previously in the darkness.
In the daylight, it didn’t look so bad.
Anything could change, if you just changed your perception.
I left my bag behind because I wouldn’t need it on this journey. I walked out of the water and stopped on the dry sand.
Sunieth.
I looked at the dead oak trees that stood tall but crippled and then turned back to Zehemoth.
I don’t like this.
“I know. But it’s the only way.”
I’m scared.
“I’ll be okay.”
You don’t know that. He started to breathe harder, his body trembling and then his throat contracting and shifting, the audible sound of tears he couldn’t shed. Please don’t go.
I came back to him, feeling my own tears break the surface.
My hand cupped his large snout, and I rested my forehead against his nose, comforting him the only way I could.
“I believed my father would help me get him back, and I was wrong. But I know in my heart that my father will never stop until he gets me back. I have faith he’ll come for me. That he’ll find a way.”
He continued to cry, to tremble and shake as his breathing became more unstable.
“Bring my body back to him. Tell him what I’ve said to you. He’ll figure it out.”
He started to shake harder, sobbing.
“I’m so sorry to do this to you, Zehemoth.”
I’m scared I’ll never see you again. I can’t live without you.
“Wrath told me that my father kept his soul because Khazmuda guarded it. I know you’ll protect my soul, Zehemoth.
I know you won’t let them take it until my father can get me back.
And you know my father will get me back.
” Both of my hands cupped his face as I stepped back so we could look at each other. “Trust me on this.”
Your father will never forgive me for not stopping this.
“He will when you tell him I wanted this, that I made you promise me, that you would never break my trust, that I would have found some other way to do it without you if you said no.” I rubbed the soft scales of his face before I stepped back.
“Callum is the love of my life, and I can’t live without him.
I can’t live in a world where he doesn’t exist. I can’t move on with my life and feel happiness, knowing he only feels sorrow.
I don’t want anyone else for my husband.
I don’t want another man to father my children.
I have to do this.” I stepped farther back and moved up the bank. “It’ll be okay, Zehemoth.”
Promise me. He continued his heaves as he cried.
I knew my father would plead with the God of Caelum and get his way. The portal would open, and he and Callum would come for me—and I would be ready when they did. “I promise.”
I stopped outside the ring of torches.
I looked at the skull carved out of rock, its large sockets eyeless.
In the daylight, I could make out details I hadn’t noticed before, like the bones sticking up from the sand. The remains of those who made the same deal I was about to make…except no one came for their bodies.
The weight of my decision was so heavy it nearly buckled my knees, but I didn’t turn back. Leviathan was the scariest creature I’d ever seen with my eyes, but I wouldn’t let him strike fear into my veins.
All I had to do was survive long enough to be rescued.
I wished I could see Callum before I took his place, but I knew a fiend like Leviathan would never allow even a glimmer of joy.
My spine straightened and my shoulders rounded before I took a breath—and crossed the line.
The torches immediately illuminated, but their effect wasn’t as potent as it was in the darkness. They just cast more heat across my face and neck. Within my next step, Leviathan was there, a horned demon who blocked my way to the door that led to the underworld.
Lily Lena Rothschild—you return.
I continued my steps forward and drew closer, showing no fear in the face of death. “Release Callum Riverside, and I will take his place.”
Unlike dragons, demons could smile, could stretch their mouths wide and expose more rows of teeth. Flames were visible in the back of his throat when his mouth moved in just the right way. I accept your deal, Lily Rothschild. I receive a stallion for the price of a swine.
“I want to see him before the exchange.”
His smile faded when he clenched his teeth tightly together. That’s not how this works.
“You just said you were getting a good deal. I want more for what I paid.”
There must be balance in the funnel for this to work. The change must be exact.
I’d seen the funnel before, the bright purple light that gently carried the bodies of prisoners below.
Do we have a deal, Lily Rothschild?
No. The woman’s voice returned, the voice of a stranger. Don’t make the same mistakes, Lily.
Leviathan continued his stare, starting to salivate from his sharp teeth. The deal is binding. There is no forfeit. There is no return. A mortal life in exchange for eternal servitude. Do you agree?
I felt a warning in my heart, my body fighting for self-preservation up until the final moment.
But I had faith that this wasn’t the end.
That through the suffering and the despair, there would be beauty on the other side.
That Callum and I would have the life we didn’t even allow ourselves to dream about. “Yes—we have a deal.”