Chapter 20 Callum
CALLUM
Talon scooped Lily into his arms and carried her away with his wife and son. They headed into the castle, and the doors shut behind them.
That left me where I stood, as alive and healthy as I’d been when I’d found Bahamut in the dead forest, another entry point to the underworld.
My body might be the same, but it felt different when it was truly physical in the mortal world.
I could feel the pulsing of my blood in various parts of my body, feel the drain of energy on my body just from being alive, feel the weakness of being an unremarkable human.
I’d been in this courtyard before, in the present and the past, but it felt different when I was there in the flesh.
I stared at the villa where I’d come to Lily, where I’d made love to her for the first time.
We’d made memories there by the fire before I whisked her away to a private island where no one would ever find us.
She trusted me far more than she should have.
I stared over the edge of the courtyard to the village below, the light from all the torches bringing the city into illumination. I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but I knew Talon would confront me eventually.
An hour later, the double doors opened again, a booming sound when the heavy doors started to swing inward.
I turned to see Talon approaching me, not as a grieving father, but as a malevolent king. In his black armor with the dragon crest in the center of his chest and his cape flowing in the breeze behind him, he reminded me so much of Lily.
She had the same angry aura about her in battle. The same presence. The same command.
The hilt of his heavy blade was visible over one of his shoulders, but he didn’t reach for it to cut off my head when he drew near. He stopped several feet away from me, while his guards moved forward, carrying different pieces of armor that were obviously intended for me.
I didn’t expect this.
They surrounded me, latching the chest plate into position and then thigh pieces and vambraces, placing me in a suit of armor with the Rothschild crest in the center along with the dragon just above.
While all this happened, Talon stared me down like he wanted to kill me.
Maybe he wanted to fight to the death, have it be honorable and fair out of respect for Lily, instead of a straightforward execution.
The last piece was the two-handed blade they slid into the scabbard across my back. Then they silently dismissed themselves, crossing back over the courtyard to the double doors.
Talon continued to give me this lidless look, staring me down so hard he didn’t need to blink, his focus powered by strength, fueled by rage.
He took a step closer to me but didn’t reach for the blade across his back.
“Lily Rothschild is meant to rule the living, not serve the dead. She’s meant to be loved by a man who would accept death like an old friend rather than allow her a moment’s worth of grief.
I despise you for allowing this to happen, and even if we get my daughter back, I will still despise you until my dying breath. ”
Because I expected nothing less from him, I nodded in agreement. “I did not want this. I would never want this—”
“And yet, here we stand.” He continued to blame me for her decision, when I’d told her at least a dozen times that I would never want her to give her soul for anything—not even me.
But I didn’t want to argue with a man who was lost in the throes of anguish.
“I will not stop until my daughter is where she belongs.”
“Nor will I.”
“Good. Because we’re returning to the dead island, and you’ll trade your life for hers.”
That plan wouldn’t work, but when he stared me down like he dared me to oppose, I knew it was unwise to argue. I needed him to understand that we were on the same team, that he wasn’t the only one who had lost someone he loved. If I could simply take her place, I would do it in a heartbeat.
The sound of powerful wings came from the sky, and then Khazmuda, the enormous black dragon, landed nearby. The other black dragon, Zehemoth, landed next to him. They both had saddles and were prepared for departure.
“Let’s go.” Talon Rothschild turned his back on me and walked to the bigger dragon of the two, climbing up effortlessly.
I came to Zehemoth’s side and did the same, back into the saddle that I’d sat in on the way here. The dragon was probably tired from the journey across the sea he’d just made, but current circumstances seemed to nullify his fatigue.
Talon and his dragon launched into the sky first, blending in with the darkness immediately because of the dark scales.
Zehemoth was next, following his father into the night sky. We stopped below the clouds, Talon far in the lead like he didn’t want to be anywhere near me, and in silence, we crossed the sea back to the west.
Talon had already landed on the shore when I arrived. He dismounted Khazmuda and stood close to the tree line, the world still dark even though dawn was on the way.
Zehemoth landed beside his father, and I climbed down the dragon’s side before I approached Talon, who looked into the forest like he was recalling the last time he’d been there. It was before my time, but I knew the tale from Bahamut’s memories.
I was slightly taller than him, with more muscles packed on my bones and not just because his body had atrophied from months in a coma, but what he lacked, he made up for in sheer ferocity.
When he turned to look at me, he wore such an expression so malevolent, it was clear that he hated me more with every passing second, that there was no limit to his rage. The stare lasted for several hard moments, taking in my features like he wanted to cut out my eyes and slice off my mouth.
I accepted his hatred without protest because nothing could make me feel worse than I already did. I walked past him and headed toward the center of the island, the very island where I laid eyes upon Lily Rothschild for the first time…and it changed my existence forever.
We walked in silence for fifteen minutes before we approached the ring of torches.
I stopped, and he came to a stop beside me.
“Leviathan won’t make the trade.”
Talon turned his ferocious gaze on me, somehow looking similar to a dragon.
“But I will try anyway, so you know I don’t deceive you.
” I stepped forward and crossed the line of torches, the fires immediately igniting and casting the clearing in a glow of flames.
I stared at the skull carved from rock, stared at the bones that protruded from the sand, the remains of those who had come to me the last four hundred years.
Within the blink of an eye, Leviathan was there in his human form, wearing the most joyous grin I’d ever seen him wear. In my uniform and armor, a better god of the underworld than I had ever been, he approached me. “Lily Rothschild has already made herself right at home.” His grin widened.
I felt a sickness in my stomach that started to poison me.
My body naturally wanted to shed tears for my heart’s loss, but despair was as nutritious as souls for a demon like Leviathan.
So I held his stare with absolute indifference.
“My soul for hers—and I will serve you in any way that you wish. Faithfully. Obediently. I will bend my spine until my nose touches the floor. I will greet you on my knees whenever I come into your presence. You can feed off my humiliation every day for the rest of eternity.”
The smile remained plastered over his face. “As tempting as that sounds, it’s an uneven trade. The soul of Lily Rothschild is more powerful than the dull shine in your chest. Her soul is the equivalent of a hundred kings—and it will make the Covenant more powerful than ever before.”
“Then name your price, and I will give you whatever you ask.”
“There is no price,” he said with a chuckle.
“Generations of kings run through my veins.” Talon entered the circle and stopped at my side.
“The blood of victors and dragon-riders. A bloodline that hasn’t perished under attack or tyranny.
My soul is blessed with the gift to fuse with dragons.
I sired Lily Rothschild from my power, wisdom, and ferocity.
My soul in exchange for hers—that’s an even price. ”
I looked at Talon beside me, wearing the hard stare of a soldier rather than the broken look of a grieving father.
She’d taken my place so I could be free, and he would take her place so she could be free as well.
So, in the end, Talon Rothschild would be the one taking my place, and I didn’t want that either.
But it didn’t matter because I knew Leviathan wouldn’t take that deal either.
Leviathan looked at Talon beside me, his smile long gone. “You can’t offer payment with an existing debt. Your soul belongs in the underworld right beside hers. Perhaps I should take it…”
I pulled my blade out of my scabbard and gripped it by the hilt.
Leviathan glanced at me, and the mocking smile returned. “Four hundred years, you were one of us—and all it takes is a single woman to change your allegiance.”
“You never had my allegiance, Leviathan.”
The corner of his mouth cocked in a smile again. “Neither of you mediocre mortals is worth the priceless soul of Lily Rothschild.” He flickered and disappeared, and then the torches were extinguished immediately afterward.
Talon and I stood side by side, swallowed by the darkness.
I could hear him beside me, hear his breaths grow labored with despair and rage. Then he released a scream that rivaled the roar of his own dragon. “Ahhhhhhhh!” He turned on the spot and marched out of the ring of extinguished torches.
I followed him back to the beach, the sun about to lift over the horizon and cast the island in its morning light. The sky was still a deep blue, but the world was somewhat visible.