Chapter 20 Callum #2
Talon stood there with his boots at the shore, a small wave moving up far enough to coat his shoes. He seemed to stare past both of the dragons that faced him, seething in silent anger.
I didn’t want to waste time on plans that wouldn’t work, not when Lily was down there in eternal suffering, but I knew Talon would question my integrity if I refused to try to give up my soul for hers. If I’d thought that was possible, I would have done it the second the trade had been made.
And even if I had been successful, she might have just made the same trade again.
“We travel to Riviana Star and petition the God of Caelum to open the portal between the realms.”
“She’ll agree.”
He slowly turned his head to look at me, his eyebrow raised.
“She was willing to do it for me, but I declined her offer.”
“You declined?” he said with a voice full of accusation.
“I didn’t want to risk Lily, her family, and the mortal world for my freedom. Not when it was my choice to be there in the first place. If I’d known what Lily was going to do, I wouldn’t have protested.”
“And you expect me to believe that?” he asked as his nostrils flared. “You’re the god of the underworld. You trick your victims with half-truths and outright lies. You wanted Lily’s soul from the beginning, and this was your plan all along.”
“I’ve done many horrific things I wish to forget, but plotting to steal Lily’s soul is not one of them.
Hate me for what’s happened and kill me when everything is said and done, but don’t ever accuse me of something so atrocious.
I would give my life and my soul for hers without reservation.
I’m devastated by her decision, but I’m also so fucking angry that she did this to me. That she would kill me like this.”
He didn’t blink as he stared at me, listening to me unleash my fury that wasn’t aimed at him.
“Because if we fail, there’s no reason for me to be here.
She has been my sole purpose since we met, and if I have to live without her, then I would rather not live at all.
Which would make all of this for nothing.
I told her I wanted her to move on. I told her I wanted her to marry someone else and be happy.
I have no idea why she would ignore all that and risk the one thing I told her to never risk. ”
He continued his hard stare, showering me in his silent anger.
Right now, I didn’t care what her father thought of me. I couldn’t fight his judgment, not when I would have reacted the same way if this were one of my sons. All I cared about was getting Lily out of there, not making nice with a man who would hate me forever, regardless of the outcome of this.
I moved to Zehemoth where he stood with his claws submerged in the water. I cut through the shallow water and climbed up his side into the saddle and waited for Talon to do the same.
He hesitated at the shore, probably conversing with the dragons in the privacy of his mind. They undoubtedly had constant conversations I wasn’t privy to. If Talon hated me, so did the dragons.
Except maybe Zehemoth…since he knew that this whole thing had been Lily’s idea.
That I had nothing to do with it.
Talon took off first and launched into the sky, leaving the dead island behind him.
I watched him soar into the dawn, his cape flying elegantly behind him.
Zehemoth took off a moment later, and we were in the sky within seconds, turning immediately northeast in the direction of Riviana Star.
By the time we landed on the continent, both of the dragons were exhausted. We were just a few hours away from Riviana Star, but Zehemoth said he couldn’t go any farther, not when he’d taken Lily to the dead island and back before this current trip.
Talon was visibly annoyed but gave no verbal protest.
I was anxious myself but didn’t issue a complaint.
Khazmuda took off to hunt for both himself and his son, so it was just the two of us at the campsite, Zehemoth already asleep as soon as he landed.
Talon stood off alone, looking into the valley that stretched before his eyes, a breeze rising and flicking his cape up before it turned lifeless once again.
I came to his side. “We can continue the journey on foot. I won’t be able to sleep anyway.”
He stared ahead and ignored me.
“But if you need to rest, that’s fine—”
“I don’t need to rest.” He turned his maniacal stare on me. “When Khazmuda returns, we’ll continue on. I won’t leave Zehemoth unprotected when he’s this weak.”
I nodded then stepped away, moving to a boulder thirty feet away and taking a seat.
Talon continued to stare in the direction of the forest.
It was thirty minutes before Khazmuda returned with a black bear in its mighty jaws. He dropped the carcass beside Zehemoth then nudged him awake with his snout, trying to get him up to eat.
I watched as Zehemoth slowly rose to his feet then took a bite of the bear, ripping into the muscle and the tissue as he fed.
Khazmuda didn’t eat anything, just watched his son replenish his strength before he went back to sleep.
Talon retrieved the pack from Khazmuda’s saddle then walked past me. “Let’s move.”
I walked at his side, keeping fifteen feet between us because he gave me a bloodthirsty stare if I ever got any closer.
Darkness descended, and soon we were walking in the pitch black.
We made torches out of branches and dry grass and continued on, moving through the valleys and the hills as we headed farther north.
The journey was spent in silence, a cloud of hostility constantly surrounding him.
I kept my distance and slowed my pace whenever I traveled too far ahead, knowing he hadn’t fully recovered from the wound that continued to heal inside the platinum sheath. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it seemed to be six or eight hours when we approached the outside of the forest.
The only time I’d walked through this forest was when Lily joined her father in battle. I was beside her even when no one could see me, and I knew it was another hour to reach the center of the forest.
The only thing I missed about being the god of the underworld was the ability to travel from place to place simultaneously. So much time was spent traveling from one place to another, even on the back of a dragon.
We’d barely entered the forest when the soldiers of Riviana Star intercepted us. They recognized Talon without question, but they turned their suspicions on me despite the armor I wore.
Talon’s expression was hard in rage as always, and he seemed to force the words out of his tight mouth. “He’s with me.”
We were escorted into the forest, and an hour later, we came face-to-face with Queen Eldinar, dressed in a white gown with her hair braided with flowers. She was protected by her general, who was very clearly her husband based on the way he stared at her so intently.
Queen Eldinar seemed more interested in me than she did in Talon, her stare locked on my face and never leaving. “What has come to pass, Talon? I can see your unease.”
In silence, he stood there, his face paler than the dress she wore. He seemed unable to form the words, not to someone he considered a close friend.
So I spoke on his behalf, and when he didn’t interrupt me, I knew he was relieved he didn’t have to say the words out loud…
that his daughter was gone. “We traveled to the dead island to ask to trade my soul for hers and were declined, as I expected. Our next move is to ask Riviana to open the portal between the realms so we can rescue Lily from the damnation I never wanted her to suffer in my place.”
Queen Eldinar stared at me with eyes that reminded me of the ocean surrounding the island where I took Lily.
Intensely blue and serene, but packed with more depth than the shallow waters.
“When Lily was here, she told me she would never stop trying to save you from the underworld. That you’re a good man who didn’t deserve the price you paid for those you loved before.
Conveyed how hurt she was when her declaration of love wasn’t enough to move her own father.
” She then turned her stare on to Talon.
Talon’s eyes were shifted in another direction, somewhere away from her face, in an act of avoidance…or shame.
“You should have known this might happen, Talon.”
“She told me Leviathan offered to take her soul in exchange, and she said no.”
“But your daughter has your passion and your stubbornness, and you should have known if there was no option on the table—”
“The blame resides with me and me alone,” I said, cutting through their conversation and the heat directed at Talon.
“When I showed Lily my love, she tried to dismiss it at first. Said her father would never accept her love for someone like me. I should have kept my distance then, helped her from the shadows until the war was done and then turned my back on her. But I wore my heart on my sleeve and declared my love with every look and every touch…until she was forced to acknowledge it. I was selfish, her love the only thing that gave my life meaning, and I was too greedy to let it go. I’m older than her, wiser than her, and I should have known better. ”
Queen Eldinar turned her stare on me then, her bright eyes without judgment. “If your crime was loving a woman and breaking your oath to the Covenant you serve to keep her safe, then you truly as an exceptional man, Callum Riverside.”
Talon turned to look at me when he heard my new, true name.
I wasn’t sure how Queen Eldinar knew it. If Lily had told her…or Riviana.
“She told me she would find a way to set me free, for us to be together. I knew her intention long ago, and that’s when I should have kicked dirt onto the fire.”
“So you wish you had broken her heart.”
“I wish she weren’t down there right now. Even if we succeed in getting her back and all is well, it still wasn’t worth it.” I didn’t say anything else, not wanting to torture Talon with descriptions of that horrible place.
But then I remembered he already knew.
Queen Eldinar turned back to Talon. “I’ll call upon Riviana on your behalf.” She walked up to Talon, the same height as he was because she was a tall woman, especially barefoot. Her hands reached for his arms and held on as she waited for him to look at her.
But he kept his gaze elsewhere, like it was too hard to look at her.
“Lily Rothschild united allies and defeated enemies many times more powerful than she is. She is smart, cunning, and strong. Remember that she is your daughter, and if anyone can triumph over the forces of evil, it is she.”
His eyes started to water once again, on the verge of tears.
“We will find a way.”
“I’ve never known this kind of fear.” His words barely escaped as a whisper.
“All I can think about is her as a little girl…and the way I sobbed when I held her in my arms for the first time. I lost my daughter once…” His bottom lip started to tremble, and he dropped his chin.
“I can’t—I can’t lose another. I won’t be able to go on… not for my wife…not for my son.”
She came closer to him, her hand cupping his cheek. “We will find a way.”
He grabbed on to her wrist and turned into her palm, sucking in a deep breath before holding it in place.
Several beats passed before he released her hold and stepped away, his face a stone wall once more.
He walked down the stone steps to the forest floor, his cape shifting and moving behind him, a king marching to battle.
Then I felt her turn her gaze on me, her stare calm but still penetrating all the same.
“I didn’t want this.” It was strange to interact with the people I’d observed at Lily’s side. I’d listened to a conversation between Lily and her aunt in the Northern Kingdoms, when Lily defended our love without hesitation.
“I know.” She continued to absorb me with her stare, like she could see all of me, every facet of my heart. See me with an objectivity that Talon could never possess. “I believe the only man who loves Lily Rothschild as much as her father is you.”