5. Talon
Chapter 5
Talon
I stabbed the goblin through the heart then kicked his body to the ground so he would slide off my blade. Black blood covered the blade to the hilt, and I watched it drip before I looked at the army of the dead that stood there, idle in their places, staring at me with only their eye sockets.
I knew the battle had ceased because it was quiet. Whatever enemy remained had begun to flee back to the hiding places from which they’d come. Their leader lay dead in the grass where I’d executed him. “Your service is fulfilled. Go be in peace.” I was used to the dead, used to their exposed bones and dry joints, bodies without heads, some with flesh still on the bone. All my loved ones were dead on the other side of the world, so it didn’t disturb me. But if my loved ones had been here…it would disturb me greatly.
They slowly walked away, heading back to the cemetery where they’d been ripped from their graves by my command.
I felt a presence behind me, an enemy that tried to sneak up on me when my guard was down. I spun and whipped my blade around, blocking an attack that I assumed was aimed at my neck.
But the enemy was neither a Behemoth nor a goblin. It wasn’t a dark elf either.
It was a woman with red hair that glowed with her own light.
I felt invisible knives stab me everywhere, pricking my flesh without drawing blood, inflicting physical pain that I could feel but not see. Her eyes were green like the forest, but they were different from any other color I’d ever seen. Her beauty was unmatched, and her presence was as powerful as a hurricane. She continued to stare at me with a guarded expression, the light so brilliant around her that her expression was unclear.
I knew who she was without an introduction—Riviana, the God of Caelum.
When she spoke, her voice came from everywhere but her lips, all around her as if the trees spoke on her behalf. “Bahamut is your master, yet you risked what life you have left to serve me.”
With the black blood still on my blade, I sheathed it across my back.
When I didn’t say anything, she stepped forward and raised her palms. The wind had been nonexistent a moment ago, but it picked up instantly, and a swirl of air passed through the treetops and snuffed out the fires instantly.
I hadn’t seen Bahamut since I’d entered these lands, and I knew it was because he was forbidden from this forest. It was the only time I’d been free of him since I’d sailed to his island deep in the Southern Sea.
Riviana turned back to me, her red hair flowing in the wind. “You didn’t just protect the living. You also protected those who have already lived. Peace continues to reign in the Realm of Caelum—because of you.” She continued to stare at me with eyes that possessed more intelligence than any mortal I’d ever met. “Your love for Vivian continues to burn, even though your heart now beats for another.”
Her name was like a dagger to my heart. A pain so potent it would ache permanently. “It’ll always burn…”
Her hair continued to whip around her without wind, flowing beautifully. “But you’ve chosen a different path. One that will separate you from her for eternity.”
“I don’t regret my decision.”
“Talon Rothschild, you’re worthy of both love and forgiveness. A lesson you learned too late.”
“It’s a lesson I’ll never learn.”
Her eyes softened slightly, like she pitied me. “I hope you find peace, Talon. Someway. Somehow.”
The only peace I felt was in the quiet moments with Calista, when she looked at me and I looked at her. When I didn’t have to hide who I was. When she believed I was the hero and everyone else thought I was the villain. “If you hadn’t cursed the elves, I wouldn’t have lost my family.”
She stared at me.
“My uncle wouldn’t have used the power of the dark elves to subjugate the dragons. Everything I’ve lost…is because of you.”
Her stare lingered for seconds. “But you still raised your sword and fought in my name. Revenge has sustained your ambitions all these years, but there is also love. Even with a broken heart, you still love a woman with all of yourself.”
“I will always love my wife?—”
“That is not who I speak of.”
A new pain washed over me, a high tide over a dark shore.
“Do not feel guilty, Talon.”
I looked away, her words hitting my most sensitive tissue.
“If you achieve all of your desires, your time together will be very brief. Make sure she knows your love before you can no longer share it.”
“That’s cruel.”
She stared at me once again. “She does not know…”
“No.”
“And Khazmuda?”
I didn’t know how she knew that either. “No.”
She turned quiet, her eyes judgmental and piercing. “That is cruel.”
I looked away, ashamed to meet the gaze of an all-knowing god. She was very different from Bahamut in her temperament, but also similar in her presence and stature. If I closed my eyes, their auras would feel the same. “I wish to speak no more of this.”
“Bahamut gave you a curse. Let me bestow upon you a gift.”
I looked at her again.
“I want you to feel my gratitude.”
“What is a gift from a god?”
“What your heart desires most,” she said. “And I can feel your heart much easier than most because of how true and kind it is.”
I waited for her to present it.
“It breaks my heart to know that a soul so good will never enter my kingdom.”
“I said I don’t regret my decision.”
“Even when you leave behind the woman you love and your best friend?”
I said nothing, not wanting to think about it.
“I suspect you’ll regret it then.”
My voice came out weak. “I can’t change it now.”
“No.”
Silence trickled by. My thoughts heavy.
She continued to stare at me.
“What is the gift?”
“You never knew whether you had a son or a daughter. I can answer that for you.”
I hadn’t expected her to say such a thing, and the mention of my unborn baby immediately brought tears I fought back. I felt my lips tremble. Felt my throat grow thick and wet. How did I love someone so much that I’d never seen? All I’d felt was a little kick in the womb…and I fell so deeply in love.
“Would you like to know?”
I couldn’t speak, so all I could do was nod.
“A daughter—just as you thought.”
I inhaled a deep breath as the tears welled in my eyes. “Is—is she there?” My voice cracked at the question.
“She is.”
The tears became too much and streaked down my cheeks.
“All she knows is peace.”