6. Calista
Chapter 6
Calista
The battle ended.
There were too many injured and too few healers. A lot of people lay on the ground outside, bloody and broken, with no one to attend to them. Dead bodies littered the forest floor, both friend and foe. Those who were able-bodied began the painful duty of moving their dead to the graveyard and placing them in shallow graves. There were no headstones, and their bodies weren’t covered with earth so their loved ones could identify them.
The slain enemy were carted outside Riviana Star to be buried in a mass grave. Fire had wounded the forest enough so there would be no pyre to extinguish their bodies.
Hours had passed, and I still didn’t see Talon.
I knew he was alive because his body wasn’t at the base of the Great Tree. Perhaps he searched for me. Or perhaps he needed space. I didn’t know why he would need it, but something told me he did.
I returned to the healers to check on the queen. They’d worked on her through the night, and now that it was dawn, I hoped for an update. I hoped she would pull through, not just for the elves she ruled, but for my uncle.
The room was full of other injured elves, so the queen wasn’t alone. She didn’t have a private chamber to recover, choosing to be among her own in this time of tragedy. I spotted her across the room in a bed in the corner, Uncle Ezra at her side, her hand in his. He was still in his armor, like he’d been there all night.
I approached and waited for Uncle Ezra to look at me.
When he did, he gently pulled his hand away and let it rest on the mattress. She appeared to be asleep, so she didn’t notice when he stepped away to speak to me in private. We walked outside under the morning sky.
“How is she?”
“Gravely injured,” he said. “But they think she’ll live.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
“The magic in her blood allows her to heal quickly.”
“Magic?”
“The Realm of Caelum is in Riviana Star because the elves are descendants of Riviana, the God of Caelum. Queen Eldinar’s bloodline makes her a direct descendant.”
“You’re telling me elves have the blood of a god?”
“Partially,” he said. “That’s the reason they’re nearly immortal.”
“I had no idea.” But now, it made complete sense.
“It’s a secret among their kind.”
It was a lot to soak in, but I slowly absorbed it. “I was afraid that was the end for her.”
“As was I.” He looked at the trees that surrounded us before he looked at me once more. “You were right about him. If we had listened, the people would have been spared.”
I would never gloat about something like that, so I said nothing.
“Where is he?”
“I—I don’t know.”
His eyes narrowed at my answer.
“My heart tells me he needs space. He’ll come to me when he’s ready.”
Uncle Ezra looked down the path again. “I think he’s ready now.”
I followed his gaze and spotted Talon a distance away, still in his armor and uniform like he hadn’t returned to the tree house to shower or change. He’d spent his time somewhere else, deep in the forest where he could truly be alone.
A rush of feelings bubbled inside me like a warm bath. All the adrenaline from the battle had disappeared, and now my heart was soft as a cloud. I didn’t say goodbye to my uncle before I ran to Talon, wanting our bodies to finally come together.
His intense eyes grabbed on to mine, and he squatted down slightly to catch me when I ran into him. He scooped his hands under my ass and lifted me up, my legs circling his waist as we came together. I hugged his neck, and I brought our faces close, so thankful to be reunited.
“Are you okay?” I whispered as I looked into his dark eyes.
“Just a few scratches.”
“That’s not what I mean.” I continued to look into his eyes and saw the way they winced slightly. “You were gone all night.” I saw the line in the ground he drew with the tip of his sword. Understood the boundary he didn’t want me to cross. Our time together had become intimate and uninhibited, so I understood him better than I had before, understood things he never explained.
“I’m okay,” he said. “What about you?”
“Just a few scratches.”
“Good. What about Queen Eldinar?”
“The healers think she’ll survive.”
“Glad to hear that.” He lowered me back to the ground, and our eyes were no longer level. He had to dip his chin to look down at me. “Are we needed here?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good. Because I’m hungry, dirty, tired—and I want to be with you.”
The sunlight came through all the windows and brightened the tree house, but we were both so tired that sunshine wouldn’t stop us from sleeping.
Talon showered then walked around the tree house in just his boxers, and that was when the bruises were visible. Down both arms and across his chest and stomach. He didn’t seem to know they were there. Otherwise, he wouldn’t parade them around. He looked through the kitchen for something to eat.
“I’m making a meal.”
“I hope it’s steak.” He closed the cupboard and dropped into one of the chairs, his hair still slightly damp and messy. Despite the fatigue and the bruises, he looked so handsome sitting in the sunlight, his dark eyes a little lighter than usual.
“I’m sorry.”
“Then I’ll need to leave soon. Can’t eat this shit much longer.”
“My uncle and the others manage?—”
“Did you see the dark elves?” he snapped. “They’re much bigger than your uncle because they have a human diet. Even without the Behemoths and the goblins, I doubt your people would have survived.” His foul mood was the cumulation of hunger and lack of sleep, so I didn’t snap back. “I’ll need to leave the forest soon to have a real meal. I can’t exist on rabbit food much longer.”
I remembered how angry my father would get when I was a child. Then my mother would put food in front of him, and within a couple minutes, he was back to his old self. She told me the best way to keep my husband happy was to never let him go hungry.
“We should be leaving soon—if your queen keeps her word. But I’m not entirely sure she will.”
“She will.”
He slouched in the chair, arms across his chest, the foul mood still circling in his eyes.
I finished his lunch and placed it in front of him, trying to make something as hearty as possible with potatoes and root vegetables in a tomato sauce seasoned with rock salt and spices.
With his whole body leaning forward over the table, he ate without complaint. Devoured an entire loaf of bread by himself. Drank a gallon of water like it was a single cup. And when he was done, his stomach was still hard and flat. He was polite enough to remain at the table as I ate my meal, his tired eyes watching a hummingbird that floated out the window.
“You can go to bed, Talon.”
He continued to watch the bird move from flower to flower, drinking the nectar inside the petals.
I couldn’t eat as quickly as he could, nor could I eat as much. “Did you see her?”
His eyes moved back to mine.
“The God of Caelum.”
His stare remained hard as a wall.
“Her wind snuffed out all the fires. I thought you may have seen her.”
He let the silence pass with heft, a moment that felt as solid as a mountain. “I did.”
My memory of her was still sharp, as if it had just happened. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yes.” His eyes remained on me with calm stillness. “But not as beautiful as you.”
A slight smile tugged at my lips. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“You think I’m disingenuous.”
“I think you’re smooth.”
“I can have you whenever I want you without being smooth,” he said. “I meant what I said. She was a sight to behold, a world of color and vibrancy instead of a land of gray scale, but her beauty burns like a candle to your inferno.”
My eyes dropped because those words got to me. “Did you speak to her?”
He turned quiet again, the silence suddenly heavy.
I looked at him when he didn’t speak.
His eyes had a blank stare, hard as stone. “No.”
We both fell asleep the moment we were in bed, and feeling his thick arm hook around my body was the intimacy I’d craved. When the bars had been between us, all I could feel was his hand. When I was forced to leave his prison and stay at the queen’s side, I had been desperate for his protection. He was the one person I could count on, and he was taken from me. I’d never allowed myself to need anyone because no one could be trusted, but I knew I could trust Talon with my life.
We slept like that for hours, my leg hitched over his hip, his muscular arm hard around my body. Both so exhausted we didn’t move throughout the day, our bodies occasionally twitching because the fatigue had infected our nerves.
When I heard the sounds of crickets and frogs, I knew it was nighttime. My eyes opened to see Talon dead asleep beside me, his face so handsome when it was calm, his jawline less sharp as he relaxed.
After sleeping all day, I was ready to get up, but I hadn’t exerted myself and fought the way Talon had. I hadn’t saved Riviana Star with my sword and my powers. So I lay there and didn’t move, wanting him to sleep as long as he needed.
I just stared at him, and that was enough.
I fell asleep again at some point, and when I woke up again, it was early morning. Talon was still asleep, still hadn’t moved, his body recuperating. I watched him take a breath to reassure myself that he was still with me.
I wanted to lie with him forever, but if I didn’t pee soon, my bladder would burst. I slowly left the branches of his arms and made it to the edge of the bed without waking him. Then I did my business down the hall and looked out the window, listening to the birds singing their song to the morning light. The forest had changed after the battle, but the wildlife continued to make it a peaceful place.
“Baby.” His voice was deeper than usual, his throat still asleep.
I returned down the hallway and found him on his back, the sheets to his waist, the outline of his hard dick visible under the material. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He pulled back the sheets and patted the spot beside him.
I came back to the bed and snuggled into his side.
But he wanted to do more than snuggle. He immediately moved over me, grabbed on to my panties, and yanked them off. My shirt was spared, and he moved to his boxers next and pulled them free before he made himself at home between my legs, folding me underneath him and pinning me into the mattress before he invaded my lands.
He sank inside as he took in a slow breath, filling me with his size. He went as deep as my body would allow before his hand slid into my hair the way a man gripped the reins of his favorite horse. Every touch was possessive, every stare captured my mind, body, and soul. He made me his in every way possible, made it clear in no uncertain terms that I was his woman, his only woman, and he belonged to me as much as I belonged to him.
I started to cry, not because he hurt me or because he made me come, but because it’d all been too much. “I was so scared…”
He hadn’t thrust into me yet, just taking the moment to savor my body. His dark eyes deepened in their intensity, his hand loosening in my hair to cup my cheek instead.
“They took you away from me.”
He stilled at my words, his intensity pausing just for a moment, sorrow replacing that stare.
“I was so scared.” Life had been hard and unkind. I’d stopped crying a long time ago, choosing to accept my fate. But then life started to get better when I met him, and all those fears came to the surface. While he might be the one responsible for the hardship, he was also the one who had spared me from it. I could never go back to that life.
His thumb caught one of my tears. “I’m here, baby. Right here.”
Up in that tree house, it was easy to forget the battle and the aftermath. Once we’d caught up on sleep, we spent the rest of our time in bed, locked in the throes of passion and an intimacy that we’d never really had before.
Talon was always on top, always deep between my legs, eyes locked on mine like he couldn’t look away or he would die.
Even when I grew sore, I didn’t complain because I wanted him despite the pain, wanted him even if my body couldn’t tolerate it anymore. Because this connection was bliss. It was stronger than it’d ever been, more passionate, deeper.
It was so deep, it hurt my heart.
When I lay beside him, my fingers traced his jawline, touched his hard chest, rested over his heart to feel it beat. I memorized every piece of him, from the cuts in the muscles of his arms to the cords of veins that popped in his neck. I even counted them.
He did the same with me, kissed my old scars to make them disappear, worshipped my body like it was a statue dedicated to the Riviana, the God of Caelum.
It was easy to forget the world outside that tree house—even Khazmuda.
I lay beside him, both of us sunbathing in the light that spilled through the window. My thigh was hiked over his hip, and we were face-to-face. “I’m so proud of you.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, like he didn’t know what that meant.
“Alaric offered you everything you wanted, but you still said no. Lesser men would have taken the deal, but I knew you wouldn’t. I realize now how much I misjudged your character when we first met.”
“You didn’t misjudge me.” His dark eyes were packed with sorrow and self-loathing.
My hand moved back to his heart, the beat strong. “I disagree.”
“I won’t pretend it wasn’t a hard decision—because it was.”
“If you were tempted, then that makes your decision even more impressive.”
“A greater man wouldn’t have been tempted in the first place. But Alaric’s kind are the reason I lost my family. If they have the ability to subjugate the minds of immortals, then that means they have the power to control the remaining free dragons—including Khazmuda. Perhaps, at some point, they would have taken the free dragons for themselves and history would repeat itself—but someone else would be the victim instead of me. I had to destroy them. I had to protect Khazmuda and his kind.”
“So you did it to protect him.”
“I did it for a lot of reasons.”
I waited for him to tell me what those reasons were, but he never did. I didn’t press him for more because his mood had suddenly turned solemn.
There was a knock on the door.
Talon left my side and pulled on his boxers before he stepped into the hallway.
“You’re going to answer the door like that?”
His footsteps receded as he headed to the front door.
I hoped it wasn’t my uncle.
The door opened, and then there was silence.
I continued to strain my ears as I waited for something.
“Her Majesty requests your presence.” It was Commander Luxe.
Talon held his silence.
I could picture that pissed-off look on his face. Could visualize the vein popping in his forehead and the promise of death in his dark eyes. I was instantly mortified.
Talon shut the door in his face then came back to the bedroom. His expression was exactly what I pictured, tinted red in anger.
“Nothing happened,” I said. “You’re acting like a lunatic.”
He ignored me and retrieved his uniform from where it lay on the ground.
“Talon, this needs to stop.”
He turned back to me. “You’d be a bigger lunatic if some woman were trying to fuck me.”
“I’ve seen your concubines fight for your attention?—”
“Our relationship is different now, and you know it,” he snapped. “If a woman tried to take a piece of me, you’d lose it—and I’d want you to. Because you’re fucking mine, and I’m fucking yours.” He gave me a violent stare like he dared me to refute his words, and when I didn’t, he turned back to his clothes and continued to get dressed.
I didn’t pursue the argument, stopped in my tracks because, despite his anger, he’d said the most romantic thing I’d ever heard. Now, I didn’t care if he couldn’t contain his hatred of Commander Luxe. “Come here.”
He turned back to me, eyes still angry, standing in just his pants.
“I said, come here.” I pushed off the sheets so he could see my naked body. He’d already had me so many times over the last few days, but I knew he’d want me again if I wanted him.
He stared at me for a few seconds before he dropped his pants and boxers in one go, his dick hard as I’d expected it to be. His knees hit the bed, and he was on top of me, moving between my soft thighs to give me his big dick again. “You’re mine. Say it.”
I grabbed his ass and tugged him hard inside me. I gasped because it hurt, but it hurt so good. “I’m yours.”
Instead of wearing my armor and sword, I wore one of the dresses they’d given me, sage green, with a pair of sandals.
Talon only had his uniform and armor, so he left the tree house with me, looking like he was about to step into battle again. He even had his sword across his back, and when I asked him to leave it, he refused.
After he’d proven his loyalty to Riviana Star, I let him do whatever he wanted.
We walked down the path together and listened to the birds sing their song. There was a foot’s gap between us, so to any onlooker, we looked like allies and nothing more, not even friends. There was no indication of the inferno of passion we’d shared the last two days.
As we approached the royal palace, I noticed how much had changed in the forest. I saw fire damage in many places, and the reduction in the population was painfully felt. Far fewer elves were out and about than there had been before. Despite the birds chirping in the sunshine, the music from the Great Tree was full of melancholy.
It was easy to forget the destruction and devastation when I was in my lover’s arms, but now, I could feel the sadness in my bones.
We arrived at the royal palace and were escorted inside.
Queen Eldinar was upon her throne, but she wasn’t quite the same. Her skin was paler than before, and the usual silent hostility in her eyes was nonexistent. Despite the fact that she held her head high, she wore a look of defeat. She wore a look of permanent weariness.
Uncle Ezra sat at her side in an ordinary chair, her hand enclosed in his, his eyes on the side of her face.
Talon stopped beside me and gazed upon her with a hard face. He didn’t speak.
I felt invisible, so I tried to stay invisible.
Uncle Ezra continued to gaze at his wife.
Queen Eldinar stared at Talon before her, her eyes shifting back and forth slightly as she took in his appearance for what seemed like the first time. She usually regarded him with palpable rage, but the daggers were gone from her eyes. “I’m glad to see that you’re well, Your Majesty.” There wasn’t a tongue of sarcasm in her words. Only a quiet genuineness.
Talon absorbed those words for a long time before he responded. “You as well, Your Majesty.”
I stared back and forth between them, knowing they’d never been so kind to each other.
“Many blades pierced your armor,” he said. “I feared that would be the end of your reign, Queen Eldinar.”
“I feared the same, Death King. If you’d arrived just a moment later, I would have fought among the dead you called to battle. My husband would have been a widower far too young and died of a broken heart. But you did more than save me. You saved my people—and you saved what we hold most dear.” Her eyes were locked on his as she spoke, regarding him with a look of admiration and respect. She was beautiful under any circumstances, but when her mouth wasn’t hard in a scowl and her eyes were kind, she was even more exceptional. She started to push against the armrests to lift herself up, but she struggled in her weakness.
Uncle Ezra immediately rose to assist her. “ Fleur Nia ?—”
“I can manage.” She brushed away his hold and stood upright, straightening her spine and standing still in case she swayed. Then she stepped forward, wearing a white gown and barefoot as she approached the stairs.
Uncle Ezra came to her side and extended his arm to her.
She refused to take it, descending the stairs on her own, but taking it one step at a time. “I wish to address the Death King as my equal.” She stopped when she reached the bottom, pausing for a moment before she finished the last steps and met Talon face-to-face. “Because he has proven himself an ally to Riviana Star—and a friend.”
Any remnant of hostility had faded from his gaze.
Queen Eldinar stared at him for a long moment before she slowly bowed to him.
A subtle look of surprise moved into his face—and a drop of emotion.
She righted herself once more and regarded him, almost at equal heights because she was an exceptionally tall woman. “We’ve lost many of our kin. Trees that have stood here for thousands of years have perished. Our forest will be forever scarred by the blood that has spilled into the soil—from both friend and foe. But the Great Tree still stands tall because you risked your life to defend it. You betrayed your god to serve another. With full humility, I will admit how deeply I misjudged your character, Death King. And for that, you have my deepest apologies. I hope you accept my gratitude as well as my remorse.”
He continued to regard her with a hard stare, as if he was doing his best to fight the tendrils of emotion that slowly tightened around him. There were lapses in his determination, shifts in his eyes, moments of uncertainty in his gaze. “All is forgiven if you give me what I seek, Your Majesty.”
A small smile moved over her lips. “No amount of bloodshed or fatigue will deter your mission.”
His stare hardened. “No.”
“If you succeed, will it bring you peace?”
His stare endured for several long seconds, his thoughts hidden behind the vault. “No.”
“The King of the Southern Isles is more powerful than any monarch in this land. He will betray the laws of nature to subjugate creatures that are meant to brighten our skies with the reflection of their mighty scales. He is empty of empathy and kindness, but full of cruelty and callousness. You’re a man who fights with honor, but he fights with none. I fear that this is a battle you cannot win, even with the aid of the dragons—and it will claim your life.” Her eyes shifted back and forth between his as she regarded him. “You have the devotion of a woman who saw your true character before anyone else. You have the love of a mighty dragon who has chosen to share his gift of immortality. If victory will not bring you peace, then perhaps this is a battle that shouldn’t be fought.”
“After everything I’ve done for Riviana Star, you still deny me what was promised?” He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t seem angry, only broken.
“You misunderstand my words, Death King,” she said gently. “Not only will I share the location of the dragons, but I will personally escort you there—without a blindfold. You’ve proven you’re an ally to these magnificent creatures and you take up your sword in their defense as you did with my kin. There is only one reason I try to deter you, and that’s because I care for you.”
His lone reaction was a slight increase in his breathing. His eyes lost their hardness as they shifted back and forth between hers. “My family is dead because of my foolishness. I knew something was amiss, and I should have tried harder to convince my father of the treason that lurked right below his nose. But I didn’t try hard enough…and I don’t deserve peace. I do it for them, not for myself. I do it for Khazmuda—because those he loves still live. You’re right to assume that battle will claim my life, because it will. But that does not deter me in the slightest because I should have died alongside them a long time ago.”
Pain gripped my heart the way a soldier gripped the pommel of his sword. The self-loathing in his words was physical. For decades, he’d carried his pain, and it’d only grown worse over time.
The queen continued to watch him with a heavy look of sorrow. “If you should have died with them, why do you live now?”
“I wasn’t given a choice in the matter.”
She didn’t press for an answer but nudged him with her stare.
“Khazmuda saved me, not realizing I didn’t want to be saved.”
“I see,” she said quietly. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say we’re happy that Khazmuda made that decision.”
His gaze shifted away, the first time he’d broken eye contact.
“Because you were worth saving, Talon Rothschild.”
His eyes never found hers again.
A heavy silence passed.
I watched Talon struggle with his emotions, struggle to destroy them and any trace that they’d ever existed.
He eventually looked at the queen once more. “When do we depart?”
She was quiet as she held his stare. “I need a few more days to recuperate. Then we shall ride together.”
I knew Talon was impatient, that he would have preferred the details of the location so he could go now, but he didn’t want to insult the queen. “I’ll wait for you outside the forest, Your Majesty.”
My eyebrows rose.
“You’re welcome in our forest forever and always, Death King.”
“With all due respect, I need greater sustenance than potatoes and berries, especially after such an arduous battle.”
She gave a slow nod. “I completely understand. But that’s a rule I can’t bend to accommodate you. This forest is a sanctuary to all those who live here.”
“I understand your beliefs,” he said. “Would never expect you to change them for me. But even if you did, I still need to be with Khazmuda. We’ve been apart for some time, and I know he desires my company.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” she said, “with a bond as strong as the one you share. We’ll meet you at the border when we’re ready.”
“Thank you.” He gave her a slight bow.
For the first time ever, the queen smiled. “Thank you, Death King.”
He turned away and left the royal chambers.
I watched him go before I addressed the queen. “It pleases me to see the two of you get along.”
“It pleases me as well,” she said. “He’s a greater man than I previously assumed.” She stared out the door where he’d disappeared before she looked at me again. “I know your heart beats for this man. I noticed it before you noticed it yourself. Nothing I say will change what’s to come, but I’m compelled to warn you anyway.”
“Warn me of what?”
“That this love will be brief.” She faced me head on, my uncle still at her side. “Prepare yourself.”
“Why do you assume he’ll perish?”
She stared for a long time, her eyes dropping before they met mine again. “Because he wants to perish.”