Page 25 of Kiss of Death
“It’s not complicated.” He raised his voice, but only slightly. “I can’t count the number of times I’ve told a woman it meant nothing to me. I was a man and looked her in the face and told her the truth. You have bigger balls than most men I know, and?—”
“There’s somebody else, Viper.”
It was the first time he had a visceral reaction, a tightening of his chin and the cords down his neck. A flash of surprise and irritation moved across his face before he swallowed it. “I see.” He seemed to force out the words. “So, this is recent. Because less than six months ago, you were in my bed?—”
“It’s been a very short amount of time, but I’ve fallen in love with him.”
He gave no visible reaction this time, his experience as a general making him stoic once more. “I don’t recall seeing him in battle by land or sea. I don’t recall seeing him in your bedchambers when I came to visit you. So who is the man you deem worthy enough of your heart?”
“He…he wasn’t there.”
His eyebrows rose slightly. “He wasn’t there.” He repeated the words slowly, like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever said. “What possible reason would a man have for abandoning the woman he loves as she fights for her life and her kingdom?”
“It’s complicated.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t think it’s that complicated. The way I see it, I was there and he wasn’t.” His eyes flashed in ferocity. “I sailed with three hundred ships and defeated your enemy. If anyone is worthy of your heart, it’s me.” His hand tightened into a fist, and he gently pressed it against his chest plate.
I had no way to explain this without telling him the truth. I hadn’t expected to have to explain myself to anyone yet, especially Viper. “When I left you behind, it was with a twinge of sadness in my heart. But shortly after I left your lands, I was blown off course and almost killed and lost my entire crew… So much happened. And then I met him, and that happened even faster…and I was in love. Maybe if none of that had happened, it would have been different between us, but it did happen.”
“I want to know who he is,” he said with icy coldness. “I need to know that he’s good enough for you.”
“I don’t need your approval, Viper.”
“If you love this man, then you shouldn’t hesitate to reveal his identity. You should be proud to say his name. But you continue to skirt my questions and dodge the truth?—”
“His name is Callum,” I said. “But the rest of the world knows him as Wrath, God of the Underworld and King of the Dead.” I still felt power whenever I said his name, like the words alone could summon him to me.
Viper went silent, so silent it seemed like he wouldn’t speak again.
I held his stare, knowing that he finally understood the predicament.
“Perhaps it’s ignorant of me to say this, considering I’m a vampire and my brother is married to an elf granted with near immortality…and I’ve seen demons with my own eyes, but I assumed the gods were mere folklore.”
“Well, I can tell you with absolute certainty they aren’t.” But that belief started to fade with every passing day that I didn’t see Callum. He’d promised he wouldn’t leave me without a goodbye. He wouldn’t abandon me in battle. But all those horrors seemed to have come to pass.
Viper looked away as he considered everything I just said. “And he wasn’t there because gods can’t interfere with the living…”
“He would interfere for me,” I said with a hint of pride. “But I’m not sure why he wasn’t there. I haven’t seen him in over a week, and I’m starting to worry trouble has befallen him.”
“What kind of trouble could possibly delay a god?”
“I—I don’t know. But he would never turn his back on me.” He wouldn’t leave me out in the cold to freeze and die.
“Perhaps the relationship meant more to you than it did to him.”
“He loves me.” I said it with absolute certainty, knowing it was as true as the sky was blue. “He would be here if he could. He just couldn’t, and I don’t know why. I worry about him every day, and that worry has only intensified into an inferno of dread.”
His eyes dropped like he couldn’t bear to witness the emotion on my face. “It’s probably not my place to say this, but I think a relationship with a vampire is far more likely to succeed than one with a god, a being that doesn’t even share this plane of existence, a person that no one can see except for you.” His eyes lifted again, this time soft with genuine empathy.
“We’ll find a way.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, Viper. But I assure you, I’ll figure it out.” I would fight for Callum until my body was stripped of hope. Until I knew beyond a doubt there was no way to make it work.
He continued to stare me down, the pity still present.
“If I hadn’t gone to that dead island out to sea, it may have been different for us. But I did go to that island, and I wouldn’t change it. He’s the love of my life, the man I want as my husband, the father of my children.” I didn’t want to hurt Viper by saying all of this, but I wanted him to understand the depth of my commitment. That it was ironclad and unbreakable and eternal.
