Page 48 of Kiss of Death
“And this stays between us, Zehemoth. You can’t tell your father our plans.”
What do you seek on the forbidden island? My father told me not to go there as well?—
“Take me, or I’ll find someone else to do it.”
He turned his gaze to Hawk and then back to me.
“We need to go now. Will you take me or not?”
Of course.He lowered his body so it would be easier for me to climb up.
I grabbed on to one of the straps and pulled myself up until I was flat in the saddle.
“Lily!” Hawk shouted from below. “Be careful.”
“I know. You said that.”
“I say it again because you didn’t hear me the first time,” he snapped. “Remember the ground you touch does not belong to the mortal world. Remember you’re an enemy on these lands.”
I gave a nod in agreement. “I’ll be careful.”
When my brother finally got what he wanted, he took several steps back so Zehemoth could spread his wings and take off. He left the cliff and turned out to the sea, and when I looked over Zehemoth’s flank, I could see my brother grow more and more distant, quickly becoming an indistinguishable dot.
Do you know the way?
As if I’d ever forget. “Yes. Veer slightly north and you’ll be on course.”
Zehemoth changed his direction slightly with his wings, bringing us straight into the path of the dead island. The silence only lasted for a few seconds before he spoke.And what do we seek?
“The god of the underworld.”
We made the journey in less than a day because traveling by dragon was infinitely faster than cutting through the water with a heavy galleon and just the power of the wind. It was dark when we arrived, the sky full of stars that reflected off the calm water beneath us. The island was hard to see, and the only reason I spotted it was because it lacked a reflection.
The closer we came, the clearer the details became. There was a stretch of beach a short distance from the tree line, enough room for Zehemoth to land. He came in at a glide then hit the beach,his back legs partially in the shallow water before he walked farther up the sand. He came to a stop where the sand was mostly dry, and I climbed down.
Zehemoth stared into the darkness of the trees.There is great evil here.
“I know.”
He turned his neck to look down at me.
“Because I’ve been here before.”
Every place in the world has vibrations of life, even in the deepest snow. But here, there is nothing. No life from the trees, the earth, the water. It’s a void. Instead, there is a wound that festers with sickness. The bark of the trees is petrified by the horror they absorb through the soil. Even when the sun rises, the night here is eternal. Lily, we shouldn’t have come here.
“I’m not afraid.”
I am—and I fear for both of us.
I stepped farther toward the forest and peered into the darkness. I didn’t feel Callum, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to feel him in a place like this. “Then leave. Return home and send a ship to retrieve me. But I’m not leaving.” I moved toward the roots of a tree, broken branches desiccated like they’d dried out in the desert sun. I grabbed one and wrapped dead grass and fallen leaves around the end of the branch before I held it out to Zehemoth.
He wordlessly understood what I meant and blew a small fire out of his nostrils to set it ablaze. The branch caught immediately and turned into a bright torch that illuminated a short distance into the dead forest.
You know I won’t leave you,Sunieth.
I stepped into the tree line and peered into the emptiness before me. I’d set foot on these lands before and felt the sinister presence that Zehemoth could feel, tenfold. If my heart didn’t beat so deeply for Callum, I’d turn around and leave. Because this dead place, even if I’d been there before, utterly terrified me.
With the torch held high, I started into the cursed forest, noting the absence of wildlife. There was no midnight hoot of an owl, no sound of a frog in a small pond, no crickets chirping into the night.
