Page 70 of Kiss of Death
I’d never seen a man so overcome with loss.
I waited for him to pick up the sword and charge me with it. Give the same threat he’d just given to Zehemoth a moment ago. But he seemed too broken to fight. He swayed on the spot before he moved back to Lily on the ground. He dropped to his knees once more, scooped her into his arms, and sobbed once again.
20
CALLUM
Talon scooped Lily into his arms and carried her away with his wife and son. They headed into the castle, and the doors shut behind them.
That left me where I stood, as alive and healthy as I’d been when I’d found Bahamut in the dead forest, another entry point to the underworld. My body might be the same, but it felt different when it was truly physical in the mortal world. I could feel the pulsing of my blood in various parts of my body, feel the drain of energy on my body just from being alive, feel the weakness of being an unremarkable human.
I’d been in this courtyard before, in the present and the past, but it felt different when I was there in the flesh. I stared at the villa where I’d come to Lily, where I’d made love to her for the first time. We’d made memories there by the fire before I whisked her away to a private island where no one would ever find us.
She trusted me far more than she should have.
I stared over the edge of the courtyard to the village below, the light from all the torches bringing the city into illumination. Ididn’t know where to go or what to do, but I knew Talon would confront me eventually.
An hour later, the double doors opened again, a booming sound when the heavy doors started to swing inward.
I turned to see Talon approaching me, not as a grieving father, but as a malevolent king. In his black armor with the dragon crest in the center of his chest and his cape flowing in the breeze behind him, he reminded me so much of Lily.
She had the same angry aura about her in battle. The same presence. The same command.
The hilt of his heavy blade was visible over one of his shoulders, but he didn’t reach for it to cut off my head when he drew near. He stopped several feet away from me, while his guards moved forward, carrying different pieces of armor that were obviously intended for me.
I didn’t expect this.
They surrounded me, latching the chest plate into position and then thigh pieces and vambraces, placing me in a suit of armor with the Rothschild crest in the center along with the dragon just above.
While all this happened, Talon stared me down like he wanted to kill me.
Maybe he wanted to fight to the death, have it be honorable and fair out of respect for Lily, instead of a straightforward execution.
The last piece was the two-handed blade they slid into the scabbard across my back. Then they silently dismissedthemselves, crossing back over the courtyard to the double doors.
Talon continued to give me this lidless look, staring me down so hard he didn’t need to blink, his focus powered by strength, fueled by rage. He took a step closer to me but didn’t reach for the blade across his back. “Lily Rothschild is meant to rule the living, not serve the dead. She’s meant to be loved by a man who would accept death like an old friend rather than allow her a moment’s worth of grief. I despise you for allowing this to happen, and even if we get my daughter back, I will still despise you until my dying breath.”
Because I expected nothing less from him, I nodded in agreement. “I did not want this. I would never want this?—”
“And yet, here we stand.” He continued to blame me for her decision, when I’d told her at least a dozen times that I would never want her to give her soul for anything—not even me. But I didn’t want to argue with a man who was lost in the throes of anguish. “I will not stop until my daughter is where she belongs.”
“Nor will I.”
“Good. Because we’re returning to the dead island, and you’ll trade your life for hers.”
That plan wouldn’t work, but when he stared me down like he dared me to oppose, I knew it was unwise to argue. I needed him to understand that we were on the same team, that he wasn’t the only one who had lost someone he loved. If I could simply take her place, I would do it in a heartbeat.
The sound of powerful wings came from the sky, and then Khazmuda, the enormous black dragon, landed nearby. Theother black dragon, Zehemoth, landed next to him. They both had saddles and were prepared for departure.
“Let’s go.” Talon Rothschild turned his back on me and walked to the bigger dragon of the two, climbing up effortlessly.
I came to Zehemoth’s side and did the same, back into the saddle that I’d sat in on the way here. The dragon was probably tired from the journey across the sea he’d just made, but current circumstances seemed to nullify his fatigue.
Talon and his dragon launched into the sky first, blending in with the darkness immediately because of the dark scales.
Zehemoth was next, following his father into the night sky. We stopped below the clouds, Talon far in the lead like he didn’t want to be anywhere near me, and in silence, we crossed the sea back to the west.
Talon had already landed on the shore when I arrived. He dismounted Khazmuda and stood close to the tree line, the world still dark even though dawn was on the way.
