Page 73 of Kiss of Death
Khazmuda didn’t eat anything, just watched his son replenish his strength before he went back to sleep.
Talon retrieved the pack from Khazmuda’s saddle then walked past me. “Let’s move.”
I walked at his side, keeping fifteen feet between us because he gave me a bloodthirsty stare if I ever got any closer. Darkness descended, and soon we were walking in the pitch black. We made torches out of branches and dry grass and continued on, moving through the valleys and the hills as we headed farther north.
The journey was spent in silence, a cloud of hostility constantly surrounding him.
I kept my distance and slowed my pace whenever I traveled too far ahead, knowing he hadn’t fully recovered from the wound that continued to heal inside the platinum sheath. I wasn’t surehow much time had passed, but it seemed to be six or eight hours when we approached the outside of the forest.
The only time I’d walked through this forest was when Lily joined her father in battle. I was beside her even when no one could see me, and I knew it was another hour to reach the center of the forest.
The only thing I missed about being the god of the underworld was the ability to travel from place to place simultaneously. So much time was spent traveling from one place to another, even on the back of a dragon.
We’d barely entered the forest when the soldiers of Riviana Star intercepted us. They recognized Talon without question, but they turned their suspicions on me despite the armor I wore.
Talon’s expression was hard in rage as always, and he seemed to force the words out of his tight mouth. “He’s with me.”
We were escorted into the forest, and an hour later, we came face-to-face with Queen Eldinar, dressed in a white gown with her hair braided with flowers. She was protected by her general, who was very clearly her husband based on the way he stared at her so intently.
Queen Eldinar seemed more interested in me than she did in Talon, her stare locked on my face and never leaving. “What has come to pass, Talon? I can see your unease.”
In silence, he stood there, his face paler than the dress she wore. He seemed unable to form the words, not to someone he considered a close friend.
So I spoke on his behalf, and when he didn’t interrupt me, I knew he was relieved he didn’t have to say the words out loud…that his daughter was gone. “We traveled to the dead island to ask to trade my soul for hers and were declined, as I expected. Our next move is to ask Riviana to open the portal between the realms so we can rescue Lily from the damnation I never wanted her to suffer in my place.”
Queen Eldinar stared at me with eyes that reminded me of the ocean surrounding the island where I took Lily. Intensely blue and serene, but packed with more depth than the shallow waters. “When Lily was here, she told me she would never stop trying to save you from the underworld. That you’re a good man who didn’t deserve the price you paid for those you loved before. Conveyed how hurt she was when her declaration of love wasn’t enough to move her own father.” She then turned her stare on to Talon.
Talon’s eyes were shifted in another direction, somewhere away from her face, in an act of avoidance…or shame.
“You should have known this might happen, Talon.”
“She told me Leviathan offered to take her soul in exchange, and she said no.”
“But your daughter has your passion and your stubbornness, and you should have known if there was no option on the table?—”
“The blame resides with me and me alone,” I said, cutting through their conversation and the heat directed at Talon. “When I showed Lily my love, she tried to dismiss it at first. Said her father would never accept her love for someone like me. I should have kept my distance then, helped her from the shadows until the war was done and then turned my back on her. But I wore my heart on my sleeve and declared my love with everylook and every touch…until she was forced to acknowledge it. I was selfish, her love the only thing that gave my life meaning, and I was too greedy to let it go. I’m older than her, wiser than her, and I should have known better.”
Queen Eldinar turned her stare on me then, her bright eyes without judgment. “If your crime was loving a woman and breaking your oath to the Covenant you serve to keep her safe, then you truly as an exceptional man, Callum Riverside.”
Talon turned to look at me when he heard my new, true name.
I wasn’t sure how Queen Eldinar knew it. If Lily had told her…or Riviana.
“She told me she would find a way to set me free, for us to be together. I knew her intention long ago, and that’s when I should have kicked dirt onto the fire.”
“So you wish you had broken her heart.”
“I wish she weren’t down there right now. Even if we succeed in getting her back and all is well, it still wasn’t worth it.” I didn’t say anything else, not wanting to torture Talon with descriptions of that horrible place.
But then I remembered he already knew.
Queen Eldinar turned back to Talon. “I’ll call upon Riviana on your behalf.” She walked up to Talon, the same height as he was because she was a tall woman, especially barefoot. Her hands reached for his arms and held on as she waited for him to look at her.
But he kept his gaze elsewhere, like it was too hard to look at her.
“Lily Rothschild united allies and defeated enemies many times more powerful than she is. She is smart, cunning, and strong. Remember that she is your daughter, and if anyone can triumph over the forces of evil, it is she.”
His eyes started to water once again, on the verge of tears.
