Page 82 of Kiss of Death
“I reject all of this.”
“As I expected,” he said. “But don’t worry, we’ve got all the time in the world to make it happen.”
Did he really believe they wouldn’t come for me? That my father wouldn’t make Riviana open the portals? That Callum wouldn’t return to the underworld to take me by the hand and get out of here? I believed it—without doubt. Perhaps that was why I could stay so calm in the presence of a threat.
“Shall we get started?”
I stilled in my chair, all my muscles tensing in preparation for whatever this monster might do.
But he just smiled at me for a long time. “You hide your fear. But you don’t hide it well enough, Lily Rothschild.” He rose to his feet, the chair pushing back over the stone floor, and then he reached for me.
I was out of my chair and on the other side of the table instantly. The first thing I noticed was the lack of a heartbeat. My heart should be hammering in my chest right now, but I felt nothing.
He knocked the chair out of the way as he came for me.
I just moved around the other way.
“I will make you despise your existence so deeply that you’ll beg me to harvest your soul from your body.”
I moved to the side of the table where this originally started and then took off, sprinting through the castle in whatever direction took me away from this monster.
“Grab her!” He roared from behind me. His voice boomed through the entire castle like it traveled through the walls, alerting every minion that served him in the underworld. That was when the creatures started to grab for me in the hallways and the parlors. Creatures that were men once, their spines and bones crooked in all sorts of ways from torment. They all reached for me to stop me, but I slid past their grasp.
When I rounded the next corner, it was blocked by a much bigger monster, something that resembled a human…and an orc.
I turned back to find another way, but Leviathan had already caught up to me.
In his demon form.
When he laughed, a glimpse of fire was visible past his teeth, reminding me of the flames inside Zehemoth’s belly.
Zehemoth. I pushed my mind to reach for him like I did under the blue sky, but I felt the direction of my projection suddenly blocked.
When he chuckled again, I knew he was responsible. “I’ve learned from Bahamut’s mistakes.” Then he lunged at me, an eight-foot-tall creature with horns and teeth and malice.
I dodged out of the way, rolled when he swiped his arm for me, backing up and evading his attack.
Then his hand shot out to grab me by the throat.
His fingers made it around my slender neck, but I slammed my elbow down like my father had taught me long ago, and I had the strength to break his hold.
His other hand swiped at me, to punch me in the head and knock me out cold, but I blocked it with my vambrace, forcing all my muscles to work together to stop his momentum. My arm trembled from the exertion, but I managed to keep him back.
He dropped his attack and took a step back, his black eyes regarding me in a heavy silence. “How is something so small so strong?”
I realized I still had it—Callum’s godly gift.
It had somehow remained with me even when I died, even when I traveled to the underworld where a god already lived.
So, Callum still protected me, no matter that we were separated between life and death.
Leviathan started to back me up against the wall, cornering me so I would have nowhere to run. I would just have to fight him with my fists, hand-to-hand combat with my armor against his black exoskeleton.
When an opening appeared, I would run for it.
Run for the forest that Callum had shown me.
Leviathan lunged at me, throwing his full body into the attack.
