Page 53 of Empire of Death
“I’m afraid he moved…because he’s worried about me.”
“I’m sure he is worried about you. Because a father worries for his children every moment they’re not within his sight.”
She gave a slight nod. “I’m just afraid his mind is trapped, and the only thing he can do is worry that you’ll hurt me or take my soul. He already lost Lena, and all he can think about is losing me next.”
“With the severity of his wound, I doubt he’s often sentient.”
“Yeah, I hope so,” she said with a heavy breath. Her eyes eventually focused on mine again, and once they did, I could see that endless affection, like she trusted me more than anyone in the world. I’d watched her aunt warn her that I wasn’t what I seemed, that I would deceive and betray her, and Lily didn’t hesitate to tell her she was wrong.
It felt good…until it didn’t.
Until shame the size of a mountain collapsed on top of me.
Until I drowned in self-loathing.
Until I wished I ceased to exist.
My eyes shifted away because I felt unworthy of her stare. Felt inferior to this beautiful queen full of grace and integrity and power. But my stare didn’t stay away for so long, not when I could feel the magnetic pull of her beauty draw me in. She was a queen, not a witch, but I felt entranced under the spell she cast. I looked at her once more, and the second I took in those beautiful green eyes, I was lost all over again. I’d never laid eyes on a woman more fair, more intelligent, more fierce, and I’d never felt emotion so overwhelming. “I know what substance will heal your father.”
Her stare hardened on my face for the first second, but then her body tightened like a rope before the tension suddenly released like a spring. “Tell me.” She didn’t ask how I knew this information, desperate for the solution and not an explanation.
“Platinum.”
“Platinum.” She said it out loud, tested it on her tongue.
“Similar to steel but with the brilliance of a diamond.”
Her eyes shifted away as she thought long and hard about that information. “Do you know where to find it?” Her eyes came back to me.
“No.”
“I don’t think that’s a material we have on this side of the world. I’ve never heard of it.”
“Perhaps.”
“How do you know this is true?”
“Because Riviana told me.”
Confusion made her eyebrows lift before they lowered once more. “You—you can speak to her?”
“I’m not supposed to. A violation equivalent to treason.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because I fear you’ll lose this battle if only half the dragons can fight. The other half can’t be occupied keeping your father alive. They make themselves vulnerable to attack from the distraction, as well as their weakness from depleted energy reserves.”
“You know I want to save my father more than anything…but not at your expense.”
Every time I thought our hearts couldn’t grow closer, we inched further into each other’s chests. I wanted to withdraw for the sake of us both, but my heart sang for her like a swallow on the first day of spring. My purpose wasn’t to bring souls to the underworld to be eaten by the Covenant—but to care for her with mind, body, and soul. I’d completely lost myself to her, irrevocably and utterly. I put myself deeper into debt with complete disregard and pretended the bill would never come. “I’m the last person you need to worry about,Xivin.”
Her eyes shifted back and forth between mine, starting to water from the connection she could feel as deeply as I could. “That’s hard to do when you’re the person I think of the most.”
Heat from her flames flushed through me, and it was one of the rare times my heart fluttered. I wouldn’t change my past, never erase the existence of my two sons who still burned like a torch in my heart, but sometimes I wished for a different life. Pictured myself walking through the door of her villa and seeingher pregnant belly stretch her shirt taut, holding a toddler on her hip, the house a mess from the chaos of small children. Her eyes would be dead tired but still find the energy to light for me.
There was nothing I wouldn’t give to have that.
“Callum.” Her quiet voice pulled me back to the moment, like she knew my mind had floated off somewhere else, into the lands of eternal yearning.
