“No, you do not,” Cal says as he steps slowly toward me. “But you belong with me, Ivy. Beside me.”
“And if I wish to lead you? A man like you would be okay with that?” I scoff.
“Oh, I very much enjoy being behind you. The view is incredible.” A devious smile pulls up the corner of his mouth as he moves to carefully take my hand in his.
“I’m serious, Cal. You are not entitled to me just because you are fucking me.”
His eyes darken with a sobering seriousness, quickly replacing the playful spark that colored them moments before.
“I have waited my entire life for you, Ivy. Iffuckingis all this is to you, then … then I’ll find a way to live with that. Because I would rather have you for a moment than never have you at all. But if you choose to have me, I will be beside you until every realm in existence turns to dust. You don’t have to be mine, but I am yours … and not even the gods can change that.”
Cold air douses the rising fire, sweeping my anger away with it. Something inside my chest squeezes at his words, something that I push down into the iron-clad box that contains everything I don’t wish to feel.
We are two twisted souls destined to march into death together. We have no choice in how we end. Cal couldn’t feel this way if he knew the depths of what fate has in store for us. He wouldn’t make outlandish statements about realms and existence if he did.
Or would he?
Cal’s never disclosed if his nickname was earned or only legend. But a man capable of single handedly taking down a legion of soldiers might just be cocky enough to defy fate itself. The hard granite gaze locked onto my every move tells me that he wouldn’t stop at fate.
No, Callan Murphy would defy the gods to their immortal faces. And the choice to follow him or not is wholly mine.
CHAPTER 20
It’s expected that I will be dressed in full regalia to meet the Ruby Governor. An elegant, emerald gown would symbolize my region, my status, and my sex. But Rollins disregarded decorum with his little summons, and I fight better in pants.
I step over the pile of broken wood that litters the floor, digging into my bag to locate a clean pair of brown leathers and a blouse of deep emerald green. There’s no mirror in the room, so I rely on muscle memory as I pull my wet hair up into a low, sleek chignon.
There’s a sobering sort of dread that’s gnawed at me ever since I opened my eyes this morning. It disappeared briefly but came back in full force as I bathed alone in the hall chamber. I try to tell myself that it’s only nerves about the impending encounter with Rollins, that it will go away as soon as I fulfill this farce of an invitation.
This room has been a sanctuary, a place where I allowed myself to give in to temptation and desire without thought or worry of the consequences. A place where everything about our dynamic changed. And I am entirely unprepared to face our new reality.
Cal steps into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist, skin still dripping from his bath. Droplets refract in the sunlight pouring in from the small window causing the sea beast inked across his chest to glimmer as if it’s covered in iridescent scales. The sight of the leviathan sends an errant chill down my spine.
“We don’t have to go, you know,” Cal says, never looking up from his bag.
“Of course we have to go. I don’t want to be in the Ruby Region any longer than we have to be, but refusing Rollins in his own home is an affront that we cannot afford.”
“We…” he stills.
“You’re my ally, aren’t you?” I backtrack, trying to cover the unintentional usage and implications of that particular pronoun.
“Ah.” Cal returns his focus to the bag, extracting leather pants and a fitted shirt in the same shade of deep obsidian. “In that case, Rollins is already ourenemy. Marks already has his vote. What more could the governor do if we don’t show up?”
Cal makes a valid point. Rollins will never side with me at the Ascension Vote no matter who I put forth. In his opinion, Marks is the only one worthy of the crown, except for maybe himself.
“What if he’s trying to steal the vote from Marks?” I ask. “What if Rollins has summoned me to try to convince me to vote for him?”
“I’d say he’s wasting all of our fucking time.” Cal sits on the edge of the bed and begins lacing his boots. “But go on.”
“Think about it. The Emerald Region is geographically cut off from the rest of Corinth. We get plenty of imports from the sea, but all land shipments have to pass through Ruby.”
The people of my region would suffer exponentially without those goods.
“I know he’s a piece of shit, but do you think he’d really threaten trade agreements that have stood for hundreds of years?” Cal asks.
“I do. There’s only one other thing that could buy my vote and Rollins doesn’t have the balls to do it.”
My people are my duty, my responsibility. But the life of my father? That’s one chip I would never bargain with, and one that even a scum like Charles Rollins wouldn’t threaten.
