“I’m sorry for everything I said to you.”
“You never have to earn my forgiveness, Lily. It’s always freely given.” He pulled away to look at me, his cheeks stained with tears he was unafraid to show. “And I should have listened to you. I’m sorry I didn’t.”
“You don’t have to earn my forgiveness either, Dad,” I said through my tears.
His eyes watered a little harder at that, and he pulled me in to press a kiss to my forehead. “You’re my world. My sea, my sky, and my sun.” He let me go, drawing a sharp breath to bring his emotions back to the ground. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
His eyes looked me over, seeing me in the black dress and the crown. “You look okay.”
“Yeah, I’m unharmed. I’ll tell you about it later.” I turned to see Viper join us. He didn’t express his emotions in his stare theway Callum and my father did, but his relief was palpable in the air around him.
I walked up to him, unsure how I should greet him, considering he and Callum were both in the same place…at the same time. A hug felt too intimate since I’d slept with him in the past. “Thank you for your part in this.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” He didn’t seem offended that I didn’t touch him or show him a grand display of tears. “I wasn’t sure if this plan was going to work, and I’m relieved that it has.”
“A more extensive conversation will have to wait,” Callum said from behind me. “We need to get off this island as quickly as possible in case we draw attention from Leviathan. Let’s go.” Callum took the lead and directed us toward the opposite end of the island, where my ship had landed all those months ago.
Zehemoth’s voice was loud in my head when I approached.Sunieth. He started to tremble and shake, a dragon’s form of crying.
I ran to him and cupped his snout with my palms. “I’m so sorry, Zehemoth.”
Tell me you’re okay.
“I’m absolutely okay.” I dipped my head to his and pressed a kiss to his hard scales. “But we have to go. We’ll catch up when we get back.” I climbed onto his back and then watched Callum climb behind me like he’d ridden a dragon many times.
My father and Viper shared Khazmuda, and we launched intothe sky, leaving the dead island in the middle of the dead sea where it belonged.
Viper had ridden behind me in the past, and he hadn’t touched me, even though we’d been close together in the saddle. But Callum hooked his thick arm over my ribs and held me close to his chest, while his other arm held the horn of the saddle, keeping me caged in like he was afraid I might fall off…but he just wanted to hold me.
He would dip his head and press a kiss to my shoulder from time to time, whenever the wind flapped my hair in the other direction. At full speed, the air was loud and it was difficult to talk, but we somehow made love in fully clothed silence, his mouth kissing the shell of my ear or my exposed shoulder when the strap of my dress fell down.
I couldn’t believe I was on the back of a dragon with Callum…and we were both mortals…and now we would live out the rest of our lives together like we had only allowed ourselves to dream.
When we landed in the courtyard, my mother and brother were already waiting for us, Khazmuda probably sharing the news on the journey.
Khazmuda landed first, and my father and Viper dismounted. When Zehemoth tried to land, my mother ran up to us and nearly got herself crushed underneath Zehemoth’s massive claw in her desperate attempt to get to me.
I barely made it down Zehemoth’s side when she rushed me, grabbing me hard in her arms and sobbing into my cheek. “No wife or mother should ever suffer what I’ve just suffered.” She squeezed me tightly before she let me go, her eyes filled with the same tears my father had just shed.
Hawk walked up to us, his eyes looking me over for injuries and bruises before he seemed to relax. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
My mother let me go, her hand stroking down the back of my hair.
“I’m glad you’re back.” He moved into me and gave me a hug, something we did far more often in the last few months than we had our entire lives. He gave me an awkward pat on the back before he let me go.
“Thanks. Me too.”
“I’m so glad this story is over,” my mother said. “We can be a family again. Have dinner together, watch the sunsets, mourn who we’ve lost.”
I was glad to be home and reunited with my family, but there was only one person I wanted to spend my time with right now. My eyes moved to Callum, who stood off on his own in the distance, like he didn’t deserve to be part of the conversation. Viper also kept his distance, but in a whole different area.
Callum and I had never really been together, and I’d actually spent more time with my family than I had with him. But I knew they were anxious to see me and be with me, and it felt wrong to leave them to spend time with someone else. Myfather, of all people, deserved my company more than anyone else.
But I watched my dad glance over at Callum before he looked at me again. “You’ve been through a lot, and I’m sure you need some time…so let’s have dinner tomorrow.”
