He knocked again. “Just tell me you’re alright. Zehemoth says you’re in crisis.”
Crisis was the perfect way to put it. “It’s open.” I sat up with the blanket around my shoulders, the fire long dead.
My father stepped inside, took a quick scan of the dirty dining table and then looked at me on the couch. He seemed to glean that Callum wasn’t there, that it was only me, and I was physically okay…just heartbroken. “Zunieth…”
He came around the couch with wide eyes as he looked at me, liked I looked as bad as I felt. Then he took a seat, still looking at me like he was afraid I might burst from all the tears stuffed inside my body. “Lily, what happened?”
I didn’t have the heart to say it all, to repeat the horror, so I just stood up and moved to his side of the couch…and fell into his chest.
His arms were there to catch me, to envelop me tightly with the protection of a grizzly bear. His touch reminded me of the scales of a dragon, the way Zehemoth had cocooned me to protect me from harm when we slept in the wildlands together. I could even feel the heat from his chest as if there was an eternal flame inside his belly like Khazmuda.
My father rested his chin on my head as he held me against him, gently moving his fingers through my hair.
I started to cry in his arms, feeling his grip tighten as if that would help me through it. “You were right, Dad,” I said as I sniffled. “You were right.”
My tears put me to sleep, and I woke up in the same place where I’d fallen asleep.
In my father’s arms.
I hadn’t cried like that since I was little, since Hawk had broken my toy sword then thrown it over the cliffside to disappear down below.
I left my father’s arms and looked at the covered window, seeing the light was far more intense now. Hours must have passed, and now it was the afternoon. I ran my fingers through my hair then touched my face, feeling the puffiness of my cheeks from the tears.
My father stared at the side of my face but stayed quiet.
I moved to the far side of the couch, leaned against the corner, and pulled my knees to my chest.
My father continued to look at me, his stare far calmer than it’d been when he’d first come over. He didn’t interrogate me about my feelings, just let me sit in the silence as reality slowly crept back into my mind. “Can I get you something to eat?”
“No.”
“Water?”
“Wine would be nice.”
He looked at the bottles on the coffee table before he left the couch and walked into the kitchen. When he came back, he had a glass full of water. He set it on the coffee table in front of me before he returned to his seat. “I’m here if you want to talk…or if you don’t want to talk.”
“I know, Dad.”
He got comfortable against the couch and stared at the cold fireplace, trying to take the attention off me.
I stared at the stone hearth, the dragons carved into the surface. “Callum told me something, and it’s changed everything.”
He still didn’t ask. Just listened.
“Told me that…” I almost didn’t want to tell my father because I already knew he disliked Callum. Didn’t want to give him another reason. But I couldn’t keep this secret from him…or the rest of my family. “He had already made a deal with the Barbarians when he and I met. That he served them at the same time he served me.”
My father didn’t react at all, which was a surprise. He continued to stare at the hearth like he somehow already knew.
“He claims he was a traitor to them but an ally to me, and I believe him. But it still changes everything, because he’s the reason they came to Riviana Star. He’s the reason they had an army of vampires. He’s the reason you were stabbed. He’s the reason behind it all.”
My father continued to stare straight ahead without blinking.
Whenever he didn’t blink, I knew he was angry. But he tried not to show it to me, not wanting to upset me more than I already was.
“I wish he hadn’t told me.”
“I’m grateful that he did. Because you’re right, it does change everything.”
