I stared at the side of my father’s face, seeing him remain somber.
I turned back to the fire and let the silence build between us.
My father eventually spoke. “I’m sorry,Zunieth.”
“So am I.”
“I know what he means to you.”
I didn’t expect him to handle this with such empathy instead of white-hot rage. Didn’t expect him to keep his voice so low. “You were right, and I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I was in love, and…I just couldn’t see straight.”
“Love makes you blind, but that’s not always a bad thing. Your mother’s love has made her blind to the millions of reasons why I’m unsuitable for her. That tunnel vision has only brought people closer together.”
I was still surprised by his calmness. “I expected you to react much differently to this.”
After a long stare at the fire, he turned to look at me.
His face had remained unchanged throughout my entire life, and now we were almost the same age in appearance. To anyone who looked at us through the window, they wouldthink we were friends or siblings. But I saw past his youth to a man aged by experience and war. Saw a man who had an endless depth to his eyes, similar to Callum. “The god of the underworld is tasked with the heinous crime of harvesting souls from the worst of humankind. It was hard to believe that someone in that position could be as good as you claimed to me. This revelation actually makes me feel better.”
I continued to stare into his dark eyes.
“My suspicion is now confirmed, and I feel like I finally understand Callum Riverside. And I feel better that he shared this information with you rather than chose to conceal it. It makes me more inclined to trust him—not less.”
“He’s the reason you were stabbed…and you trust him more?”
“It’s far more complicated than that.” He looked away again. “How do you feel about all this, Lily?”
“Did all the crying and empty wine bottles not give it away?”
The corner of his mouth rose into a fraction of a smile before it quickly disappeared. “I admit it’s a hard truth to accept.”
“All the while I was falling in love with him, he didn’t tell me.”
His eyes shifted away, but he gave a nod in understanding.
“We lost a lot of good soldiers, a lot of dragons, the damage to the village and our fleet of ships. Our kingdom was being viciously attacked while you lay in bed, unable to do a damn thing about it. I grieved for a father who hadn’t actually died. And while Callum was directly responsible for all of this, I was foolishly falling in love with him. He says the powers he gifted to me without wanting anything in return saved ourkingdom, but I wouldn’t have needed them in the first place if he hadn’t helped the Barbarians. He voids all of his contributions. He was just putting out all the fireshestarted.”
My father nodded in agreement.
“It completely changes the story…the story of us. Star-crossed lovers separated by the veil between the living and the dead who will do anything to be together, and now he’s the chess master and I’m just a fucking pawn. We’re all fucking pawns.”
“Do you believe he would have made the deal with the Barbarians if he’d met you first?”
I held my father’s gaze and didn’t need to consider the question. “No.”
“And do you think you would have still fallen in love with him?”
I couldn’t imagine being around Callum and not falling deeply and passionately in love with him. Couldn’t imagine not feeling my body tense every time he was near. “Yes.”
He looked to the fireplace ahead and fell into silence once more.
“You think I should forgive him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what do you think I should do?”
“That’s up to you, Lily. If you want him to leave the Southern Isles, I’ll escort him elsewhere. If you want to marry him, you have my blessing.”
