My stomach tightened at the thought of his anguish. “If you gave him a vineyard, then you must think this won’t work.”
“It doesn’t mean that,” he said. “I just think it might take a while.”
“You think I should forgive him.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I said.”
“Well, I’m asking you, then.”
“I already told you it’s your decision. The three of us will support whatever you decide.”
I dropped my gaze and looked at the bottle of wine on the table.
My father continued to stare at me.
“I would really appreciate your guidance in this, Dad. You made your opinion of our love very explicit before. You’re never one to shy away from saying exactly what you think when you think it. But now, you won’t communicate with me.”
“Because this is your choice?—”
“I care about your opinion.”
He gave a lengthy sigh as he looked elsewhere for a moment. “A relationship will never work unless you forgive their sins and pardon their pasts. If you can’t do that, love won’t be enough. And I think the depravity of his deceit is so intense that it’s not something you can forgive in a week or two—or even months. You don’t have to decide what to do right this second, Lily. He’s not going anywhere. Take your time.”
“You didn’t really answer my question.”
“I think he’s a good man in a shitty position—and I think it speaks volumes about his character that he shared his treason. That he knew he might lose you, and he still did it anyway. Is that enough to make up for the deaths and the destruction and the pain he caused? I really don’t know. It’s a very complicated situation. And if you decide you can’t make it work, you’ll move on one day and find some other nice young man, and you’ll be very happy. Because you won’t age now, there’ll never be a rush to find the right person so you can have your children. You can wait a hundred years if you want. But if you really love him—and think there’s a chance that you could never love someone the same way—then I think you should try.”
I hung on to every word my father shared with me, feeling the pain when I felt the last thing he’d said kick me in the heart. “The way I love him…I can’t even put into words. It feels like two different people to me now. There’s the man I love with all my heart, and there’s the god of the underworld…”
“Well, he’s not the god of the underworld anymore.”
“I know.”
“He’s just the man now. If that means anything to you.”
My father pointed out the vineyard from the top of the cliffs, far away and at a lower altitude, a speck in my vision. But he described the home and the barn, so I asked Zehemoth for a ride because getting there by horse would take an hour.
And why would I ride a horse when I could ride a dragon?
I climbed onto Zehemoth’s saddle, and he left the top of the cliffs before he soared over the village down below, heading to the hills and valley where farmers grew our crops and raised cattle. It bordered the wildlands that the dragons claimed as their own.
Zehemoth glided over the valley then approached the home at the top of the hill, the large barn door slid open. He came in for a delicate landing, like he didn’t trust me to hold on when I was delirious in my despair.
He waited for me to climb down before he rubbed his snout against me.Let me know when you’re finished. I’ll be hunting.
“Okay.”
I’ll save you some.
“I’ll pass,” I said with a slight chuckle.
He opened his wings and took off again, bringing his large body into the sky before he glided toward the dragons’ domain.
I looked at the vineyard and saw the healthy vines on the wire, the purple grapes that were sour to the tongue. I’d tried to eat them when I was a kid and quickly learned they weren’t sweet.
I approached the barn door, seeing it completely rolled back on the wheels that supported it. The inside was cast in shadow because the intense sunlight outside somehow made it darker in comparison. My eyes struggled to adjust.
I eventually found Callum across the room, working on one of the evaporators. He was squatted down with his tools onthe stone floor beside him, shirtless, with his muscular back to me. He didn’t seem to realize I was there, and insulated in the large barn, he hadn’t heard Zehemoth land then fly away. He tugged on one of the pipes before he wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm.
