I continued to watch him work, watch him try to figure out something that probably didn’t exist four hundred years ago.
But then he stopped, still squatting on the ground, his head slightly turned as if he was straining to hear something. He seemed to look at the reflection in one of the large steel buckets beside him and realized someone was there.
He rose to his feet and quickly turned, the surprise in his reaction immediate. But that surprise quickly faded into an emotional intensity that he’d never worn before. His eyes shifted back and forth between mine as he took in the sight of me, like he couldn’t believe that I was real.
Six-and-a-half feet tall and with the strength of a mountain, he had the arms of a lumberjack and the chest of a general. His tight stomach was strong like a beam of wood that supported a home. His trousers were low on his hips but defined around his muscular thighs. With the shine on his chest from the sweat caused by the heat, he couldn’t have looked more irresistible.
It made me forget what I’d come here to say.
He slowly walked over to me, his eyes still wary, like his proximity could spook me away like a lost dog.
But I stood my ground.
He stopped a respectable distance away from me, not making any assumptions about my visit.
“Um…we haven’t talked in a while.”
He continued to stare at me with an intensity that rivaled the sun at the height of summer. Continued to burn me with his gaze like his soul burned hotter than the forges of a blacksmith. He yearned visibly, like he would give anything to touch me.
“I just wanted you to know…I still need some time.”
He couldn’t hide his disappointment, a flash flood of despair passing across his gaze.
“But I still love you…too much not to fight.”
The second I finished my sentence, his eyes filled with tears he didn’t shed. He’d been stoic for most of our relationship, but now, he wore his heart on his sleeve in a way he never had before. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions to me, afraid to cry for me.
“But I just need some time to…forgive you.”
He inhaled a deep breath, his eyes watering further.
He was the one who’d wronged me, but I felt like the traitor hammering nails into his heart. “I—I just wanted you to know that.”
He gave a slight nod. “You know I’d wait forever for you.”
I didn’t know what else to do but nod in return. Then I turned to step away, to let him get back to his work in the barn.
I half expected him to reach for me and hold me tight, but his trunk-like arms never came for me. I walked out of the barn and back into the sunlight, and I crossed the grass where Zehemoth had dropped me off.
I felt worse rather than better somehow, like I was afraid I might not be able to forgive him…no matter how hard I tried.
12
LILY
Zehemoth landed in the courtyard and allowed me to climb down his side.You okay,Zunieth?
“Not really. But someday, I will be.” It was hard to imagine that day coming any time soon, regardless of what happened between Callum and me.
Zehemoth looked past me.The vampire general has returned.
I followed his gaze and found Viper standing there, in the battle armor that depicted the kingsnake across his chest, his cape red and threatening. He watched us together from a distance, his eyes puncturing my skin like daggers. “Why is he here?”
I do not know.Zehemoth opened his wings then took off, leaving us alone in the courtyard together.
I closed the distance between us and walked up to Viper. “Why are you always here?”
The corner of his mouth rose in a smile. “Seems that way, doesn’t it?”
