14
LILY
I was in the kitchen doing the dishes for the first time in two weeks when I heard the voice behind me.
“Lily Rothschild.”
The plate I’d been holding in my hand slipped out of my soapy grasp and hit the bottom of the sink, chipping off a piece. My head lifted to the window above the sink, and I saw the reflection of a handsome man behind me. Light brown hair and blue eyes, his skin fair like limestone.
My heart plummeted into my stomach, and I felt sick, horribly sick. My first instinct was to yell for Callum in the other room, but then I remembered he wasn’t there.
“You don’t look happy to see me.”
I grabbed the chipped piece of plate from the bottom of the sink and turned around.
And saw Leviathan standing in my kitchen, in battle armorwith a two-handed blade visible over his shoulder, a snarl on his lips and hunger in his eyes. “How can I help you?”
He took a step closer to me, eyes locked on mine with viciousness. “You thought you would escape the underworld unnoticed? That you would outsmart a covenant of demons?”
My back pressed against the sink and I was scared for my life, but I channeled that energy into keeping my face composed, to lying to this monster’s face and pretending not to be afraid. Was Callum mistaken, and Leviathan could take my soul right where I stood? “How can I help you?” I leaned against the sink and crossed my arms over my chest.
He took a step closer to me, his footsteps distinct against the tile floor. “You pretend to be unafraid, but I see it in your eyes.”
“For the last time, what the fuck do you want?—”
“To enlighten you.”
“Enlighten me?” I asked blankly. “How so?”
“Callum Riverside is not who you think he is.”
“He’s not, huh?” I asked blankly.
“But perhaps you already know that since he’s not here.” His eyes filled with a smugness, like he knew he had me cornered. “Callum Riverside portrays an honorable human, but he’s just as full of deception as I am. Claimed to serve you in the war, but it wasn’t only you that he served.”
“Callum is honorable, because he already shared this with me.”
“Did he?” He cocked his head sideways.
“Yes, I know that he served the Barbarians while he served me. His actions were questionable, but his honesty is not.”
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “I see no hint of rage in your eyes, and that tells me he hasn’t told you everything. Just the bare minimum, because that was all your fragile heart could handle.”
I used my full strength to keep a stoic expression, but the seed of doubt he planted made a home in my flesh. It hadn’t grown and blossomed, but it wouldn’t take much for it to sprout a single tendril of a vine.
“Would you like me to show you?”
“No.”
“I have the power to show you the past. When I took Callum’s position, he remained in the underworld and served the Covenant. But after enough time had passed, since time passes differently there than it does here, he filled the void of the loss with someone else.”
I refused to flinch, refused to let his poison feed the saplings he’d buried.
“You try to hide your emotions from me.” A slow smile crept on to his lips. “But it’s a fruitless endeavor.” He suddenly took another step toward me, and my kitchen disappeared and we were taken into darkness I hadn’t seen since I’d been brought back to the mortal world.
I looked around, seeing the castle in the distance and the dirt path that led to the forest. Then the image changed again, thetwo of us standing outside the very home in the woods that I’d inhabited.
Then I spotted Callum approach past the bonfire, the light of the flames highlighting his handsome face. It was the first time I’d seen him in the underworld without his uniform and armor. Now he was in regular clothes, his eyes looking fatigued.
