TALON
I sat with Calista on the couch in front of the fire, feeling the stress eat away at me, starting with the flesh on the surface and then muscle underneath. It wouldn’t be long before the disease reached the bone.
“There must be a way to stop it,” Calista said.
“I’m trying to find that answer.” I sat with my arms on my thighs, staring into the fire and hoping it would share its secrets with me.
“How long did she say we have?”
“Weeks,” he said. “Give or take a few days.”
“If we know where the barrier will break down, we could prepare for battle on that front.”
“And be massacred by all the forces of the underworld?”
“We’ve done it before.”
“We had the aid of the dragons that time. And we have far fewer now since so many died in the war, and Leviathan and the Covenant will suspect that. I’m sure they’ll have a plan this time.”
“The one person who might have some insight is Callum.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I continued to stare into the fire as I looked for an end to this nightmare. Ever since Callum Riverside had come into our lives, it’d been one battle after another, physically and emotionally.
The flames suddenly became blacked out by a man’s silhouette, and I had to blink in the assumption that my mind was playing tricks on me. I tilted my chin up to look at the man’s face—and I recognized Leviathan.
There in his dead flesh.
I glanced at Calista beside me, but she gave no reaction, like I was the only one who could see him.
“Talon Rothschild, son of kings and father to a queen.”
It was hard not to feel a surge of pride whenever anyone, even him, referred to my daughter as Queen of the Southern Isles. She’d triumphed over her enemies and led her people to victory.
“A man who doesn’t pay his debts. Like father, like daughter.”
I sat in silence so Calista wouldn’t know we were visited by a demon. It’d been a long time since Bahamut would appear and then disappear from my life, constantly reminding me of the deal we’d forged together, but a part of me was still used to it, which is why I didn’t react.
“I’m sure you’re aware that the portal between our realms grows weaker by the day. If it continues, the forces of the underworld will swallow the mortal world like a holiday feast. But there’s something you can do to stop it.”
I continued my hard stare, continued to stare down a demon in my own living room.
“Return Lily Rothschild—and the portal will remain closed.”
My expression didn’t change in the slightest, but beneath the facade, a shower of stones struck my shoulders and snapped my bones. Leviathan and the forces of the underworld had an opportunity to unleash on the mortal world, but it was clear all they really wanted was my daughter. “Do your worst, demon. As long as I live, you will never take her.”
17
LILY
I sought Khazmuda’s company for a conversation, but every time I reached my mind out to his, he blocked me. It was something he’d never done before. No dragon had ever done that to me. So I reached my mind to Zehemoth instead.Could you please tell your father I want to speak with him?
He already knows.
And he’s just going to continue to ignore me?
He already suspects what you’ll say.
And how do you feel, Zehemoth?I stood in the courtyard in the night, waiting for his black scales to appear in the darkness. I heard his wings before I saw them, the powerful flapping through the air and then he landed in front of me.
