“Once they break the barrier, all of the underworld will spill out into our plane, and we’ll have to fight everything all at once. But what if we took the fight to them instead?”
Aunt Eldinar cocked her head slightly as she listened. “Go on.”
“Callum knows how to bypass Leviathan and enter the underworld. He could escort a team of fighters down below, and then we could attack Leviathan when he least expects it. Callum believes I have the strength to defeat him, and if we time our entry just before the portal ruptures, they’ll be attheir weakest. I could kill Leviathan, and then we could pursue the Covenant next.”
“He’ll know someone is there the second we cross the torches,” Aunt Eldinar said.
“I’ll approach him,” I said. “Tell him I’ve decided to forfeit my soul if they spare the mortal world. Once I’m down below?—”
“No.” My father looked at me furiously.
“It’s a solid plan?—”
“No,” he repeated, like I was a child.
“We can ask Riviana to plead for peace,” Aunt Eldinar said. “That way, we can all enter the underworld together?—”
“What makes you believe you’re coming?” Dad snarled as he looked at my aunt.
Whoa, what had happened? I turned my gaze to Hawk, like he might have the answer written on his face, but when he looked at me, he gave a slight shrug like he didn’t have a clue.
“Talon.” My mother didn’t raise her voice, but she put her hand on his arm to sheath him like a sharp blade in a scabbard.
“I’m one of the strongest fighters that you have, Talon,” Aunt Eldinar said calmly. “And I would be honored to fight alongside your daughter, Princess of the Southern Isles, the woman who successfully ruled your kingdom in your stead.”
“I’m coming too,” Hawk said.
“General Ezra will also accompany us,” Aunt Eldinar said. “We can’t bring too many without arousing suspicion before weeven reach Leviathan. Will Viper join us?” She turned to me. “A fused vampire would be a great ally.”
“I’m sure he would join us,” I said. “We’ll get a message to him when this meeting is concluded.”
Callum didn’t dismiss the idea of his rival joining us.
“Then it would be a team of seven,” Aunt Eldinar said. “A good number, not insignificant in size but powerful in substance. I’ll speak with Riviana about this plan. She’ll let us know when the barrier grows thin and the opportune moment to strike.”
“I never agreed to this,” my father said. “We fail, and we’re all trapped down there for eternity.”
“And if we fail up here, the entire world is doomed for eternity,” I retorted.
“If Leviathan is weak, then we don’t need Lily’s powers to prevail,” he said. “The rest of us should be enough.”
“This is all happening because of me, and I need to fix it,” I said. “I know it’s me they want. And this scenario is the only one where we win, regardless of the outcome. I fail and remain trapped down there forever, but the world is spared…or I prevail, and the world is spared.”
My father shifted his gaze to Callum, and his eyes burned with accusation.
“Don’t look at him,” I snapped. “I came to you and asked you directly if there was something you weren’t telling me, and you lied straight to my face—without hesitation.” My father showed his pride for me, but he also didn’t treat me as hisequal, continuing to cocoon me like a helpless girl rather than acknowledging the fearsome warrior I’d become—and that hurt.
He looked at me with the same rage he showed Aunt Eldinar. “I’m not sorry. I’ll never be sorry for putting my children before everyone else. So you can look at me like that all you want, Lily. I don’t care.” He turned his attention back to Callum. “If my daughter dies, it’s your spilled blood that will pay for it.”
Callum didn’t visibly react to that threat at all, someone who never exhibited a temper. “I hate this as much as you do, Talon. You know how much I love your daughter. But I have full confidence that Lily can do this. My strength is now dwarfed by hers, but I will continue to be her shield through this. Any blade that is meant for her will be taken by me instead. I understand you will always love her as a daughter first, instead of a monarch and a soldier, but you have to remember who you raised. She survived the storm that struck her galleon because you taught her to sail through a hurricane. Her crew was killed, but she was spared because she earned their respect with her viciousness. When she escaped imprisonment, she was able to sail a tiny sailboat across the open ocean for three days and nights without a drop of water. While, yes, she had my strength and my power, she still had the skills to save you and Riviana Star. And despite her grief at the loss of her father, she inherited a vulnerable kingdom at war and rose to the challenge. She earned her allies and dismissed her enemies. She defeated Kennt and his generals before they could touch the castle and was forced to make a decision no daughter should ever have to make—but she made it as a queen. I understand how hardthis is for you.” He paused to take a breath. “Truly, I do. But you need to remember that Lily is more than your daughter, she is the woman you worked so hard to raise to be queen. It’s time to let go, Talon. It’s time to accept she’s your equal. It’s time to have faith that she’s ready.”
I stared at the side of Callum’s face as I listened to him speak, and when he finished, my gaze flicked back to my father.
The rage in his face was suddenly gone, his eyes a window to his broken heart. Both of his hands moved to the edge of the table, and he gripped it for a moment before he stepped back, his eyes still on the map that we no longer needed. “You’re right…” The rage that had bubbled in his throat before had dissipated. Now he was quiet, emotion making his voice raspy. “You’re right.” He finally turned his gaze back to me, and a long stare ensued, the emotion in his eyes nearly bringing me to tears. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I whispered.
Then he turned to look at Aunt Eldinar, his face calm rather than angry like it had been before. All he did was issue her a slight nod.
