It was raining outside, but I could tell from the light through the windows that it was late in the morning. Around this time of day, the servants dropped off a new casserole or a hot dish along with water and fruit and other items to last until dinnertime. It was probably organized by Lily’s motherbecause she knew we didn’t want to be disturbed…for a while.
I made coffee in the kitchen before I opened the door and found the basket of supplies for the afternoon. I picked it up and carried it to the dining table before I turned back to close the door.
But I stopped when I came face-to-face with a tall woman with fiery red hair and skin that glowed the color of gold.
I blinked and assumed she would disappear when my lids opened again, but she remained there, standing in the entryway with hair that floated freely around her. Adrenaline started in my heart because Riviana had never come to me this way—nor did she need a reason to do so.
“Callum Riverside, there’s something I want to show you.” She extended her hand to me.
I stared down at her outstretched palm before I raised my eyes to her. Fear dumped in my bloodstream, afraid that she would take me from Lily…and I would never make it back to her.
“I promise to return you exactly where you stand—and when you stand.”
“What do you want to show me?”
“Your sons.”
The breath I sucked in was automatic, a harsh inhale on the lungs, the spark that lit the emotion in my heart.
“Trust me, Callum Riverside.” Her hand remained for the taking, absolutely still without a hint of a tremor. “Lilywon’t notice that you’re gone, for only a moment will pass here.”
I finally moved forward and placed my palm in hers.
The world blurred as we were tugged away, ripping us from one place to another, just as I’d been able to do when I was a god myself.
The earth went still once again, and we stood upon a dirt road in the countryside, outside a small house made of stone, smoke coming from the chimney, horses and livestock in the pasture past it.
I sucked in a sharp breath as I looked at the house I thought I’d never see again. “It—it was destroyed. It doesn’t exist anymore.”
“It doesn’t exist today, but it exists in the moment we’re in now.”
I turned to look at her, my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand.
“We’re in the past.”
“Why would you want to show me the past? I already lived it. Already visited them every day.”
She stared at me for a while. “Because we’re not here to observe, Callum.”
I slowly turned back to the house, the windows dusty because they hadn’t been cleaned, the wheelbarrow still out front by the door. Compared to the life I lived now, it showed a life of poverty, but it was still special to me.
“Darius is thirteen now. Tiberius is eleven.”
I looked at her again.
“They’re old enough to understand now. And they’re still young enough to know exactly who you are.”
Tears started to fill my eyes at the prospect of finally having what had been savagely denied. The opportunity to explain what had really happened. To tell them I didn’t leave because I wanted to. “Is this real…?”
She nodded.
“Why are you doing this for me?”
She looked at the house again. “It was not my idea—but Talon Rothschild’s.”
I took the biggest breath I’d ever taken, moved to the point where the tears flooded my eyelids.
“They can’t see me, only you. They’re about to come out, so prepare yourself.”
