Page 37

WRATH

I was in the grand hall when I felt it.

The paramount shift in my being, the silent bells that tolled only in my mind. If I had a beating heart, it would thud against my ribs with adrenaline. Not only did someone approach my dead island, but they approached with the blood of an unpaid debt.

They approached with Rothschild blood.

Within the blink of an eye, I was on the surface, standing in the dead garden of stone trees, feeling a massive presence touch my sands. It had the strength of a king, a powerhouse so brutal and profound that I knew it could be none other than Talon Rothschild—to finish what he’d started.

I reappeared closer to shore, seeing the galleon crashed on the rocks from the storm that rose from the east. One of the masts had collapsed, and there was noticeable damage to the hull of the ship.

The presence changed, so potent in strength, but the masculinity I had detected was actually feminine energy…like the jasmine that had grown up the side of my home in Dambridge. Instead of reaching for my sword to do battle, I focused my thoughts, trying to understand what I couldn’t see.

It took a moment, pulling the energy into myself and letting it simmer, before I realized it wasn’t Talon Rothschild who came to my shores, but the blood of Talon Rothschild. Not his son, Hawk Rothschild.

But his daughter, Lily.

I felt her mind with more distinction, felt a presence so fierce it felt more dragon than human.

That kind of power was only felt from men, from kings or generals, but hers was indistinguishable from theirs.

Without ever seeing her face, I knew I faced a queen of the Southern Isles, a woman who could rub salt in her wounds and laugh.

Lily Rothschild . Even as I spoke her name in my mind, I felt her power reverberate back at me.

Felt a woman stronger than most men who came to these shores. Come to me.

I faded from sight and watched.

She appeared at the top of the tilted galleon, wearing the same armor that her father wore as king. Black with the dragon crest in the center, accents of red on the chest plate. She wore no cape, and her sword was hooked around her back because she wielded a blade like a man.

And she was beautiful.

With dark hair like her mother, thick like a bounty of wheat, and eyes green like emeralds that dark creatures mined deep in the mountains, she was a sorcerer who could entrance her foes with a single look.

She held herself with a strength that exceeded the weight of her armor, and she looked deep into my island, not with fear, but with only a hint of reservation.

Then she climbed to the bottom of the ship and proceeded forth, heading right for me without knowledge of where I stood.

I watched her pass through the trees that had been dead for so long they had hardened into stone.

She glanced at the ornaments made of desiccated wood that hung from the trees, gifts from the demon occult that worshipped me and the underworld.

I rejected their passage into the underworld, but they continued to revere me anyway.

Closer, she came, so close I could smell her.

Like a predator that waited for just the right moment to launch at their prey, I was still like the trees, quiet like the earth, afraid that she was powerful enough to discern my presence with just her intuition.

She came closer, almost brushing my shoulder with her cheek, and carried on.

I turned and watched her go, stared at the thick hair that reached down her back and covered the scabbard of her heavy blade.

A dagger was tucked at her hip. Even through her armor, I could determine the definition of muscle plump under the flesh.

But her strength didn’t undermine the feminine appeal of her body, the swell of her womanly tits, the hips that shook despite her controlled steps, the slender neckline that ached for a kiss.

I appeared before her, several feet away, so my presence wouldn’t tumble her to the ground.

She stilled but gave no gasp or outburst. Her features were soft, her eyes almond-shaped and brilliant, her lips shaped like a bow, her skin fair and iridescent as glass.

But everything hardened when she looked upon me as a foe.

Anyone else would have screamed at the sight of me, the magic I obviously wielded, but not Lily Rothschild. “How do you know my name?”

I watched her soak in my features, pulling in the details to memorize my face and report back to her father.

She was tall for a woman, but she was still a valley to my mountain.

Nearly a foot taller than her and with a hundred pounds more of muscle that she couldn’t possibly battle even with that heavy blade, I would defeat her within seconds.

But I didn’t want to.

“Because I’m the God of the Underworld— and I know everything .”

Her eyes shifted back and forth between mine, sheathing her panic and choosing to toughen her resolve instead.

I felt the strain in my eyes as I gazed upon her, realizing I hadn’t blinked since I’d seen her countenance.

There was no look long enough for me to understand what I saw, to understand there was such a woman who was equally as strong as she was beautiful, who possessed the presence to command a room without an order.

Never in my life had I encountered such a woman.

“Daughter of Talon Rothschild, King of Dragons and the Southern Isles, a man who doesn’t pay his debts.

” I didn’t know her purpose in my lands, but whatever it might be, this was a mistake. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“My ship got caught in a storm?—”

“And was blown off course far to the west and into my domain.” I should have assumed this was a mistake, because a woman so obviously intelligent wouldn’t have landed here otherwise.

“Your father came here intentionally—and you mistakenly. But nonetheless, you’re here.

And now you’re mine.” My wife and sons had been taken from me, my reputation burned to the ground, while Talon Rothschild had moved on with his life and had children of his own.

And not just any daughter—but a daughter with a ferocity I would want my own to have.

“You’re the one who’s mistaken.” Her temper blazed hotter than the flames in the underworld. Her nostrils flared slightly like an angry bull about to charge me down. “Because I don’t belong to any man.”

I didn’t need to draw breath, but I did anyway, slapped by an invisible palm that made my skin burn. I hated her father, and I hated him more that he had raised a daughter who commanded my respect within the first minute of our meeting. “You’re arrogant—just like your father.”

“I take that as a compliment,” she snapped back.

I felt my eyes narrow as my respect deepened against my will. Alone, she faced a god—and she did so with a straight spine and sharp teeth. “If Talon Rothschild won’t honor the debt of my predecessor, then I will make him honor that debt—through you.”

“You won’t make me do a damn thing, asshole.”

I felt my body tighten when her words echoed in my mind. Men either kneeled before me—or fled. Not once had someone provoked my anger so aggressively. Not once had anyone looked upon me without fear.

But Lily Rothschild burned me to the ground.

She turned her back on me, not the least bit concerned about facing away from an enemy, and walked away.

I watched as it took a day for Lily to repair the ship with her crew.

From my observations, I determined she was their leader—the captain of the ship.

Instead of ordering everyone around while she sat on her ass, she helped them fell trees and repair the ship.

She got her hands dirty, pulled out the splinters without complaint, and got the ship back in shape.

Invisible to mortals, I just watched. Mesmerized by this woman.

They slept through the night, and when they woke up the next morning, Lily gave the order.

“Prepare the masts. We head northeast until we reach the Southern Isles.”

The Barbarians were due to cross my island on their trek to the southwest. If she and her crew left now, it was all but certain they would cross paths.

One look at Lily and they would want her for themselves.

To imprison her and make her a slave—and probably a wife to birth their daughters because of her beauty and fire.

It wasn’t my place to intervene with the living.

I should let this happen and leave her to her doom.

Perhaps it was what Talon deserved after he’d cheated death and eternal suffering.

But an ache formed over my heart at the thought, that a woman with so much promise would never meet her potential.

Chained to a wall and held down by a group of men, she would endure a fate no woman should ever know.

I should let this happen.

It wasn’t my place to intervene.

She wasn’t my concern.

“Wait a day before you depart.”

She noticeably stilled when she heard my voice, recognizing it right away. Her head turned to look at me, trepidation on her face because she assumed she wasn’t the only one who could see me. Her crew was about to panic.

“I reveal myself only to you.” I knew I wasn’t supposed to interfere with the living, not when my domain was the dead. But I broke that vow, whatever the consequences would be. “A dangerous armada approaches. Leave the island now, and you’ll cross their path.”

Just the look in her eyes alone told me that she didn’t believe a word I said.

That she would never trust me, not when I’d already told her that her father had betrayed his oath and she would pay for it.

I wished I could take back the threats that increased the distance between us, before she was able to put herself in harm’s way.

“I do not deceive you, Lily Rothschild.”

“You just want to keep me here?—”

“I don’t need to keep you here to get what I want,” I said. “The bond is broken by blood.”