Page 4

LILY

Come to me.

I stood there, frozen in place, the words inaudible but loud enough to grip me by the throat. I stared into the fog, eyes scanning and expecting to see a man or a monster or…I wasn’t sure.

Come to me, or I will make you.

When movement returned to my limbs, I put on the armor that my father had made for me, armor that I’d tucked below the decks in case I needed it.

It bore the family crest that had been in my line for generations, the dragon in the sky above.

With my sword sheathed across my back, I climbed down to the rocks and made my way on land.

Once my boots hit the sand, I felt it.

Death. Void. Emptiness.

The trees stood tall here, but none were alive. The small patches of grass were dried and brown. If we wanted to survive off the land, we would find it impossible because it lacked fruit and vegetables, anything that grew.

I took my time traveling inland, listening intently after every step, searching for the man whom I already considered an enemy. I did my best to keep the ship at my back, to know the way to the shore so I wouldn’t get lost in this strange place.

But he didn’t appear.

So I had to keep going, keep trekking farther into the center.

That was when the trees changed. They became bigger, mighty oaks that had died long ago.

Strange wooden symbols hung from the trunks and dangled below, gently spinning when the wind blew through.

Some were triangles and others were circles.

I couldn’t identify most of the symbols—and I certainly couldn’t identify what they meant.

Then he was there.

A man in a kingly dark-blue uniform. Upon his chest was a skull trapped in weeds and bramble.

His armor was black in most places, and so was the cape that hung behind him.

He was tall, maybe half a foot taller than my father, his shoulders having the wingspan of a dragon.

A behemoth of a man who looked so strong that the armor seemed unnecessary.

I showed fear to no one, and I did my best to uphold that now.

With short, dark hair and eyes the color of earth, he stared me down with an intensity I couldn’t even describe.

I didn’t know whether it was hatred or disgust or…

something else entirely. With no desire to blink, he continued that ruthless stare like it was sharper than the blade hooked across his back.

I wanted to reach for my blade, but I knew that would be pointless. I could best a man with the blade—but this was not a man.

He was otherworldly.

Seconds turned into minutes, and his stare continued to smolder—like a fire that burned without wood.

The interaction was so long I had the time to study his features, the hard bones in his face, his jawline that was so sharp, it had a shadow without the sun.

Veins protruded up both sides of his neck.

The bottom of his face had a sprinkling of dark hair that reminded me of my father’s when he chose not to shave.

The longer I stared, the more details I noticed.

I was the first to speak. “How do you know my name?” I forced strength into my voice, strength that I didn’t feel. My courage had been beaten in the storm, and I knew this storm I faced was far worse.

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

My father had warned me not to come here, told me an evil lurked on this island that should be avoided at all costs, and now I understood. Understood that my father’s travels as a pirate had been far more extensive than he’d led me to believe.

“Daughter of Talon Rothschild, King of Dragons and the Southern Isles, a man who doesn’t pay his debts.” He hadn’t blinked this entire time, giving me an unforgiving stare that felt like the tip of a dagger to my throat. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

I was too proud to show fear. I would rather die standing than groveling on my knees.

But I felt the terror everyone must feel the moment before they died.

I didn’t grieve for the life I didn’t get to live.

I grieved for my mother and father, the two people who would mourn until their dying day. “My ship got caught in a storm?—”

“And was blown off course far to the west and into my domain.” The fierce stare continued. “Your father came here intentionally—and you mistakenly. But nonetheless, you’re here. And now you’re mine.”

“You’re the one who’s mistaken.” The temper that got me into trouble more times than I could count reared its ugly head, and I stepped forward, closer to the god. “Because I don’t belong to any man.”

His hard stare continued, but now, it narrowed almost imperceptibly. Instead of boiling into a rage at my defiance, he continued to simmer on low, a controlled burn. “You’re arrogant—just like your father.”

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

His eyes narrowed further on my face, his annoyance creeping to the surface. “If Talon Rothschild won’t honor the debt to my predecessor, then I will make him honor that debt—through you.”

“You won’t make me do a damn thing, asshole.” I turned around, turning my back on the God of the Underworld, and walked away.

He appeared before me, an apparition, a ghost.

I halted as I sucked in a breath.

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

“Yeah, you already said that.” This time, I stepped forward to walk right through him since he clearly wasn’t real.

But I hit the plate of armor over his hard chest and bounced back.

His expression didn’t change, and he looked at me with the same fiery gaze.

I hadn’t expected him to be real. To be as physical as the trunk of a tree. To be a boulder that could crush me. “What debt does my father owe?”

“His soul.”

I did my best not to react, not to show the pitiful hand concealed behind my gaze.

My father had never mentioned his encounter with the God of the Underworld.

But if it were true…would he have ever told me?

But what if it wasn’t real, and this was just a trick for this demon to snatch another soul for his vault.

“If that’s true, why have you waited so long? ”

“Bahamut was the one who made the deal, not me. Until Talon Rothschild’s blood enters my domain, I can’t touch him. But now, his blood has—as it pumps in your veins.”

Now I knew it was true—and that was why he’d made me promise not to come here.

“I tasted it like salt on the sea. Smelled it in the winds of the storm. Felt your pulse in my dead heart.” He took a step forward, coming closer to me, his eyes pulsing with rage. “Your father will serve me the way he should have served Bahamut.”

“Who the fuck is Bahamut?”

His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “My predecessor—before your father killed him.”

My father had killed a god. He was far older than his appearance showed, and I realized he had lived a life far more interesting than he’d ever shared with me.

I wanted to ask this demon for the details, but I couldn’t afford to look unaware of my own family history.

“If my father killed him, what do you think he’ll do to you?

” I stepped toward him, bringing our faces close together, refusing to cower to anyone, even a demon.

He held his ground as his eyes remained locked on mine, over a foot taller than me, a trunk looking down at its roots.

Where he should show anger, he displayed something else, a deep focus that burned like hot coals in a blazing fire.

His eyes didn’t shift, not once, staring at me like I was a painting rather than a woman he’d just threatened.

I held his stare as long as I could, refused to blink first, but this man was different from me.

Neither dead nor alive. Could flicker like a ghost but remain physical like a stone.

Muscle stacked on muscle, a tall and mighty oak, its roots ancient and steeped in the rivers of experience and wisdom.

I had no chance to defeat him, physically or mentally, but I had to pretend otherwise.

“My father has the loyalty of dragons, the command of the Southern Isles and influence over the Northern Isles, has friends in high and low places, and wields a sword that killed an immortal. Tread carefully, demon.”

The words didn’t provoke him. He remained quiet and still, seemingly mesmerized by my words rather than enraged.

I turned my back on him a second time and headed to the ship. I expected him to appear before me again, to cut off my passage to my crew, but he did not. If he could feel the racing of my heart, he would know this was all an act, that I was scared out of my fucking mind.

Minutes passed, and I continued forward. It seemed too good to be true, that he would just let me go after threatening my bloodline, to extract a vengeance for something that had happened before I was alive. When I made it back to the ship, I saw the crew already working on the hull.

I swallowed and kept a straight face, even though it was probably as pale as snow. “This island is cursed. We need to make haste and leave it as quickly as possible.”

“Aye, Captain.” Davin chopped wood he’d hacked from a tree and carved it into planks to repair the damage from the rocks.

I was so terrified by my encounter I didn’t even react to the promotion. “I’ll get more wood.”

It took an entire day to repair the ship, all of us working together to mend everything that had shattered in the collision against the rock.

We sustained off the stores we had in the hold.

Despite our desire for fresh food, no one hunted or searched for sustenance on land.

They all felt the God of the Underworld’s presence—they just didn’t know that’s what it was.

It was dark by the time the tide started to roll in.

“Drop the sails.” I called out orders and stepped into my new role without hesitation. I didn’t necessarily believe I deserved the promotion, but I was eager to leave that sinister place as quickly as possible. “Prepare the masts. We head northeast until we reach the Southern Isles.”