Page 16

Chapter Ten

I hated to admit it, but walking through the cold, dusty caverns of the Underworld felt like a welcome reprieve from my waking life after the announcement of my engagement. Dealing with my lying ancestor was somehow preferable to watching the Dragon revel in my misery.

I had known the engagement was coming, of course.

I’d known it for some time now. Once I joined the Council, it was only a matter of time.

Still, the announcement had caught me off guard.

It had felt like the very floor had fallen out from under me.

Undoubtedly, that had been the Dragon’s intention all along.

He’d wanted to see my shock, frustration, and despair.

He’d wanted to see me blush. And I had given him exactly what he wanted.

I disgusted myself by letting him win.

As I swept open the doors to Hyrax’s throne room, I braced myself for another patronizing, evasive conversation. Sighing, I stepped inside and froze.

He wasn’t here.

That was odd.

Hyrax was always here. Every time I entered this realm, he sat waiting for me with wine in hand and that dreadful melancholic music playing. But now, the room was empty. The fire burned low in the hearth, casting fleeting shadows across the room and filling it with an eerie chill.

The silence was unnerving.

I had rarely been alone in this realm. My first visits had been clumsy and disorienting, marked by near-disasters and one too many brushes with danger. But now…

Well, if Hyrax wasn’t here, what was a girl to do but explore?

I needed a distraction, after all. Something to pull me away from the weight of politics, councils, and unwanted marriages. What better distraction was there than seeing what this realm offered?

A mischievous grin tugged at my lips as my eyes scanned the room, settling on a door behind the throne. With a glance over my shoulder, I moved toward it, careful not to touch the bones that made up the throne. I didn’t want to think about whether they were real.

The door opened into a winding hallway. Smooth gray walls replaced the rough stone tunnels I was used to, and torches lit the way with a soft, flickering glow. At a crossroads—door to the left, hallway to the right—I hesitated, chewing on my lip.

Was I in a castle?

Did this realm stretch beyond the caverns and throne room?

It had to. There had to be somewhere where the souls of the dead now lived.

“I’ll meet with you in a quarter hour,” a deep male voice called, shattering my thoughts.

Hyrax.

Panic surged through me as I recognized his voice, its resonance pulling at the power within me. His footsteps echoed, growing louder with each passing second.

What if he didn’t take kindly to finding me wandering the Underworld on my own? He might be my ancestor, but he was still a god. And Hyrax wasn’t a god anyone wanted to anger.

Turning to retreat, I sucked in a sharp breath as I realized his footsteps were coming from the direction of the throne room.

“What is it, my Lord?” another voice—Caldrius, perhaps.

“I sense Theadora,” Hyrax sighed, his footsteps slowing.

Shit.

He could sense me? What did that even mean?

Without thinking, I pushed open the door to my left and stumbled into the room beyond, closing it quietly behind me.

The scent of smoke and bergamot filled the air as I took in my surroundings.

The bedroom was dimly lit and disheveled, but its chaos felt oddly deliberate, as though the owner knew exactly where everything was.

Dark tapestries depicting ancient battles hung on the walls, their fabric soft under my fingertips as I traced across them.

A four-poster bed with rumpled black sheets dominated one wall.

Next to it, a small wooden desk sat cluttered with slate pencils and crumpled parchments.

Drawn to it, I walked gingerly to the desk and lifted one of the crumpled papers, unfolding it carefully to reveal the sketch of a rose not entirely unlike the one I had attempted to draw earlier today.

A far more skilled artist than I drew this sketch, but they must have been disappointed, given how carelessly they discarded it.

I couldn’t imagine why. It was stunning, perfectly accurate in its proportions, and expertly shaded.

“Find something you like?”

I jumped, smothering a yelp as I turned to see Caldrius leaning against the door, arms crossed and eyes focused on me as his lips curled in a teasing smirk. He wore a simple black shirt, noticeably covered in blood, unbuttoned low enough to reveal a tuft of dark hair.

Flustered, I stepped back instinctively, but my heel caught on the edge of a rug. Caldrius moved faster than I expected, a hand catching my elbow before I could stumble. Warm. Steady. Unshakable.

“Easy,” he murmured, amusement flickering in his eyes. He didn’t let go right away, and for a fraction of a second, the warmth of his grip was the only thing I could focus on.

I yanked myself free, heat flooding my cheeks. “Do you make it a habit to lurk in dark shadows and sneak up on unsuspecting women?”

He raised an eyebrow, smirking at me playfully. “I don’t think one can lurk in their own bedchamber, love.”

My heart lurched, and the parchment fell from my fingers, floating haphazardly back to the desk as I stepped back and smoothed my fingers against the skirts of my dress.

“My apologies, I hadn’t realized.”

“You know, if you wanted a private tour of my room, all you had to do was ask.” His voice was thick with double meaning.

The warmth in my cheeks grew, spreading down the back of my neck as I scoffed at him. “Of course I didn’t come here for that!”

“No?” He crossed the room, seating himself on the edge of the bed as he undid his boots. “So you make it a habit to break into rooms uninvited?”

I chewed on my lip, closing my eyes as I pinched my arm aggressively. Maybe I could just force myself to wake up and this would be over. I would no longer be trapped in a dark bedroom with a madman. If I could only wake up—

“It’s fine if you want to hide out for a little while. He’s looking for you, but I sent him toward the lake. I won’t tell him you’re in here if you don’t want.”

Frowning, I tilted my head slightly. “And why would you keep that from Hyrax? You’re his second-in-command, aren’t you?”

“I am.” He nodded. “And you’re obviously upset. So I won’t tell him you’re here if you don’t want to see him.”

I opened my mouth to respond, only for the words to fall helplessly between us.

Truthfully, that level of kindness wasn’t something I had expected from the man whose violence was so profound his own brother had had to flee from him and start a new country.

The man who now was closer to Hyrax than anyone had ever been before.

Spare his wife Pasnia perhaps, but I had never actually seen her.

Caldrius smiled softly, as if he could sense how confused I was by him. He stood from the bed and pulled his shirt over his head in one smooth motion, dropping it on the sheets in front of him.

A strangled noise—something between a gasp and a very undignified squeak—escaped me as I spun away.

Too late. The image seared itself into my mind. Broad chest, golden skin dusted with scars, muscles carved like something out of a sculptor’s dream.

Absolutely not. I needed to erase the last five seconds from existence.

“What are you doing?” I cried.

His dark laugh fell around me in waves. “I’ve spent the day dealing with some undesirable companions and am covered in blood. I’d like to change my clothes. No one said you had to look.”

I wasn’t looking.

I might have initially peeked briefly just to see if he had clothed himself once more, but I quickly turned again when he reached for the buckle of his pants.

“You’re very indecent!”

“Not yet.”

“Well, couldn’t you at least have waited until I left?”

“No,” he said simply.

I scoffed, huffing out my frustration and choosing to change the subject. “What kind of undesirable companions do you keep?”

“They’re not friends of mine, I assure you. The Underworld is a realm not unlike yours, though. When my liege’s subjects get out of line, it’s my job to remind them that their existence can be ended anytime he wishes.”

I tossed over his words. There wasn’t much literature on the Underworld. It had been so many years since the gods had walked among us, and Descendants and Mortals only traveled here after our deaths, so it wasn’t like we knew much about this realm in our lives.

“Where does a soul go if it dies here? ”

“They don’t go anywhere,” Caldrius shrugged, stepping forward in loose trousers that hung low on his hips and an unbuttoned shirt. I shivered involuntarily. “If Hyrax extinguishes a soul, it is a death of a final kind.”

Well, that sounded… unpleasant. Chewing on my lip, I wondered how many years Caldrius had spent here. He’d died centuries ago, of course, but how long had it taken him to get close enough with Hyrax to earn his current position?

“Can I get you something to drink?” He asked, passing in front of me as he made his way to the bar cart that sat near the fireplace. It was nearly empty, but he poked around at it until he pulled out a crystal decanter with amber liquid and held it high. “Looks like all I have to offer is whiskey.”

“Whiskey is fine,” I muttered, making my way to the couch that sat facing the fireplace.

I didn’t particularly love the idea of sitting and sharing drinks with Caldrius of all people, especially when he was still rather indecently dressed, but I seemed to have very little control over when I entered and left this realm and he was right—I was upset, and I didn’t want to see Hyrax.

So, I’d have to be okay with his Supreme Lieutenant instead.

“Tell me what’s got you so riled up.” He passed me a glass and moved to sit on the floor against the wall.

I cocked my head as I looked down at him, somewhat surprised. No one at court would dare sit on the ground so casually, but here I was with a former king who currently nursed his drink with one arm propped up against a bent knee while his dark eyes stared at me.

“I got engaged today,” I admitted, tossing my head back to stare at the worn ceiling.

He chuckled, running a hand through the dark waves of his hair, even as dried blood lingered on his fingertips. He let his hair grow long, and it looked unkempt, as if he hadn’t bothered to comb it.

Caldrius was so unlike the men I was used to seeing at court, who were so consumed by what others thought of them.

He sat with me so casually, comfortable in his space and in my presence.

He was entirely self-assured, so much so that he didn’t bother with formalities or titles, neither mine nor his.

He sat with me as one might with an old friend.

“Not your choice, I presume?” He asked.

“No, it wasn’t. Not that that fact matters to anyone but me.”

“I refused my arranged marriage.”

I jerked my head up so sharply that a cramp settled into the flesh of my neck as I met his gaze. He smiled sadly as I began kneading out the tension.

“My father wasn’t happy with it. He had wanted me to marry some duchess or princess, but the day I met Isidore changed everything.

Her parents sent her from the kingdom’s outskirts to serve as my mother’s seamstress.

Her talents were undeniable, even as a Mortal, and so eventually she was tasked with making me a jacket for my engagement announcement.

Tell me, Thea, do you believe in love at first sight? ”

The air was suddenly too warm, too thick.

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

He chuckled. “Well, I can promise you it exists. Isidore became my sun, and everything besides her was total darkness. We left the palace that night and were married in secret.”

“I didn’t know you were married.”

His eyes darkened as they looked through me, lost in another time and place. “You wouldn’t. It wasn’t written in most history books.”

“What happened to her?” I asked with a frown. For a man who had loved his wife so much, he wore a terrible amount of grief, visible like a dark cloak around him.

And how could anyone in the Underworld experience grief?

This is where souls came after their death, so shouldn’t his wife be with him here now?

His face contorted, pain turning to anger. To rage. “I know what they say about me in the Mortal Realm. They paint me as the villain. ”

“You were the villain,” I blurted, unable to stop myself.

His dark eyes scanned over me, lingering on my lips before coming back to meet my gaze. I shivered involuntarily, as I so often did when he focused his attention on me. The intensity with which he looked at me stole my breath and left me uneasy and confused.

“Haven’t you learned not to trust your history books by now?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He shrugged. “You’re the daughter of Hyrax. They haven’t exactly painted him in the best light either.”

“The fact that I descended from him doesn’t change what he’s done.”

“You speak as if you were there. You know only what you’ve been told about him, about us both. Have you never questioned who’s telling you the truth?”

I stood, leaving my emptied glass on the table as I made my way to the door. I wasn’t sure where else there was for me to go in this realm, but I knew I couldn’t stay here with him any longer.

“Hyrax says you’re quite fond of that prince of yours?”

I froze, fingers clenching the doorknob tightly. “I don’t see how that’s your concern.”

“I think he’s probably related to me somehow.” He ran a hand over his jaw, scratching the skin on his neck gently, as if he was considering it. “Maybe you should ask him about what happened to my wife.”

I woke with a jolt, gasping as I lurched out of my bed.

As the dream faded and the familiar sights and sounds of my bedchamber settled over me, I couldn’t swallow away the unease that lingered.

I didn’t want to believe Caldrius. I didn’t want to believe that the history books misrepresented him and that he wasn’t the monster they depicted.

Because if that were true, then I’d have to open my heart to the possibility that Hyrax was also a victim of falsified histories and I wasn’t sure I was ready to forgive the God for lying to me.

As much as I didn’t want to believe Caldrius, though, part of me wondered if I should.

When he told me to ask Clay about his wife, sadness was visible on his face.

He displayed a kind of sadness that couldn’t be faked.

It was palpable in the purse of his lips and the downcast nature of his eyes.

After centuries, his heartache was so still real I could almost feel it myself.

Something had happened to his wife before she had been erased from history.

Which begged the question of why she had been erased?