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Kaes shrugged as if this wasn’t a problem. “Have you forgotten already that you’ve bonded with me? Only one bond per stone.”
“Yes, but if the Empire kills me and gets their hands on the stone, it will be a lot easier for them to force a bond. We need to hide you.”
“Nope.”
“What?” Caelan gasped. Why had he ever thought that it was difficult to talk to his mother? Talking to Kaes was far more infuriating. He could only hope that when the time came, Tula was more agreeable.
Kaes straightened suddenly and took a couple of steps closer to Caelan. The god in human form was a few inches shorter, but at that moment, Caelan got the sense that something monstrously huge was approaching him. His hind brain was screaming to run, to cower, to hide. Something large was coming and it was going to rip his throat out. He wasn’t quite sure how he did it, but he held his ground.
Lightning flashed in Kaes’s stormy eyes. “I’m not moving. None of us are.”
“But the Empire…” Caelan choked out.
“There are things more dangerous than the Empire in this world. We can’t be moved.”
Caelan’s brain scrambled to make sense of his words. Was the “we” and “us” Kaes kept referring to the other gods trapped in stones? Caelan hadn’t realized that the Life Stone couldn’t be moved until he heard that the Empire had attempted to move it and failed. All his life, the Life Stone had been in the tower. Why would they ever attempt to move it?
Kaes leaned close and smiled. “You don’t need to worry about all that right now, but it’s coming.”
“I don’t understand.”
The god reached up and gently patted his cheek. His hand was cool and slightly calloused, but softer than he expected. The touch left behind a tingle that slithered along his spine. “I know, kid, but you will. I think you just need to remember that none of us wants to be here. It was the only way to keep you safe. We can’t be moved.”
“And I can’t let you fall into the hands of the Empire.”
Kaes retreated a step and looked up, staring into the lighthouse that towered above them. “This was a pretty nice spot. They could have done more to keep up with the lighthouse.”
Caelan smiled. “I think letting it get rundown helped to reduce the tourist traffic. Easier to keep you hidden.”
Kaes smirked at him. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Just tell that queen when she rebuilds to make it a pretty lighthouse and leave a few holes so I can hear the wind on the water.”
“Got it. I’ll make sure it’s done. Thank you.” Caelan took a step back, hesitating. He knew he needed to return to Eno—not that he had a clue how to do that without Kaes’s permission—but he also wasn’t ready to end this conversation with Kaes. The Godstone was going to be buried under all this rubble. When would he be able to speak to him again?
Kaes cackled suddenly and shook his head. “Ahh, kid. We’re bonded. You’ve got my power running through you.” He tapped the center of Caelan’s forehead. “I’m already in here. You don’t need to visit this stone.”
“Oh,” Caelan mumbled, hating the blush that burned his cheeks.
“But just because you want to talk to me doesn’t mean I’m going to come out. You’re not getting all my secrets.”
“Okay. That works.”
“What works?” Eno asked.
Caelan blinked and Kaes was gone. He was standing with his hand on the stone, and he had a feeling that only a second or two had passed rather than minutes. He dropped his hand from the stone and turned to face his companion. “Kaes says that we can’t move the stone, but he’s fine with us burying it under the lighthouse.”
Eno’s eyes widened. “Really? You talked to him already?”
“Apparently, gods can move fast when they want to.” Caelan led the way back out of the room, and they jogged together down the hall. They needed to talk to the demolitions experts and then get in contact with Rayne and Drayce.
“Why not just move the stone?” Eno asked, a couple of steps behind him.
“Don’t know. He just said that it can’t be moved. That it’s protecting us from something more dangerous than the Empire.”
“What?”
“No idea. He didn’t say, but apparently I’m going to get more information about it in the future.” That was assuming he survived all of this mess in the first place, but he couldn’t worry about that now. One thing at a time.
Luckily, the demolitions specialists were waiting for them in the garage. After some quick instructions to bring the lighthouse straight down when Prince Shey gave the command, they were being whisked out in the SUV with the sixteen-year-old guard.
Unfortunately, the moment they reached the surface, Caelan discovered that both he and Eno had missed calls from Rayne. They’d been far enough underground that the cell signal had been unable to reach their phones.
