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“We’d still be alive.”
There was another option. Something more than protecting their own survival. One that could give them what they needed, but it meant Caelan taking an even bigger risk. Alone.
Shifting so that he was sitting up, Caelan turned to face Drayce. His blond hair was soaked and slicked out of his face while fat drops of water ran down his cheeks and nose. Despite the rain, his clothes were filthy and splattered with blood. And he was still the sexiest man he’d ever known, especially when he smiled. But it was going to be a long time before he saw Drayce smile again.
“If we run, we won’t know why the Empire wants me or how they found me in the first place. We won’t know if they know about the other godstones. We need more information, and there’s only one way to get it.”
“But-but you can’t mean…?” Drayce stammered, his eyes wide while lines of horror dug into his face.
“I hand myself over to the Empire, get their secrets, and get out again.” Caelan’s heart hammered so hard he felt like he could taste it in his throat.
“No! You can’t! They could kill you,” Drayce argued, but Caelan just shook his head.
“I’ve got enough power from the Life Stone to put up the protective barrier if I need to. They won’t be able to shoot me, stab me, or kill me in most other ways.”
Drayce wiped his hand violently across his face, but it did little to remove the water that still fell on them both in buckets. “You can’t keep that up forever.”
“I can’t. That’s why you, Eno, and Rayne have to rescue me in twenty-four hours.”
“Cael…” he whispered, his voice broken.
Caelan reached out and wrapped his hand around the back of Drayce’s neck, pulling his friend forward until their foreheads bumped. “This is for our people. For their future. The Empire has to be stopped.”
“I don’t give a damn about anyone else,” Drayce snarled and Caelan just smiled.
“Then do it for me. You’ll save me, right?”
Drayce jerked away from him, his expression twisting into a scowl. “Of course I’ll save you! That’s a stupid que—”
Caelan tightened his hand on Drayce’s neck and pulled him in, slamming his mouth over Drayce’s. This kiss was hard and too fast. For just a moment, the rain stopped, the thunder drifted away, and the Empire disappeared. Drayce’s lips were softer than he’d expected, and he smelled of rain, sweat, and something smoky—a scent he’d associated with his best friend almost from the very beginning.
Everything in Caelan tingled. He’d kissed other men, but no one he’d wanted to kiss as badly as Drayce. He’d waited years for this kiss, and if he was going to hand himself over to the Empire, then he was going to steal this kiss at long last.
On a final impulse, he stuck his tongue out and swiped it across Drayce’s plump bottom lip, grabbing just a hint of a taste. A noise left Drayce’s throat, and Caelan wasn’t quite sure how to interpret it.
Releasing Drayce, Caelan planted both his hands on the soggy rooftop and grinned at his friend’s stunned expression. No idea if it was a good stunned or a bad stunned. Well, they would just have to figure that out later. In twenty-four hours, Drayce was either going to kiss him again or punch him. Maybe both.
“Twenty-four hours. Save me,” Caelan said as he pushed to his feet.
Before Drayce could react, Caelan ran as fast as he could to the edge of the roof and threw himself down the ladder. Drayce’s shout echoed through the night, rising above the thunder and rain, causing Caelan’s heart to skip in his chest.
Drayce was going to kill him.
And maybe kiss him.
That was a damn good reason to escape the Empire.
Licking his lips, Caelan was nearly laughing when he ran straight into a small group of the Empire’s forces poorly sneaking along a street. Caelan stopped in the center of the road, his hands on his hips, and his chin tilted up.
“I am Prince Caelan Talos of Erya. I demand to be taken to the Lord High Commander immediately.”
Twenty-four hours. Starting…now.
