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“Two days,” Masaru agreed, though the words sounded as if they were grudgingly given.
“And my dragon?” Caelan bit out.
“The disgrace on his knees broke our most sacred oath and must be punished. He is to be executed in three days.”
“No!”
Hands were on him in a heartbeat, holding him back. Caelan had no memory of even attempting to move. He blinked and he was screaming at Masaru. He’d known deep in his heart that this was what Masaru had schemed all along. Mio had even said that he planned to kill Drayce, but to hear the sentence handed down so flippantly, as if Drayce’s life meant nothing.
“What about your oath?” Caelan shrieked, fighting against Eno and Adrian as they tried to restrain him. “You dragons swore to send a protector to the Guardian of the Godstone. You gave me Drayce! He belongs to me!”
“If you are so desperate to have a dragon protecting you, Guardian,” Masaru said with a sneer, “then I will give you another one.”
“I don’t want another one. Any dragon you send to me will be a pale second compared to Souta. I want my dragon. Takahashi Souta became a citizen of Erya the second he took flight from the Isle of Stone. If you harm him—”
“Cael!” Drayce shouted, his voice cracking around his name. He surged upward from where he’d been sitting on his heels, tears streaking his face. “Don’t! Please. Don’t say it. I’m not worth it.”
Caelan ripped his gaze from Masaru to stare at Drayce. His lover reached out his hand toward his, those horrible chains clanking as he moved. Caelan tore free of his guards and stumbled the few steps separating him and Drayce, grabbing both of Drayce’s hands in his. “You’re worth it. You’ve always been worth protecting. I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
“Keep him safe?” Drayce’s brother snorted. “A failure. It was his job to protect you.”
Drayce’s hand tightened on his, quelling the need to snap at the asshole and keeping Caelan’s eyes on him. “But there is no Cael in moments like this. There is only King Caelan. I’m not worth plunging all of Erya into a war with the dragons. You still have to stop New Rosanthe and the Goddess of the Hunt.”
It was as if Drayce had shoved a knife blade straight into his chest. On a gasp, he stepped back, Drayce’s hands slipping from his own. Cold swept through him until he felt numb. He was right. When Drayce had stopped him, he’d been on the cusp of declaring war on the dragons. How many Erya soldiers would die because their king had lost the man he loved? How many innocent Erya citizens would lose their lives because his heart was broken?
“Don’t make me choose,” Caelan choked out.
Drayce forced a teary smile. “There was never a choice to make. You’re the king and your people must come first. Always.”
He knew Drayce was right, but he hated every single word that he uttered. He hated the dragons around him, his title, even his own kingdom in that second. It could all burn and fall into the hands of Zyros if it meant that he could keep Drayce safe in his arms.
Reluctantly, he dragged his eyes up to Masaru’s hard glare. “Don’t do this,” he pleaded. “Just let him go. We’ll leave and you will never see your son again. It will be as if he died.”
“As a dragon of Clan Takahashi, he must pay the penalty for breaking his oath.”
If he’d looked even the tiniest bit distraught over Drayce’s death sentence, maybe Caelan would have thought twice about his actions. But this man wasn’t being forced to kill Drayce to save face and protect the honor of his clan. He was doing it to prove that he was more powerful than Caelan and to get rid of an unwanted son.
Extending his right hand toward Masaru, Caelan called on the God of Time, who’d been watching with excited interest at the proceedings, like Kaes and Tula. There was no question that Caelan was on the edge of losing all control and that meant they could come out and wreak havoc on the world.
Take one minute, he mentally whispered to Nyx.
One minute? Nyx screamed. Just one?
Trust me, Caelan purred at him in an imitation of the Dead God that had him laughing.
The God of Time’s power snaked out, slithering across the room and sinking into Masaru without him seeming to notice it. Not until the room echoed with a soft metallic tink, as if something had broken.
A purple chain link tumbled from Masaru’s chest and bounced on the small table in front of him. It continued to roll down the dais stairs and across the floor to circle Caelan once and disappear in a black puff of smoke.
“What did you do?” Masaru demanded.
