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If not now, then when? Nyx whispered in his ear.
When I say so, Caelan mentally snarled at the god. He knew he was being irrational, but he didn’t care. This secret was too heavy, too deadly to speak of now. He had to wait until he had a better plan.
The silence of the room was suffocating, no one directly looking at him. His refusal to speak of the God of Time wasn’t out of the ordinary at this point, but his unwillingness was growing more glaring by the day.
Not surprisingly, Drayce was the one to attempt to break the ice that had formed in the room. He might have been taken aback by Caelan’s brusqueness, but he wouldn’t let it stop him. He flopped onto the empty cushion and offered Caelan a crooked grin that he was only too happy to return.
“So, if punishing Ilon for being complete dick bags is on hold for now, what’s next? Do we confront the Ilon government about their new relationship with the Empire? Try to find the prime minister? Because you know, I really want to tell them they can go fuck themselves.”
Caelan was fighting very hard to hold on to his laugh. It wasn’t helped when Rayne sighed next to him.
“Your Majesty, if you ever decide to make Drayce your consort, can you at least consider having his tongue cut out first? It would save you a great number of embarrassing incidents and scandals,” Rayne said heavily, though it wasn’t hard to see that he was also trying to bring everything back to normal.
Drayce sucked in a harsh breath, while Caelan’s brain was briefly stuck on the idea of marrying his lover. Why had that never occurred to him? Drayce broke through the logjam in his brain by leaning around him and flipping Rayne off.
“First off, you’re only thinking of the work that would save you,” Caelan murmured. “And second, we both know you’d have to cut off his hands too. Drayce would just learn sign language.”
“Quite right, Your Majesty. Better to not marry him at all,” Rayne agreed dryly.
“Asshole,” Drayce snapped.
Caelan bumped their shoulders together, getting Drayce to look up at him. “Idiot,” he whispered, putting all the love he felt for Drayce into that single word. It worked. Drayce relaxed and melted against him, a smug smile on his face.
He didn’t care if Drayce was impulsive and said things he shouldn’t. He loved the dragon’s protective streak. His heart was enormous and pure. Now that Rayne had planted the thought, Caelan couldn’t think of anyone else he’d rather have at his side for the rest of his life.
He directed one last smirk over at Rayne, grateful for the brief distraction and the dour mood breaker.
“I think we’ll worry about my wedding after yours,” Caelan teased. Rayne coughed, seeming to choke on the air, while Eno tossed his head back and laughed.
“You are all so weird,” Adrian muttered under his breath and shook his head.
“But to Drayce’s question: What’s next? We find the godstone. We can’t defeat the Goddess of the Hunt until after I’ve bonded with the God of Wisdom.” Caelan turned his attention to Vitor, Nina, and Davi. “The godstone is not in the Shrine District as we expected. It’s somewhere in the city, but I can’t get an exact location. What’s the hardest place to get into in all of Brightspire?”
“Parliament Plaza,” Davi answered immediately.
“Even before the appearance of New Rosanthe?” Rayne inquired.
Davi nodded. “It has always had the most restricted access.”
“But it was never impossible,” Vitor interjected slowly.
“He’s right,” Nina agreed. “It wasn’t that hard to get me installed within the government and I’ve been nearly everywhere. The security is good, but I can think of more complicated places to enter in Stormbreak.” Her eyes darted over to Caelan, and a light blush stained her cheeks.
Caelan offered a smile of reassurance. This was her job. She needed to be able to sneak into secure locations without getting caught. He turned his attention to Vitor. “What else?”
“That’s it, really,” Davi said with a shrug. “There’s just your usual banks and museums that have high security to protect wealth and rare art, but that’s it. Nothing that stands out.”
“You’re sure that the godstone is here in the city?” Eno asked. Caelan lifted his gaze to his bodyguard and gave him a look. Eno grinned and held up a hand. “I’m not doubting your ability to sense the gods. Trying to narrow down our options. Is there a place that you feel it more strongly?”
He shook his head. “I felt the first tingle of power when we crossed the bridge over Whitgami River. Once the bus was off the bridge, the energy from the God of Wisdom was sort of everywhere around me. It didn’t get stronger or weaker as we crossed through the neighborhoods heading to the Shrine District.”
“So, the godstone is everywhere,” Rayne murmured.
Drayce snorted next to him. “How is that even possible? It’s not like the godstone can be broken up into tiny pieces, right?”
The gods in Caelan’s head didn’t speak, but there was a shudder that seemed to ripple through all four of them. “No. It can’t be broken up.”
“Then the power seeped,” Rayne whispered.
