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Caelan ignored the Dead God and tried to dig into where he had access to the powers of the gods. He could simply pull on his gift from the Goddess of Life to heal himself. He didn’t need to rely on Rayne.
Except, every time he reached for it, the power slipped through his fingers.
No! You can’t do this! I have more time! he screamed at all of the gods.
Frantic noises reached his ears. At some point, he’d closed his eyes and he couldn’t get them to open again. Everything was sound and pain. Pounding footsteps. Raised voices. Drayce’s voice broke as he explained what happened while he was placed on a soft surface. Eno reassuring. Rayne’s cool control.
Fuck this. He was not going out like this. He couldn’t be out of time.
Instead of reaching out to Tula, he made a grab for the Dead God.
The dark world dissolved, bringing into focus the black and purple marble floors he’d kneeled on when he met Nyx for the first time. The Dead God lounged on the white leather couch, his pocket watch opening and closing with a snick in his left hand. That fucking smirk twisting his lips up while black eyes laughed at him.
“I’m not out of time,” Caelan immediately snarled.
“Oh, but it’s so close. I thought you could use a wake-up call.” Nyx snapped the cover of his watch closed and shoved it into his pocket. “I heard the cute plans you were making for the future. At first, I thought you were toying with that sweet boy since you knew that you didn’t have long to live.” Nyx paused and chuckled. “Really, I was quite impressed at first. I didn’t think you had it in you to be that cruel.” His face transformed into something ugly as anger dug deep lines into his brow. “But then I realized you meant it all. You think you’re going to survive all this shit and go on to have some ridiculous happily ever after.”
“I will,” Caelan screamed, balling his fists at his sides as he took a step toward the god. “I will fucking have it.”
Nyx pushed to his feet so that he could tower over Caelan, but Cael refused to back down a single inch. “How? How, O Great and Wise King, are you going to cheat death and extend your time? Finally going to use the dragon time you stole?”
“No!”
“Then how about your friends? They’ve got time to spare. I bet if you told them about the mess you’re in, they’d be happy to donate a little time.”
Panic ripped through Caelan and he gripped the lapels of Nyx’s jacket in both hands. The fabric was icy cool to the touch, but that wasn’t what sent a shiver through him. It was raw fear that threatened to swallow him whole. “No!”
“I say we ask them. Let them decide what they want to do with their time.”
Caelan opened his mouth to shout at Nyx, but the Dead God pulled free of him and waved his hand through the air. The first stunned gasp had Caelan whipping around to find Drayce, Rayne, Eno, and Adrian standing a few feet away, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open.
“Cael?” Eno said.
Drayce launched himself across the space separating them, wrapping him up in tight arms. But his first words weren’t demanding to know what happened. He already knew. “Shit. The Dead God.”
“What?” Rayne gasped.
“Cael, what’s going on?” Drayce demanded.
“Allow me to explain,” Nyx practically crowed.
The Dead God waved his hand again and Caelan was ripped from Drayce’s warm arms. He was pulled across the space and forced to stand next to Nyx, who was smirking at his companions.
“As that one said, I’m Nyx, the God of Time. Not the Dead God.” He punctuated that with a glare at Drayce before turning his attention to the others. “You see, your king has misbehaved and forgotten that he made a deal with me.”
“I haven’t forgotten any—”
Nyx reached over and tightly gripped his lower jaw in one hand, his fingers digging into his cheeks so he couldn’t speak. “Proposing to your boyfriend over there? Making plans for a future you don’t have? Sounds forgetful to me. Or maybe just arrogant.”
He shoved Caelan’s face away, leaving Cael to rub the pain away while avoiding the eyes of his friends.
“What deal? What’s going on?” Rayne demanded.
“What’s the god talking about, Cael?” Eno chimed in.
The irritation evaporated from Nyx’s voice, and he was nearly purring when he explained, “When your king decided to rudely wake me, he pissed me off. So I took his time. All of it.” He reached into his pocket and casually drew out his watch. “We made a deal the day he died. I would take half his time and he could come back to try to finish his work with what little time he had left. He even has the power to take time from others to replace what he’s missing, but he hasn’t done it. And now, he’s running low on time. He’ll never make it to facing Zyros like he is.”
“No,” Caelan choked out. He knew he was short on time and he’d been wracking his brain for options, but it couldn’t be this short. He’d hoped he’d find a solution before they left Ilon, but part of him was preparing to die when he faced the Goddess of the Hunt.
