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Rayne swallowed a weary sigh and shoved those tangled thoughts to the back of his mind. Those worries were best saved for after the defeat of Safa and the Goddess of the Hunt.
“Since we’re piling on the worries, is anyone else a little scared about how Caelan managed to…you know…” Adrian started and then his voice slowly drifted off.
“What?” Rayne prodded.
Adrian winced, his eyes darting between them. It was Drayce who managed to fill in the blank.
“You mean how he kicked the Dead God’s ass?” the young man cackled.
Adrian slapped a hand over his face and Eno shoved Drayce away with his moan. If they’d been hoping to get the aid of Nyx, a comment like that was not going to help if he could hear them.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Adrian mumbled.
“It was fucking awesome!” Drayce crowed.
“How?” Rayne asked.
Drayce jerked to a stop midcelebration and furrowed his brow at Rayne. “What?”
“How did he do it?” Rayne clarified.
“With the power of the other gods, right?” Drayce’s gaze jumped from one to the other, but as it traveled around the room, Drayce’s confidence seemed to wane.
“But he’s never done that before.” Rayne crossed his left leg over his right and tapped the fingers of his right hand on the arm of the chair. “Anytime he’s used the powers of the gods in the past, it’s been very specifically linked to them. Storms for Kaes, protection and healing for Tula. With Nyx, he stole a dragon’s entire lifetime.”
“And with Caris comes fire,” Drayce murmured.
“Exactly, so what was the thing with summoning the sword?” Adrian demanded. “I’m assuming that you haven’t seen that.”
Eno shook his head. “No, that was a first. So was the strength, speed, and those white sparks.”
“He couldn’t have bonded with another god and not told you, right?”
Rayne started to deny the possibility, but the words were caught in his throat. Caelan had already attempted to keep the secret of the deal with Nyx. Were there other secrets they couldn’t even begin to guess at?
“He couldn’t have. There aren’t any other gods alive,” Drayce argued.
“Are you sure? A year ago, you would have said there were no gods alive at all, and now he’s met with four of them. And the Shrine District is proof that a fuckton more existed at one time,” Adrian replied, waving a hand in the general direction of the neighborhood of temples. “Who’s to say that more of them aren’t wandering about and we don’t know about it?”
“It’s unlikely there are more gods, and it’s even more unlikely that Caelan has bonded with one of them,” Rayne stated. He gripped both arms of the chair tightly, clenching his fingers in the soft fabric as a way of grounding himself against the panic and fear attempting to ball up in his chest. “This is likely a sign that Caelan is growing more accustomed to the power he has access to. He’s learning to use it more effectively. We need to keep in mind that since leaving Stormbreak this last time, he has been in significantly better health. The king has been stronger and suffered from less fatigue and fewer headaches.”
“Exactly!” Drayce chimed in. “Cael is fine. He’s strong. He’s totally got this.”
It was chilling when Drayce so adamantly agreed with him. Were they lying to themselves?
Quite possibly.
And what had Nyx meant by his parting comments?
I can’t wait to see you when you’re ready. You’re going to be so much better than the last time we tried this.
Was it already too late to save their friend?
TWENTY-FOUR
Eno Bevyn
Eno sat at the small kitchen table, staring at the tumbler of amber whiskey in front of him. All the lights were turned out around the loft, and the place was silent except for the shower. Davi was cleaning up before crashing for the night. Drayce had crawled into bed with Caelan a while ago. Adrian was stretched out on the couch, an arm across his eyes. Rayne was in the bed they’d share tonight, but Eno wasn’t insane enough to believe he was asleep.
