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Eno froze and huffed out a bitter laugh. Of course Rayne knew. The man knew him better than anyone else. He could guess his every move well before even Eno figured it out.
He opened his mouth to apologize, to make excuses, but he stopped himself. There was no need. Rayne knew exactly why he’d done it.
“Did you as well?” Eno asked roughly.
Rayne’s fingers tightened to the point of biting into his flesh and his shoulders shook in a silent sob. “I started to…” Rayne said and broke off. His hot tears dropped onto Eno’s bare skin, and he tried to gather him even closer.
“Rayne—”
“I started to, but then I realized that it was exactly what you would do. What Drayce did the second he was alone in the bedroom with Caelan. What Adrian even did when he was alone. You all prayed to the god to trade your time to Caelan.” He stopped and sucked in a ragged breath. “It made me wonder, what if we all did and the Dead God listened? When Caelan got up tomorrow, he would be alone.”
Oh, fuck.
Eno was chilled to his soul. The thought had never crossed his mind, but Rayne was right. He had no doubt that Drayce had offered his time up to the Dead God when he was alone. Adrian had already attempted it once. Why not try it again when Caelan wasn’t around to stop him?
“I couldn’t go through with it,” Rayne sobbed against his chest. “I don’t want to wake up tomorrow without you. If you leave now, I want to go with you, but I also can’t leave him alone, Eno. He can’t do this alone.”
With his own ragged cry of pain, Eno’s heart shattered. He didn’t want to leave Rayne either. He didn’t want Caelan to face the gods and the Empire alone. They needed to be together for what was ahead, but they had too few options when it came to giving Caelan more time to do what needed to be done.
“No, you’re right. He needs you,” Eno said in between kisses pressed to the top of Rayne’s head. “He needs you right there with him. He can’t be alone.”
“He needs you too. And Drayce. And Adrian.”
There was nothing he could say. Rayne was right. They should all be there with Caelan as he made his final march to fight Safa and possibly even the Goddess of the Hunt. But that fight wasn’t going to happen if he ran out of time.
“I love you, Rayne. I have loved you for years,” Eno whispered into his hair. “The best part of my day was always seeing you for the first time. I would spend hours thinking of things to say to you just so I could hear your voice. I also spent a lot of time wondering if you thought I was an utter idiot.”
Rayne’s head instantly popped up. In the darkness, Eno could only see a faint outline of his face, but he could feel Rayne’s piercing green eyes on him. “Never! I have never thought that about you.”
“I’ll never be as smart as you.”
“I have book smarts. I have a brain stuffed with hundreds of years of history and nonsense. You know warcraft and how to effectively protect our king. There is nothing more important.” Rayne swore and pressed his forehead to Eno’s shoulder. “I should have prayed to Nyx instead of you. You can keep Cael safe. What can I do that’s of any use?”
Eno cupped Rayne’s cheek and forced him to look up again. “He fought a fucking god, Rayne, and won. I can’t compete with that. He doesn’t need a bodyguard anymore. He needs you. He listens to you because you’re the voice of his heart and his conscience.”
“I love you,” Rayne murmured against his lips.
They kissed slowly, savoring every touch, every taste. Eno closed his eyes and let himself get lost in everything there was to Rayne. He wanted this. If this was his last night, he wanted his last memories, his last moments to be filled with Rayne. He wanted to be consumed by their joy and wrapped in their love.
For this one moment, there were no gods.
No war.
No one else.
Just Rayne and their love.
And Eno had no regrets.
TWENTY-FIVE
Caelan Talos
“I renounce the throne!” Caelan roared as he marched out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.
“What?” Rayne choked out, nearly spilling his coffee as he set it on the table.
Five sets of wide eyes snapped to Caelan, faces turning pale as they froze in place around the room.
