Breath of Life (Godstone Saga 2)

A snort left him and he sat on the edge of the bed closest to Rayne. “Yeah, it’s broken. Guess you’ll have to practice using your new power on that hand. Though, it’ll probably be a little easier after the swelling goes away.”

Rayne didn’t say anything. He just stood there, body rigid with the ice covering his hand. Drayce was content to let minutes tick by, willing to wait for Rayne to say something, anything of what he was thinking. Or better, what he was feeling.

The entire explosion downstairs had been incredibly out of character for Rayne. He never allowed emotions to rule him. Everything out of his mouth seemed to be well thought out and determined by flawless logical and critical analysis. His brain was a damn computer.

But what happened with Eno hadn’t come from Rayne’s brilliant mind.

“Eno?” Rayne inquired in a low, rough voice.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you broke his jaw,” Drayce said with a chuckle.

Caelan’s advisor swung around, eyes wide with shock and lips parted, but no sound came out.

“Don’t worry. Caelan is taking care of him now. But yeah, you jacked his jaw good. If it’s not broken, it’s definitely fractured.”

Those stiff shoulders slumped a little more.

“So…you and Eno, huh?”

Shock and maybe a bit of fear splashed across Rayne’s face. It was too late to deny anything after that reaction. Poor Rayne and his perfect poker face were having a seriously off day. Totally understandable considering that the guy’s entire world was being flipped on its head between dealing with a goddess and then Eno acting like an asshat.

“What? No. Why—” Rayne stammered, but he stopped when Drayce simply shook his head.

“Man, I’m not the complete idiot you think I am.”

“I don’t think you’re an idiot, Drayce,” Rayne countered firmly, to which Drayce lifted a skeptical eyebrow. Rayne huffed out an irritated sigh and sat on the edge of the bed. “You’re just easily distracted and don’t always think about the big picture. But no, I don’t think you’re an idiot.” He paused and licked his lips. “How…did you guess?”

“Because you totally lost your shit and punched the taste out of Eno.” Drayce cocked his head to the side so he could clearly see Rayne’s expression. “You and I have argued plenty of times, and you get all cold and stiff. Never come close to losing your temper. But with Eno? That guy can push all your buttons without even trying. It means you care about him, and you care about what he thinks of you.”

Rayne didn’t say anything. Just started at the towel full of melting ice on his hand.

“How long have you two…you know…been a thing?”

For the first time, Rayne cracked the tiniest of smiles as he glanced over at Drayce. “It feels like we danced around each other for years. Never admitting anything. But it all seemed to come to a head while we were in Shallow Edge.”

“Huh.”

It was all he could think to say. He couldn’t remember anything out of the ordinary about Shallow Edge. Yeah, they were fighting for their lives and devastated over the death of the queen. Drayce had been completely preoccupied with Caelan and his state of mind. He hadn’t even noticed anything changing between Eno and Rayne. How weird.

Rayne’s confirmation might have relieved some weight from Drayce’s chest, though. Some small and insecure part of him had always been jealous over the closeness between Rayne and Caelan. There were times when it seemed the two of them shared a single mind. They’d just exchange a look and each knew what the other was thinking. Cael’s sense of humor could also be dry like Rayne’s. It had seemed like a natural match.

But then, Eno and Rayne were opposites in so many ways. It was kind of amazing that they could find any common ground. Rayne was a careful planner, a strategist. Eno liked to plow through, blow shit up, and sort through the rubble.

“I thought we could have something. We knew it wouldn’t be easy with our duty to Caelan, but we wanted to try. But then he had to betray me like that.” Rayne hissed as he tried to ball his hand into a fist. He lifted the ice away to reveal red and swollen knuckles. He slowly flexed his fingers and hissed again. As he tried to shake his hand, Drayce caught his wrist, stopping him.

“Don’t shake your hand. There’s a tiny bone in there. If it’s not broken already, that bone could snap if you shake it too hard right now.” Drayce released him and nodded toward the ice. “Keep the ice on it. When the pain goes down, you can use your new magic to fix it.”

“Thank you.”

Drayce held up his hands and wiggled his fingers at Rayne. “You have no idea how many bones I’ve broken over the years.” He tilted his head and grinned. “Because I’m an idiot.”