The thought had barely crossed his mind when the building exploded in a shower of rock and debris. Drayce slammed into him, covering him with his body. At the same time, Caelan put up the biggest shield he could muster from Tula. It didn’t matter if he was temporarily protecting Empire soldiers. The main thing was to protect his own people. To protect Drayce from the cascade of rubble.
The ground shook and gray dust coated the shield over them. Caelan looked up to see the blurry vision of Drayce’s face as their foreheads pressed together. His slender body pressed into Caelan’s so he could feel every inch of him, but there were no rocks covering them. No broken bits of the life he’d once led. Just Drayce.
Reaching up with a sticky, blood-covered hand, he cupped Drayce’s cheek and smiled when the man opened his eyes. “My hero,” he whispered.
Drayce pulled back so they could clearly see each other and smirked. “Not bad, huh? I’ll get my holiday eventually.”
“Don’t die for that holiday. I want to keep you for a long time.”
His best friend winked. “Nah. You’re stuck with me.”
The sounds of fighting reached Caelan’s ears. They needed to move. Drayce climbed to his feet first and pulled Caelan up. He released the shield and summoned up a strong wind to blow away the cloud of dust from the air. He wished he hadn’t.
His stomach dropped and his knees wobbled to see the central tower completely gone. His mother’s chambers, the throne room, the Godstone room were destroyed. Only empty space and chunks of rubble stood where part of his home had been. The Godstone hung in the air untouched, sparkling as if lit by an internal light.
Beyond the screaming of his own heart, he could hear the cries of outrage from Tula and the fury of Kaes in his brain.
That was it. Enough with control. Fuck mercy.
If the god and goddess in his body wanted control of him, so be it. He would be their weapon.
Caelan marched forward, mindless of the fighting. Drayce shouting his name had dulled to a whisper under the pounding of his heart in his ears. He threw out both arms in front of him, hands open, and the power of the Goddess of Life surged through, hot and free. The ground shook under their feet, knocking people down, but Caelan stood unmoving.
Vines as thick as the towers themselves shot out of the ground, soaring like a runaway train. They twisted together, leaving no empty space between them as they raced toward the Godstone. With the gentleness of a mother cradling the head of her newborn babe, the vines wrapped around the crystal, closing in on it so that not even a glimmer of it could be seen.
No one would see the Life Stone again until he deemed them worthy of it. Until the Goddess of Life herself called to them.
With the goddess protected, Caelan handed himself over to the rage of Kaes. Spreading his arms out to the sides, the wind lifted him up above the fighting. He soared above the city so that he could see the harbor and the half dozen New Rosanthe ships that lingered there, offering support to her fighters. They bobbed and swayed as the water grew choppy in the whipping wind.
The ship that carried the weapon that killed his mother and Hagen was in the center of the harbor. It looked like a common freighter. They’d disguised it, made it appear to be a common cargo ship so they could sneak through their defenses. No more. Never again.
A scream ripped from his soul and tore across his throat before passing his lips. Raw power surged out of him, fueling the storm. There was no rain this time. Only lightning. Bolt after bolt of lightning slammed into the ships, like massive trees smashing down out of the sky. They punched holes in the hulls of the ships. Within seconds they were listing to the side and sinking.
But it still wasn’t enough. The anger consumed him. He could no longer tell where he stopped and Kaes began. There was only rage and pain. All of New Rosanthe needed to die. They’d killed his mother, murdered and tortured his people.
Caelan!
His name was barely more than a whisper whipped past his ear on the wind, but it registered enough to make a muscle twitch in his shoulder. It was almost like a hand reaching out to touch him, gentle fingers sliding along his spine.
Caelan.
Louder this time, but also growing hoarse. It was real.
Kaes still screamed in his brain, but he had to follow the voice. He turned in the air to find Drayce standing below him, his hands surrounding his mouth as he shouted up at him over the howl of the wind.
Drayce stuck out one hand and stood on the tips of his toes, reaching for him even though hundreds of feet of open air separated them. “Caelan! Please, stop!”