He remained on the bridge for another fifteen minutes, listening to the updates coming in from the destroyers and news from other Erya ships speeding to their location. It sounded as though they were all still a couple of hours away. Not much help now, but maybe they’d be able to lend a hand once Christie offloaded his guests.
When he couldn’t take another second, he headed to the deck with Eno in tow. There had to be something that he could do. What was the point of having three gods riding shotgun in his brain if he couldn’t do something to save his people?
“You can’t do anything,” Eno said as Caelan reached for the door to step onto the deck.
Caelan growled. He didn’t need to hear this from Eno as well as his own mind. “There has to be something.”
Eno grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the door. He pushed Caelan against the metal wall and glared at him. “This is the kingdom’s navy. This is what they’ve trained their entire lives for. Why are you getting in their way?”
“Because I’m their king and it’s my job to protect them.”
“No, it’s your job to lead them. It’s their job to protect you and our people.”
Caelan flinched as if Eno had smacked him across the face. No one had ever put it to him like that. Some part of his brain had been endlessly repeating Protect, protect, protect. He didn’t want people dying for him. No sane person wanted that. But when they’d taken on the job of soldier or guard, they knew the risks. They trained for it.
And if he did something right now, he’d be getting in their way. He was stomping on all that training. Robbing them of the honor of fighting for their home and their king.
Caelan dropped his head, hitting it on the wall, and sighed heavily. “Fuck.”
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. He opened his eyes to find a kind, warm smile lifting the corners of Eno’s mouth. Maybe even a little pride sparking in his dark eyes. “I know. It sucks.”
Eno had no idea. It felt like every time he wanted to jump in and act, he had either Eno or Rayne grabbing his elbow and pulling him back, pointing out exactly how that action would be an enormous disaster. He was twenty-three. He had no business running a country and leading an army. If it weren’t for Eno, Rayne, General Morgan, and now Admiral Christie, he would have made a giant mess of everything already.
Queen Amara had made this ruling thing look easy. What he kept forgetting was that he wasn’t around for the hours of meetings with her advisors. Or the fact that she’d been ruling for years before he’d even been born.
It would never be easy. But he could get better at listening to the people he trusted who were smarter and more experienced than him.
“What can I do that is helpful?”
Eno’s grin grew even wider. “Get Rayne and Adrian. Check over the boat and be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Get to the Isle of Stone as fast as possible. Save the world.” His bodyguard counted off each item on one hand and when he reached the last one, Caelan choked out a laugh.
“Yeah, I think we can do that.” He stepped out of Eno’s hold and moved onto the deck, cursing the bitter cold air that tried to shove him inside. The temperature had dropped even lower with the loss of the sun. How in the world were they going to reach the Isle of Stone without freezing to death?
They located Rayne and Adrian at the stern of the ship, watching the cannon fire light up the black night sky. The explosions outlined the battleship that had closed the distance as well as the two Erya destroyers that were circling it like a pair of sharks. The cannons on their own battleship had gone quiet.
“I think the other battleship has been forced to slow,” Rayne said as they joined them. That would give them some more breathing room.
“Let’s get to the boat. Admiral said we’re going to be offloading soon,” Eno directed.
They scurried to the amphibious launch hooked to a crane. The two sides were like pontoons that came to a point in the front. The rear was outfitted with a large outboard motor that would speed the light craft across the water toward the beach. It had been decided that Adrian would handle the motor and steering while Rayne and Caelan would be in the center of the boat. Eno would sit at the front as lookout and keep an eye on Caelan. All this would be for nothing if the king were bounced out of the boat and lost in the icy north waters.