Caelan dropped his hand to his side. “I’ve taken one minute of your life as payment for what you’re stealing from me.”
“One minute?” Masaru burst into laughter, his head thrown back. “Do you know how long dragons live? Centuries! What’s one minute?” The other dragons around the room joined in his laughter. Hitomi merely looked confused where Drayce was fearful. But then, Drayce had seen what he’d done with Kaes and Tula. He could guess that the Dead God would not be a pushover.
“I’ve gifted your minute to the Dead God,” Caelan announced as the laughter died away and a heavy silence followed. “He has been eager to devour the time of the dragons since we set foot on the Isle of Stone. And now he has a taste for you in particular. Pray to the gods, Masaru, that he forgets you. When you’re alone at night in your room and the darkness closes in, drop to your knees and beg to the gods that he forgets you. Pray that I never lose control of the Dead God, because Nyx will come for you first. He will devour all of your bloodline. He will devour Clan Takahashi and leave behind no one who remembers a single deed of your people.”
The blood was leached from Masaru’s face and turned a sickly gray, but he still managed to infuse his voice with trembling rage when he repeated, “Two days.”
Rayne and Eno each grabbed one of Caelan’s arms, pulling him out of the room before he could possibly make the situation worse. His last sight of the audience chamber was of Drayce on his knees, face tear-streaked and eyes clinging to him as if it were going to be the last time they ever saw each other. Never. That was never going to happen. He was getting Drayce out of there somehow. Caelan would never abandon him.
As they reached the hall, he shook off his companions and started walking on his own. He glanced over at Rayne. “I need you—”
“Don’t,” Rayne snapped, the single word bursting from him like a gunshot. “Not a word. Not until we reach privacy.”
The tone was enough to wake Caelan from his own fog of rage and fear to see that Rayne was absolutely livid, and it was a good guess that he was the cause of most of it.
Silence reigned as they hurried to the car waiting for them at the end of the courtyard or on the entire ride to Mio’s home. Once there, Rayne was out of the car first and storming into the house.
“I fucked up, I take it,” Caelan muttered as he followed after Rayne.
“Massively,” Eno grumbled.
Something hot burned in his chest, but Caelan stubbornly clung to the idea that his feelings, his reaction was justified. Masaru was threatening the life of someone who did not deserve to die. Caelan was right to protect Drayce.
His traitorous mind also played back his friend’s words.
“But there is no Cael in moments like this. There is only King Caelan.”
His soul screamed against the idea. He couldn’t sacrifice Drayce. He wouldn’t. If the time came, Caelan was more than willing to sacrifice himself, but not the man he loved.
Rayne slammed his way into the bedroom he and Eno shared, and Caelan followed, though his steps were slower now. Once the four of them were in the room and Adrian shut the door, Rayne finally let go, and it wasn’t pretty.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he raged. He spun around, his face red and hands shaking. “You brought our kingdom to the very brink of war over one man! Was it not enough to see our people dead in Stormbreak from New Rosanthe? Is it not enough that you have three gods tearing away at your sanity and you still need to find a way to reach a fourth, but you had to bring all of the dragon kingdom down on our heads as well?”
“We are not leaving Drayce to be murdered!” Caelan shouted. “I love him. He is everything to me. I am not letting him go without a fight.”
His chest cracked open, and the tide of pain and panic he’d been holding at bay swamped him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He was going to lose Drayce and it was his fault. If he’d just said something, anything different when standing on Mount Langbo when faced with Drayce’s dragon for the first time, maybe he wouldn’t have flown here in a fit of despair and hopelessness.
“Drayce was right. There is no Cael! You are King Caelan Talos. Cael doesn’t get to sacrifice the lives of all of his people, of all of Thia, for one man,” Rayne continued to shout.
Caelan’s knees wobbled and he somehow managed to stumble over to sit on the edge of the bed. Everything hurt, and inside a part of himself died. For once, the gods were silent, offering no derisive commentary. “I don’t exist anymore,” he whispered.