“But, Drayce—” Adrian started to argue.
Eno gave him a harder shove. “He’s fine! Just go!”
They turned to the door and hurried out. Eno kept them moving across the small open space and through the low wall to the opposite side of the alley. They were wheezing and coughing, trying to clear their lungs. The entire shrine glowed with the growing fire that was eating away at the interior. Several loud crashes rose from the building and fear squeezed Eno’s chest. He wanted to believe that Drayce was fine, that he wouldn’t have any trouble withstanding a building crashing on him.
A loud crack echoed and the building tumbled inward. Eno gasped and tried to run to the collapsing shrine. Davi grabbed his wrist before he got more than a couple of steps.
“Look!” Adrian shouted and pointed to a shadowy figure moving across the yard.
Drayce—the real, human Drayce—stepped into the glow of a streetlamp and grinned at them like the lunatic he was. “Miss me?”
Eno groaned and rocked back a step, bumping into his brother, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Asshole. What took you so long?”
His old friend flipped him off, but his expression grew a little sheepish. “My fucking tail got caught and brought the entire place down.”
“Could you do something about the fire?” Adrian asked, waving his hand toward the raging fire that was currently engulfing the remains of the shrine for the God of Broken Toys. “It could spread to the other temples.”
Drayce stared at the man for a second as though he’d lost his mind. “It’s fire. I can’t control it. Who do you think I am? The Goddess of Fire? Dragons start fires. We don’t put them out.”
Eno ignored Drayce’s ridiculous comments and pulled him in for a tight hug. “You okay?” he murmured in his ear.
The man in his arm squeaked. “I was. I think you’re cracking my ribs, big guy.”
He released him but kept an arm wrapped across his shoulders. “I’m serious.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Drayce waved a hand at him, brushing off his comments, but he still leaned his head against Eno’s shoulder. “They roughed me up a little, but nothing bad. I’m fine. And trust me, what I got to do to them more than made up for any pain they caused me.”
Eno squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed his groan. These were the kind of things he didn’t want to think about when it came to Drayce being a dragon. How could he have possibly lived for years under the belief that this squirrely, scrawny person needed protection? Or that he could never protect Caelan?
“Drayce,” Adrian broke in, his voice rough. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“Idiot!” Drayce suddenly barked. “How could you get yourself stabbed like that?” He stopped and blinked at Adrian, as if he was just now remembering that Adrian had been injured and left bleeding in that pub. “Cael?”
Adrian’s hand rubbed his stomach and winced. “Surgery and then the king. But it’s not like I was trying to get stabbed. I was making sure you didn’t get stabbed in the back!” The royal guard instantly deflated, his shoulders slumping. “Instead, you got bashed in the head.”
Drayce left Eno and walked over to Adrian, rubbing his hair. “Yeah, well, it’s a good thing I have a hard head. I’m good, I swear. Thanks for the rescue.”
“Speaking of, we should probably move this rescue along before we’re caught by the fire department and the cops,” Davi reminded them.
“Come on,” Eno said with a sigh. “We need to get out of here. Meet up with the others.”
All the joking left Drayce’s face and those wide eyes snapped to Eno. “Cael? He okay? Why didn’t he come?”
“He’s fine. He figured one dragon was plenty to take care of these guys. He’s waiting for you at our new hideout.”
By now, Rayne and Caelan should have returned from their meeting with the prime minister. Eno was anxious to find out what the fuck was going on in Ilon.
And just maybe, he’d get the chance to wrap his arms around his lover.
TWENTY
Caelan Talos
Brightspire was unnaturally quiet.
But that happened when you put your citizens on lockdown every night.
New Rosanthe did it to maintain tight control.