“What about the time you saved up? Did you use it? Did you make Zyros choke on it?” Drayce demanded.
The soft smile returned, and he kissed Drayce’s jaw. “I gave it to Caris, so she could have more time to spend with Nyx.” His sneaky gaze slid over to Rayne, and his grin shifted into something wicked. “Which put me firmly in the good graces of the Dead God.”
“It doesn’t hurt to have gods who feel like they owe you favors,” Rayne murmured, so very proud of his charge.
“What about the Empire? Where do we stand with New Rosanthe and the emperor?” Caelan asked.
“Colonel Soto and Prince Shey should be negotiating the surrender of New Rosanthe forces as we speak.” Rayne paused and cleared his throat. “Emperor Naram Suen, unfortunately, didn’t survive our encounter. I’m afraid the tea I served him didn’t agree with his weak constitution.”
Caelan cackled wildly as he took the few steps separating him from Rayne and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Rayne laughed around the sudden lump in his throat and squeezed his eyes against the burn of unshed tears.
“I knew you could do it,” he whispered in Caelan’s ear. He’d feared for the worst, even planned for it because it was his job, but he never gave up hope that Caelan would win in the end.
“I never had a chance without you. Or Eno. Or Drayce. Or Adrian and fucking Haru.” Caelan’s voice was muffled on Rayne’s shoulder, and he thought he heard a sniffle, but he wouldn’t swear to it.
Rayne released him only to chuckle when the king was swept up in a hug by Eno. He was then passed along to Adrian and finally Haru before they were laughing at their weepy demeanor.
The rest of the dragons flew over to the small gathering and Rayne found himself moving closer to Drayce when he saw the young man stiffen at the sight of the two black Takahashi dragons. Drayce never spoke of his former family—not that Rayne expected him to—and seemed more than happy to find himself included among the Omari.
The Takahashi dragons shifted and the woman took a step forward only to bow low to Drayce while her companion followed a second later. She didn’t say a word and kept her eyes on the ground.
“Drayce,” Haru started gently. “Omari Mika told me that when Omari Nori asked for volunteers to come to fight the gods and the Empire, Takahashi Hitomi was the first to raise her voice. In the past six months, she has worked hard to clear the honor destroyed by the actions of her father and brother.”
“We are proud to serve the Omari and the mate of the Erya king,” Hitomi said.
Caelan reached out and threaded his fingers through Drayce’s while Rayne placed his hand on the dragon’s shoulder. Drayce took a deep breath and some of the tension rolled from his body as he released it.
“Thank you for your assistance. I hope Clan Takahashi can continue to do right by all the people of the Isle of Stone,” Drayce replied with amazing composure. It was polite, concise, but also very clear that he did not consider himself part of the Takahashi.
Rayne smiled and leaned his head toward Drayce’s ear. “Very good. There’s hope for you yet as the King’s Consort.”
Caelan laughed and Drayce wrinkled his nose at Rayne. “Don’t get your hopes up, Dauphin. I probably have only one of those in me per year.”
Everything seemed to turn to a blur of chaos after that as everyone was shuttled to the main camp where both Erya and Caspagir soldiers celebrated to see the King of Erya alive and in one piece. A temporary truce was signed with the leading commander of the Empire’s forces, though Rayne wasn’t particularly surprised, considering their lines were broken, their emperor was dead, their goddess was dead, and Erya had the assistance of the dragons.
Rayne attempted to coordinate efforts to see to the wounded, formalize the peace treaty, and manage getting the news to Erya, but it was Colonel Soto who proved to be the true voice of reason he couldn’t argue against.
“Back to Stormbreak. Tonight,” he said emphatically.
“But we can’t just leave. The troops, the Empire,” Rayne argued.
Everything felt at loose ends and he hated when things were untidy. While there was nothing he could do about misbehaving gods, he could lock New Rosanthe into an ironclad peace treaty that would keep them out of the Ordas and preferably out of Ilon.
“Erya has been without her king for far too long,” Tomas pressed, silencing Rayne completely.
Caelan nudged him with his elbow. “And you don’t want me opening my mouth without you right there to censor me. I need my advisor. My dauphin.”
Rayne jerked his gaze over to Eno when he felt his lover take his hand. “Let’s go home, baby.”