Embrace the Light (Godstone Saga 5)

Settling in closer to Caelan, Drayce proceeded to talk about whatever came to his mind. He kept talking just so Caelan could hear his voice. He said sweet things and he said things aimed to piss his lover off. Every once in a while, he’d see a little flicker of his eyelid or feel the tiniest squeeze of his hand. Enough so he knew that Caelan was there and listening to him.

He talked until his voice turned hoarse and he fell asleep with his head resting against the top of Caelan’s.

When he woke, he didn’t know how much time had passed. He glanced around to find a small lamp lit on a table across the room and the sun was gone from the other side of the shades. A soft grunt left him as he tried to sit up. Muscles everywhere were stiff and sore from how he’d been lying in the bed.

But as he lifted, his eyes met Cael’s bright-blue ones. He was awake and looked like he had been for a while now.

Drayce opened his mouth to shout with joy, but Caelan immediately slapped his free hand across Drayce’s lips. Caelan tilted his head to his other side and Drayce followed the motion. Stretched out on the other side of him, fast asleep, was Rayne. His glasses were slightly askew and his hair was mussed, but the advisor was out of it, each breath slipping from between parted lips.

Drayce giggled behind Caelan’s hand and Caelan rolled his eyes before dropping his hand to his chest.

Careful not to rock the bed, Drayce stretched out on the other side of his lover and smirked. “This is the only time I’m letting you be in bed with another man.”

“You’re so weird,” Caelan whispered, but it sounded like he was fighting back a laugh as well.

“You okay?”

Cael nodded, but his smile wasn’t as steady.

Drayce jerked his chin over toward Rayne. “Is he okay? I don’t know how long he worked on you after I passed out. I know I talked for a few hours.”

His friend nodded again. “He’s okay. I checked. He needs some rest.”

Drayce frowned. If Caelan was awake, they probably needed to gather everyone together and make plans. There was plenty of bad stuff that Caelan didn’t know about, and he had a feeling Caelan had some less-than-great news to share as well. “Should we wake him and gather the others? They’ll want to know you’re up.”

Caelan shook his head. “Eno just poked his head in a minute ago. I told him we’ll talk tomorrow morning. I want to sleep some more.”

Relief ripped through him, and he gave Caelan a shaky smile. “Okay.”

“Do you mind staying with me?”

Drayce was only too happy to snuggle in a little closer. He pressed a kiss to Caelan’s temple and another to the corner of his mouth. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”

ELEVEN

Eno Bevyn

“I have questions.”

The statement was out of Davi’s mouth before his butt even hit the chair.

Eno blinked for a second at the man across the table from him, his brain trying to catch up to too many things that had happened in the past several hours.

After Rayne and Drayce were settled on the second floor with Caelan, Eno had completed a sweep of the house to make sure that everything was secure while Nina left to ditch the car in case anyone from Safa’s group or even the Ilon government had spotted them on the road.

Once he was sure the place was safe for their king, he returned to the parlor, where Adrian explained everything that had happened while in the Shrine District, including what little they managed to learn at the temple for the God of Wisdom and Caelan’s sudden ability to stop time.

Eno should have known finding the godstone in Ilon wasn’t going to be that easy. He certainly hadn’t expected it to be such a tangled political mess.

Ilon had been their ally. The country had been their closest ally for decades. No, centuries. They had close trade relations, good cultural exchanges, and always helped each other out when there were problems with the Ordas.

How had things gone so horribly wrong?

When?

Eno could only shake his head at it. This was not something he could solve.

For now, his main concern was Safa and her attack on Caelan. She was walking free around Brightspire and reinforced with New Rosanthe soldiers. That meant she could go wherever the fuck she wanted and create endless amounts of chaos. He’d seen the damage she’d created in Temit, the innocent lives she stole. How many people were going to die in Brightspire because of her?