City of Blood (Godstone Saga 6)

Both Drayce and Haru were gone in a flash, tearing through the thick canvas material of the tent and shredding soldiers. The sounds were sickening and gruesome, but Adrian blocked them out in favor of concentrating on pulling the medical kit out of the small bag slung over his shoulder. Eno grabbed it and made quick work of bandaging up the wound.

“You’re gonna need some stitches,” Eno stated as he tightened the bandage to staunch the bleeding.

“It’ll be fine for now. Once we get Rayne, we’ll head behind the lines and catch our breath.”

“You gonna be able to handle your dragon, too?” Eno murmured as he stuffed the remaining bits of gauze into the bag while Adrian jerked his shirt down.

“He’s not my dragon,” Adrian grumbled, his eyes darting around to take in the soldiers who were still in the encampment but were running away from the screams in the shredded tent and the dragon snarls. He didn’t blame them. If he had to choose between flying bullets and dragon teeth, he’d go with the bullets.

Eno snorted. “Good luck with that.” As the tent grew quiet, Eno shoved the bag at Adrian and marched into the tent. Adrian tried to steel his stomach, and he followed.

There wasn’t much of the tent, but scraps of fabric. The furniture had been crunched under large feet and tails. The same could be said for the New Rosanthe soldiers. Adrian tore his eyes quickly away from the devastation and locked on the man in the green dome now on his knees, his hands barely over his head as he held his protective shield in place.

Eno ran to him as the bullets stopped flying and Adrian was close on his heels.

“Drop the shield, Rayne! You’re safe!” Eno shouted.

Rayne’s head popped up and the look of relief that crossed his strained features was immediate. The shield fell and the lanky figure collapsed into Eno’s waiting arms. Adrian kneeled next to him.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Eno demanded.

“Just…exhausted. Things got…a little out of hand…faster than I expected,” Rayne panted. “Need a second to heal myself.”

Adrian helped Eno get Rayne comfortably seated on the floor while Rayne closed his eyes, his right hand placed over his heart. A hand landed on Adrian’s shoulder and he glanced up to see Haru in his human form standing over him, a very stern expression on his face.

“How is your injury?” he demanded, sounding as if he were grinding the words between his teeth.

Adrian lifted a hand and patted Haru’s reassuringly. “It’s nothing major, I swear. A few stitches when we get back to camp and I’ll be as good as new.”

“You must not forget that humans are delicate, my Adrian,” Haru mumbled.

“Wow. You are totally screwed now.” Drayce cackled as he kneeled behind Eno and Rayne. Adrian looked up to find the dragon-turned-human was a mess of blood, sweat, and dirt, but it was also so damn good to see them again. The only one missing from their reunion was Caelan.

“Who’s the other dead man?” Haru inquired, thankfully distracting them from Drayce’s comment.

Adrian glanced up to see that a very old man was sprawled across a small sofa—the one piece of furniture in the remains of the tent that was still in one piece. It didn’t appear as if he’d been shot, but the discoloration of his wrinkled face and the blind stare at the sky made it clear that he was most definitely dead.

“That’s Emperor Naram Suen of New Rosanthe,” Rayne replied, sounding as if he was feeling significantly better. The king’s advisor opened his eyes, and a tiny smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. “It seems something in his tea didn’t agree with him.”

“Holy shit! Rayne!” Drayce gasped.

“I had Caelan’s approval for this one!” Rayne immediately argued.

Eno chuckled softly and tightened his arms around his lover. “I don’t think most people would complain about your actions. More than a few would name you a saint for them.”

Rayne relaxed and sighed. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Eno’s shoulder. “Yes, well, things might have gotten out of hand. I can only guess the emperor didn’t expect me to drink the poisoned tea with him, which is why he was willing to imbibe what I offered. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to finish healing myself before chaos broke loose outside and the soldiers rushed in. It was either heal myself or put up the protective barrier to stop their bullets.”

“Do we want to know how you planned to get out of here after you poisoned him to death?” Eno grumbled.

“Probably not.”

“Are you healed now?” Adrian asked.

Rayne nodded and pushed into an upright position. “I’m healed. Just tired. I’ll recover my strength soon enough. Caelan?”

Adrian was quick to shake his head. “We haven’t gotten to him yet. My job is to evacuate the camp of Erya citizens so Erya and Caspagir forces can finish leveling it.”