The bodyguard smirked at him. “He’s still asleep,” he murmured in answer to the unspoken question.
Drayce dropped to the ground, next to Eno, breathing in the lovely scent of frying meat. “That’s a good start, but I also remember when we stopped in the morning that Rayne said we were out of meat.”
Eno smirked. “I might have also sneaked into town early and grabbed some food.” He jerked his head over to a little table. “There’s a covered bowl with scrambled eggs. Also, two biscuits each, but those probably aren’t warm any longer.”
“You left camp without telling anyone?” Drayce gasped. He winced and looked over his shoulder, back at Caelan’s tent and then Rayne’s neighboring tent. When there was no sound indicating that either of the sleeping men stirred, he turned his attention to Eno. “You left us defenseless?”
Okay, he was totally teasing, and judging by the roll of his eyes, Eno knew it.
“Cael was awake when I left. I told him where I was going,” Eno replied softly.
“Cael’s already been up?”
His companion grunted, his eyes locked on the sausages that appeared to be nearly done. “He’s not sleeping much. I don’t know if that’s a god thing or a worry thing.”
Drayce drew his knees up toward his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, while locking his eyes on the flickering fire. When it came to Cael, it was probably both.
“We’re getting close to the Ordas,” Drayce whispered.
“We are.”
Drayce huffed a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at the tents again before continuing. “Man, I get that all of Cael’s attention has been locked on getting info to General Morgan, Prince Shey, and even Omari Nori, but I feel like we’ve left an even bigger question hanging in the air that really needs to be fucking answered prior to entering the Ordas.”
“Like?”
“What the hell can he do with his powers?” Drayce demanded, his voice growing harsh in his desperation. “The last time we entered the Ordas, things didn’t exactly go smoothly and he didn’t have much in the way of powers. This time, we’re going in with a crazy goddess on the loose with her not-so-sane boyfriend. I’m sure we’d all feel a little better if we knew what kind of firepower we had at our fingertips.”
Eno grinned at him. “But we already know we’ve got more firepower.” He reached over and flicked Drayce in the center of the forehead. “We’ve got a dragon.”
Drayce wrinkled his nose at Eno and rubbed the new sore spot. “You had a fucking dragon before.”
“Did we? Because what I remember is that you came damn close to dying on the first pass through the Ordas. You were willing to die to protect your secret.” Eno paused and shrugged. “Now there’s no secret.”
Okay, that was a good point. He had been willing to die to protect his secret truth when they were traveling to Caspagir seven months ago. It was reassuring that he’d be able to shift into his dragon form to take out attackers this time. But he was just one dragon against whatever was waiting for them in there.
“Yeah, okay, we’ve got a dragon. But what about Cael? Does he have all the same magical weapons at his disposal that he did when we reached Brightspire? Shouldn’t we figure that out now? You know, rather than waiting until we’re in a fight for our lives in the Ordas.”
A low groan rumbled through the camp, and Drayce tensed. That noise had not come from Eno but from Caelan’s tent. He slowly turned to find his lover on his hands and knees as he paused in the middle of crawling out the small opening of their tent. His hair was standing up in a dozen different directions, and there was a red crease across one cheek from where he’d cuddled with a blanket. The King of Erya looked adorably rumpled. Everything in Drayce demanded that he crawl over to that tent and gently tackle Cael to the blankets for more cuddles.
Except for Caelan’s dark expression. It warned that if Drayce approached, he’d probably lose his tail.
“Can I at least have breakfast before you make me perform for you?” Caelan growled.
“Of course!” Drayce shoved to his feet and hurried over to help Caelan rise. Drayce wrapped his arms around his lover and rubbed his hands up and down his back, kneading muscles and working the stiffness out of his body. At the same time, he tucked his face into Caelan’s neck, pressing soft kisses along his warm skin.
His mind warred with him every time he touched Cael these past few days. He’d watched him die, but he was alive. He was a god, but everything about him still felt normal and human.
Well, except for the low crackle of energy that zipped through Caelan’s body at all times. It left him feeling like his fiancé was one spark away from an explosion.