Home.
“Oh. Yes. Let’s do that,” Rayne said in Rosarian with a smile.
An excited noise escaped Gilea, and she jumped to her feet. Her slender fingers tightened on Rayne’s as she helped him to rise. He winced against the ache of tired muscles in his back and another ache in his knees. Gods, he felt ancient and very ungodlike. Eno was immediately there, his hand gripping his elbow to help steady him.
Gilea snarled and moved toward Eno as if she meant to warn him off touching Rayne as well.
“No!” Rayne snapped and the girl shrank a little, her wounded eyes darting to his face.
“I take it she didn’t believe you when you told her you weren’t a god,” Eno drawled.
“No, unfortunately not,” Rayne mumbled. He released Gilea’s hands and grabbed one of Eno’s squeezing it for a second. He could feel Gilea’s gaze on their clasped hands, but Rayne refused to release his lover. He was more than happy to heal Gilea and protect her, but the young woman was not coming between him and the man he loved.
“What do we do now? Do you want to rest for a while?” Caelan asked.
“Actually, there is one bright spot in this confusion.” He lifted his eyes to Caelan and offered a small smile. “Gilea has offered to take us to her home. Apparently she wants to introduce her people to a god.”
Caelan returned his grin. “That is something we can definitely do.”
Rayne had no desire to trick the young woman, but she was taking a god to meet her people. It just wasn’t the god that she was expecting. If anything, Hidden Falls had to get them one step closer to Green Spring. The people of her village had to know the Ordas incredibly well. At least one of them would be able to point them in the direction of Zyros’s home, and if they were very lucky, someone might even be able to tell them what they would find there.
Besides, death and destruction, of course.
TEN
Caelan Talos
For two days, Gilea led them away from the Whitgami River. It was not a settling feeling since it was their most reliable landmark when it came to finding their way through the Ordas.
But it also made sense. If the people of the Hidden Falls village feared Green Spring, they’d want to put some distance between themselves and the other village.
Caelan could only reassure himself that if they ended up lost, they could always send Drayce above the trees to scout around.
On the plus side, he and Drayce were thoroughly amused by the fact that Gilea continued to watch out for her new “god.” Even while leading them through the forest, she was right at Rayne’s side, helping him and protecting him. He was always the first one served each night at the campfire, and she ensured that he had water whenever he needed a drink. Despite Rayne’s efforts to tell her it wasn’t necessary, she never relented.
Eno was not amused, which made it all the funnier.
While Gilea didn’t do anything aggressive to keep Eno from touching Rayne, she was quite deft at maneuvering Rayne and herself so that Eno didn’t get the chance to lay even a finger on his lover. It was all Caelan could do not to snicker.
But he shouldn’t. He knew he wouldn’t find it amusing in the least if Gilea were keeping him from being with Drayce.
“You okay?” Caelan asked when Eno caught up with him.
Eno lifted an eyebrow, surprised by the question. As if catching on to where Cael’s mind was, he rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m not happy, but she reminds Rayne of Zephyr, and whether he wants to admit it or not, Rayne misses his sister.”
So, Eno put up with their separation to make Rayne happy.
Caelan huffed a soft laugh as he carefully climbed over a fallen log. “I hope he realizes how good you are to him.”
A low, deep chuckle rumbled from Eno, and Caelan looked up in time to see his companion nod. “He does. Trust me, he does.”
“Have you figured out how you’re going to propose yet?” Caelan inquired, just to see if he could startle the man. To him, the idea of Eno and Rayne being together for the rest of their lives was a foregone conclusion.
What he was not expecting was the long, sad sigh that escaped Eno.
Caelan stopped and looked ahead at the rest of the group as they slowly picked their way through the thick brush. They were far enough away that it was unlikely they’d hear their conversation.
“What’s wrong? I figured you’d want to marry Rayne,” Caelan demanded.
Eno stopped as well to add some additional space between them and the others. “I do. Definitely. But I’m Royal Guard. In particular, I’m the king’s bodyguard.”
“So?”
“Royal Guard don’t marry. We can’t. It’s part of our vow.”