With his eyes closed again, his mind wandered to the conversation he’d had with Caelan not that long ago. If he couldn’t be the king’s bodyguard, he would have to take Cael up on one of his crazier ideas for a job. Maybe he could be a trainer of the Royal Guard.
And he would be free to propose to Rayne.
A low chuckle reverberated through his chest and he opened his eyes when he felt Rayne lift his head.
“What are you laughing about?” Rayne inquired.
Eno could feel the crooked smile form on his lips. “I was just thinking of a conversation I had with Caelan a few days ago about how I can’t propose to you as long as I’m in the Royal Guard. Now, if I can’t protect the king, I can’t be an official member of the Royal Guard.”
Rayne sat up so fast he nearly fell out of the bed. His elbow banged into the wall behind him, and Eno had to grab Rayne’s wrist with his left hand to keep him upright. Wide jade eyes stared at him and his mouth hung open. “Are…are you proposing to me?”
“What?” Eno choked out. His mind raced. Was that what he was saying? He hadn’t planned on it. Definitely not while they were both filthy and hurting in the middle of the Ordas on their way to killing one or more gods.
Rayne reached forward and clutched Eno’s shoulder, his long fingers digging into muscle. His expression was once again deadly serious as he demanded, “Is this a proposal? Are you asking me to marry you? I want you to think very seriously about this, because you’re not allowed to change your mind later. I meant what I said earlier; I’m never letting you go.”
Eno couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or cry. Only his Rayne could make a marriage proposal sound like a life-or-death threat.
Fuck it. Romance would have been nice, but when had they ever done anything like normal people? Maybe they could have something that resembled a normal wedding.
“Yeah. I’m proposing. What are you going to do about it?”
Rayne made a choked scoffing noise before collapsing on him, knocking the air out of Eno’s lungs. “I’m going to marry you and make you mine forever, that’s what I’m going to do.” He raised his head and pressed his lips to Eno’s in a long, deep kiss as if he were sealing their agreement.
When the kiss ended, Rayne stretched out alongside him on the bed, his head resting on Eno’s shoulder while his arm was draped across Eno’s waist. There was a rightness to their fit that helped to close up a little more of the hollow space in his chest. He looked at his heavily scarred arm and silently sighed in his mind. Yes, he’d lost most of the use of his right arm, but he’d gained a fiancé who loved him completely.
He had a family with Davi, Drayce, Caelan, and even Adrian, who would support him as he found his footing in the next stage of his life.
Assuming they managed to get out of the Ordas. And that his brother had safely made it to Stormbreak.
He glanced around the building to find it was the one he’d been sharing with Rayne the past several days. There were two other bags against a wall—belonging to Caelan and Drayce—but he didn’t see either man.
“Do I want to know what happened yesterday? My memories are fuzzy after the fight. Safa?”
Just the mention of the woman’s name caused Rayne to flinch and tighten his grip on Eno. That was almost answer enough, but he needed to know what happened.
“Things are somewhat blurry for me as well,” Rayne admitted. He dragged in a deep breath and released it, sounding as if it had risen up from the very bottom of his soul. “Safa is dead. Caelan killed her. He then left. Drayce helped me get you back here so I could continue to heal you. He put out the fires burning in the village and tried to search for Cael, but as of this morning, he didn’t have any luck. We’re…waiting for him to return.”
Rayne fell silent and Eno hated to push him.
“There’s more. I know it. I remember…sounds from the forest. I don’t think it was a dream.”
Muscles tightened throughout Rayne’s body, and Eno rubbed his left hand up and down his spine and his shoulders, trying to soothe him. He needed to know this if they were going to be able to help Caelan.
“Before Caelan left the village, he called himself the God of Death. All night, the Ordas was filled with the sounds of Zyros’s creatures being slaughtered.” Rayne’s voice grew tight and he had to clear his throat. “Drayce tried to follow the sounds, but he never caught up to Caelan. He only found dead bodies. All animals killed by a blade. The screams finally stopped around dawn.”