Rayne hurried down the hall, silently grateful that the electricity was still on at the home they were squatting in. The air conditioning was running full tilt to cool the rooms, and the curtains were tightly closed so that no one could see the lights on from the street. They didn’t want to risk drawing the attention of any Empire soldiers who might wander by.
If only they had some options for food, they could pretend it was a little escape from the world for a few hours. At best, Rayne knew they still had some rice on hand and some beef jerky. Not much, but it would have to do for now.
Eno was stretched out on the king-sized bed in the master chambers while Drayce was seated in a wingback chair covered in a surprisingly delicate floral pattern, his sock-covered feet resting on the foot of the bed. Caelan was in the middle of pulling over a matching chair to sit next to his friend.
“Look, I’m not saying that we don’t need to get our asses into the tower so Cael can woo the goddess,” Drayce said, earning an eye roll from Caelan as he dropped into his chair. “I’m just saying that we need to buy the people of Stormbreak some breathing room first. They’re getting close to living on the edge, and I don’t see how Cael getting powers from the Godstone is suddenly going to fix that problem.”
Caelan was right; Drayce was making a disturbing amount of sense. A similar thought had been drifting through his own head for the past day. They’d picked at the defenses around King’s Square, testing them to find a weak spot, but even that was becoming more difficult since the wrong people had started to realize the prince was in town.
“But if Caelan bonds with the Goddess of Life, that stops the Empire’s threat to the Godstone. We’ll have another weapon against New Rosanthe, and we’ll be able to kick them out of Erya that much faster,” Eno argued. His words were slow and slightly slurred, as if he’d been drinking. Drayce had located a bottle of whiskey, which Eno drank while Rayne pulled out the bullet. He didn’t think Eno had imbibed that much, but Rayne’s entire focus had been on finding the bullet and stopping the bleeding.
Caelan rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know.”
Rayne lifted his brows. He would never have guessed that Caelan was having doubts.
“The queen was bonded to the goddess for most of her life. She had decades to learn how to use that magic. And she was still killed by the Empire. How the hell am I going to do better than that?”
Drayce reached over and touched Caelan’s arm, drawing his eyes to his friend. “Dude, you’ve got Kaes too. Plus, the Empire sneak attacked. We’ll be the ones attacking this time.”
“I thought you wanted to wait,” Caelan murmured.
“I do. I just think we need to have a better plan of attack, something that involves the Erya army and some relief for all the citizens.”
Caelan tilted his head to the side to look at Rayne as he continued to stand in the open doorway. “What are you thinking?”
“Rayne!” Eno shouted, startling Rayne back a step. The large man stretched out both hands toward him and waggled his fingers as if beckoning him closer. Rayne’s wide eyes darted over to Caelan, trying to gauge how he was taking this unexpected need for closeness.
Caelan grinned at him and counted off on his fingers. “The booze, blood loss, and the healing spell might be making him a little loopy.”
“The healing spell?” Rayne repeated. That was not something he’d expected to hear among the list of culprits for Eno’s behavior.
“Yeah, Caelan’s magic fingers make everything feel so good and relaxed. Every time he used it on my stomach, it gave me the giggles.”
Oh, good grief.
Caelan shoved at Drayce, and the lunatic laughed harder. “I don’t have magic fingers.”
“Oh yeah, and the God of Storms doesn’t make you tingle,” Drayce teased.
The future king of Erya launched himself out of his chair, slamming into Drayce. They tumbled to the floor with a loud thud. While sounds of wrestling and cursing filled the room, Rayne walked over to Eno’s bedside, barely fighting the urge to thread his fingers with Eno’s as the man continued to reach for him.
“How are you feeling?” Rayne inquired.
“I’m fiiiinnnneee,” Eno drawled out with a lopsided grin. He reached over to the empty side of the bed and patted it with one hand. “Come lay with me and tell Drayce he’s being an idiot. We have to see the Godstone first.”
“Just rest. We can talk about this later—”
“No, you rest with me. You’re tired.” Eno hit the mattress again, but this time it was hard enough that he winced and covered his stomach wound with his other hand.