“Yes. Fuck, yes. Oh, hell yes.” His arms tightened around Caelan, and he pulled him in for a hard kiss that was more teeth than anything because they were both smiling like idiots. His entire body trembled and he couldn’t possibly squeeze the man in his arms tight enough. He wanted to shift and shoot into the air, roaring to all of Brightspire that he was now engaged to the greatest person of all time.
When they separated, Drayce reached up and cupped his cheek, wiping away a happy tear while still blinking away the burning in his own eyes. “You’re amazing. I swear I will work hard and be the best fucking Consort. I will never embarrass you or start some international disaster. I—”
Caelan’s bright laugh cut off his words. “I know who the fuck I’m marrying. I want you to be you. Don’t ever change, Drayce.” He leaned forward and bumped their noses together. “Besides, international disasters are why we have Rayne.”
Drayce snickered. “I’m telling him you said that.”
Caelan straightened and shook his head. “I doubt he’ll even hear it after you shout to the world that we’re engaged.”
Gods, this man knew him so well. And best of all, he accepted everything he knew and loved it.
“True. True. True.” Drayce tightened his arms on Caelan and snuggled his face against his neck again. There was no getting close enough. Part of him wanted to carry Caelan inside and christen this moment with hot, sweaty, headboard-breaking sex, but right now, he didn’t want to move. He was happy just holding him and keeping this news to themselves.
One thought wiggled through his brain, though.
“Why now? Have you been thinking about this for a while?”
Caelan stiffened and sat up so he could meet Drayce’s gaze. “I have thought about it for a while, but…”
“What? Dude, you said you loved me and you’re willing to deal with my high potential for scandals. There’s no way I could be mad at you.”
Caelan rolled his eyes, his smile reappearing at last. “With everything that has happened, with how dark the road ahead of us seems, I need this. I need something to look forward to, something to fight for. I know it sounds horrible. I’m fighting for all of Thia. I’m fighting for all the people of Erya. But recently, it’s not enough.” He paused and lifted those big blue eyes to Drayce’s face. “When I think about you, when I think about having a future with you, I feel like I can do anything. I’m happy to face anything and everything, so I can have you.”
A large lump grew in Drayce’s throat, and he struggled to swallow. He’d never been someone’s reason to fight before, but he was happy to be Caelan’s. If it kept him alive, he was thrilled to be his reason.
“Good. I like that. We’ll fight together and when this is over, we are going to have the biggest, flashiest wedding Stormbreak has ever seen. All the Omari dragons will come. We’ll even drag Queen Noemi and Prince Shey to the wedding. It will be fucking epic.”
“Love it. Love everything about it. We—” Caelan broke off and turned his head to violently cough. He gasped for air and clutched at his chest.
“Cael? You okay?”
Caelan sucked in a harsh breath only to start coughing again. The king shoved out of Drayce’s lap and managed two unsteady steps before falling to his knees. His hand was pressed to his heart and Drayce could feel the blood rushing to his toes. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.
“No, not yet,” Caelan whispered, but Drayce didn’t think he was talking to him.
Kneeling next to him, he grabbed both of Caelan’s shoulders, helping him stay upright as he gasped for air. His entire world was crumbling in his hands, and he didn’t know what to do. “What’s wrong? What can I do?”
“Get Rayne.”
TWENTY-TWO
Caelan Talos
Tick tock, Your Majesty. Tick. Tock.
Nyx’s voice somehow reached above the ragged beats of his heart in his ears.
Why now? Why couldn’t you let me have this moment?
I did. The moment was over, and you really don’t have time for many more.
Caelan strained to hear any arguments from the other gods. Something from them pointing out that they needed him alive to fight Safa, to stop the escape of the Goddess of the Hunt. Someone somewhere pointing out that his fucking job wasn’t done yet. But there was only silence.
Drayce had picked him up and draped him across his back before sprinting across the roof and down the stairs. His voice echoed off the walls as he shouted for Rayne, panic making his cries high-pitched and sharp. Caelan wanted to apologize, wanted to reassure him, but his entire focus was on drawing air into his lungs and willing his heart to keep beating.
A heart attack? You’re trying to kill me with a fucking heart attack?
My first choice was letting you be eaten by a dragon, but there’s only one around and he’s interested in just one kind of eating, Nyx mocked.