He could easily sympathize with her excitement over Caspagir strawberries after five long years. The monotony of all-meat meals and limited spices had to wear on a person.
With the food cleared away and the fire stoked, Vale shoved to her feet and gave a salute. “Get some sleep. The fire will keep the animals away.”
“And what about other Zastrians looking for offerings for the Dead God?” Eno inquired.
She grinned at him broadly. “I wouldn’t worry about them. All good little Zastrians are huddled at home in their beds. They leave the night to their god to do the reaping.” With a final creepy laugh, she ducked into her yurt and secured the flap against the bitter wind.
“I bet she tells the best campfire ghost stories,” Drayce joked. He rocked to the side, bumping his shoulder into Caelan, who shoved Drayce back in the opposite direction.
“I don’t think I need any help not sleeping tonight,” Caelan muttered.
“Then do your magic. Create a shield to keep us safe,” Drayce prodded.
As he expected, Caelan lifted his gaze to Rayne. Yes, he definitely needed to be the one to create the shield that protected them all during the night. His king had not only succeeded in protecting their camp while in the Ordas, but he’d thrown up the shield while they were in the middle of a battle. Those times, Caelan had not been fully bonded with the Goddess of Life, but he’d had only a partial bond like Rayne had now. This was a skill Rayne desperately needed to practice and have perfected before they reached Temit and Mrtyu.
The only problem was fear. What if he couldn’t do it? What if his shield wasn’t strong enough to keep out predators and attackers? What if it fell while he was sleeping and he didn’t wake in time to warn his companions?
“Breathe, Rayne,” Caelan said with a gentle smile. They knew each other so well after all these years. Caelan could read him even though Rayne was sure none of his fear was showing on his face. “I’m right here. Do you think I’d leave you to do this completely on your own?”
Rayne drew in a deep breath, held it, and slowly released it again between his parted lips. He repeated it, feeling some of the fear and tension unwind from the knot that had formed between his shoulder blades.
To his surprise, Eno shifted a little closer and placed a hand on his shoulder. He squeezed, massaging tight muscles through the thick, rough shirt. “You’ve got this.”
With a quick nod and a second to tuck away the bubble of happiness that welled up with Eno’s words, Rayne turned his attention to Caelan. “Exactly how do you complete the shield spell?”
Caelan sighed heavily, his smile becoming even more crooked. “At the risk of driving you completely insane, there isn’t an exact spell. I wasn’t given precise instructions. It’s done a lot on feel.”
The tension and fear snapped back and doubled. “You are not reassuring me, Caelan.”
His king huffed a laugh and nodded. “Yeah, I know. I was taught the spell a very long time ago. I was probably about five or six. It was during a camping trip I went on, and the only people I remember being there were the queen and Hagen.”
Rayne couldn’t hide his frown at Caelan’s words. He didn’t even refer to her as his mother in that very private memory. She was the queen. Maybe it helped to distance him from the lingering pain over her death, but the part of him that saw Caelan as a friend ached for him.
“She might have given me some precise instructions, but I doubt it. That wouldn’t have worked with a kid. I just remember her shoving my hand into the fire and telling me to gather the power in my chest. When I couldn’t hold it any longer, I was to push it out like blowing a bubble until it surrounded me.”
“So, no magic words or waving a wand?” Drayce teased.
Caelan flashed his friend a smile. “Nope. Just a feeling of energy in my chest that I release out into the air around me.”
Drayce leaned close to Caelan, bumping his forehead into his friend’s temple. “And that whole part about stepping into the fire you did in the Ordas?”
The king laughed and shoved Drayce away. “Totally done to freak people out.”
Drayce flopped backward onto the cold ground and groaned loudly. “Holy crap! You’re such an asshole. You scared the shit out of me!”
It was one of those rare times that Rayne could completely agree with Drayce. The entire scene still flashed through his nightmares on occasion. Even knowing that Caelan would be unharmed by the fire, he could do without ever seeing him step into flames again.
But if Tula was protecting him from the heat, Rayne should be able to do it as well.