“What’s happened?” Nori demanded.
“News…” the man panted as he reached them. “Souta…Takahashi Souta…renounced his clan. The…clan leaders are assembling now.”
“Gods,” Nori gasped, and his horrified tone froze Caelan.
“What does this mean? Are they going to execute him now?” Rayne demanded when Caelan couldn’t get a word out.
Nori shook his head and started shouting at anyone within earshot. “Prepare the vehicles. We are leaving right now. Haru, you are with me and your cousin.”
“Should I call up the first battalion?” Haru asked, already in his human form.
Nori was moving toward the house and Caelan stuck close to him. “No, we can’t go in force. Tell the medics to be ready.”
“What’s going on? What does this mean?” Nori didn’t quickly answer, and Caelan was out of patience when it came to the topic of Drayce’s safety. He grabbed Nori’s arm and pulled him to a stop in the middle of the audience chamber as they crossed it. “Grandfather! Does Masaru mean to kill him?”
The old dragon stopped and turned pained, pitying eyes on Caelan, which was a hundred times worse than if he’d looked at him with anger. “If a dragon renounces his clan, he can’t move to another. His only choice is to become a Phantom.”
“Okay,” Caelan said slowly, still feeling like he was missing something.
Nori’s face crumpled a little as if he didn’t want to say the words out loud. “A dragon can’t be a Phantom. To…to steal that title from Souta, they…they must cut off his wings.”
The world blurred around him. There was noise but it didn’t reach above the rushing of blood past his ears. They were going to cut off Drayce’s wings? They were going to maim him in such a horrific fashion? No. He wasn’t going to let anyone touch his dragon.
“No,” Caelan snarled.
“Wait!” Rayne shouted and Caelan could only stare at his advisor in confused shock. “Is this Souta’s decision? If he does this, will Masaru release him from the death sentence?”
Nori nodded. “Yes. He won’t be clan any longer, so he won’t be beholden to any oaths he made to Clan Takahashi. After the ceremony is completed, he’ll be released and completely on his own.”
Eno grabbed Caelan’s shoulder and turned him to meet his gaze. “He’s doing this to eliminate the chances of Erya being drawn into a war with the dragons. This is Drayce’s sacrifice to be with you and save lives.”
“But…” Caelan broke off and looked at Rayne to find his advisor nodding his agreement. Clenching his teeth and closing his eyes, Caelan shoved down the feelings of rage and frustration, trying to hold onto the rational logic his friends were handing him. It sounded smart, but the steps were horrific. “I need to see him. I need to be sure this is what he wants.”
“Cael, I think you should remain here at Clan Omari,” Rayne said evenly. Caelan had expected it, but it didn’t stop the words from hurting.
“What?” Nori snapped. “Of course he needs to go. Souta is going to need Caelan to get through this!”
“And if Caelan loses control of the gods again, he could kill us all!” Rayne shouted back, effectively silencing the room.
It was a terrible thing to say, but it was the absolute truth. They needed to look no further than what happened in Zastrad, when Caelan slaughtered an entire encampment of raiders and thieves simply because Rayne had been hurt and Drayce was threatened. He was proposing to go watch Drayce’s wings be cut from his body. Knowing Masaru, he didn’t expect this to be a quick and painless procedure. Rayne was right to be afraid that Caelan’s control was going to snap.
“What are you talking about?” Nori asked very quietly.
Rayne ignored the question, his full attention on Caelan. His advisor’s face was frighteningly pale. He licked his lips and swallowed hard. Rayne knew exactly what he was asking of Caelan. There was no way Rayne would stay behind if it were Eno facing this—but then, Rayne couldn’t decimate hundreds in the blink of an eye.
“Cael?”
“I have to go, Rayne. If he’s making this sacrifice for me, for us, for all of Thia, I have to be there for him. I swear, I’ll hold on to my control. Even if it kills me.”
And Caelan had begun to seriously fear that it might.
“We’ll be right there with you the entire time, Your Majesty,” Adrian promised in a rough voice.
He nodded, grateful that his extended family was going to be standing at his side, that they would be there for Drayce.
Lifting his eyes to Nori, he found his grandfather looking absolutely thunderous. “I want answers.”
Yes, Caelan was going to give him answers, but Nori wasn’t going to like any of them.
SEVENTEEN
Caelan Talos
Trigger Warning
The rushed car ride from Clan Omari to the Takahashi compound was a painful one as Caelan listened to Rayne lay out to Nori everything that had happened since the death of Queen Amara and her bodyguard, Hagen Sigurd. Caelan’s loving parents. The discovery of the godstones, bonding with gods, traveling to Zastrad, and even the slow cracking of Caelan’s psyche under the pressure of being the landlord of three frisky, restless gods. Nori said nothing.