“Oh gods,” Drayce moaned. His weight became drastically heavier, pulling Caelan toward the floor as Drayce’s legs gave out beneath him. “I mean, oh fuck. No! I—”
“It’s okay! It’s okay! Caris wanted to meet you,” Caelan said quickly, but the panicked gaze Drayce shot him proved that his words were not helping.
“Caelan, he’s adorable,” Caris continued, seeming oblivious to Drayce’s growing panic. “A perfect little human. And his dragon! He’s so beautiful and powerful. He—” She broke off suddenly and her dark eyes flared as if lit by some horrible rage deep within her soul. “Where are his wings?” she demanded in a low, trembling voice. “What has happened to his wings?”
Drayce immediately dropped to his knees before the goddess and pressed his forehead to the slick marble floor. “Forgive me, goddess. I broke my oath and traded my wings for my life. I would happily give my life for you and for Caelan, but dying now means I can’t protect him. I gave up my wings so that I could remain at Caelan’s side and protect him so long as there is fire in my lungs.”
Caelan’s heart squeezed and his breath became locked behind a knot in his throat. He dropped to his knees and pulled Drayce up. Cupping both of his lover’s cheeks, he forced Drayce to meet his eyes. “You are perfect. Wings or not, you are perfect to me and that’s all that matters. I love you and would give everything that I am to make you happy.”
Tears slipped from sparkling green eyes down flushed cheeks. “Just keep loving me and I’ll always be happy,” Drayce choked out before crushing their mouths together.
“Idiot!” Caris shouted followed by a sharp crack.
Caelan tore his mouth away from Drayce and jerked his gaze across the room to find the Goddess of Fire standing over a cringing God of Time who was rubbing the top of his head. The fan Caris held in her fist was snapped almost completely in half.
“They’re together and their love still burns bright!” Caris continued. She tossed aside the broken fan and it burst into a flash of flames. Black ash fluttered through the air and then disappeared completely. With a flick of her wrist, a new red fan appeared, and she resumed waving it, though the motion was a bit faster now in her irritation.
“My scintillating cinder,” Nyx murmured, reaching cautiously for her hand. When she didn’t smack him with her new fan, the god grew bolder and stood, wrapping her in his long arms. “My wildfire,” he purred and nuzzled her neck. “When I’m near you, time stops. But if your love for me were to burn out, I would be lost.”
“Dude…are you telling me…” Drayce started in a harsh whisper.
Caelan pressed a kiss to his earlobe and murmured, “I’ll explain it all later.” Turning his attention Caris, who seemed to have calmed now that the Dead God was holding her. “Goddess Caris, can you tell me about Zyros? Why is she trying to destroy Thia?”
Caris lifted her head and smiled at Nyx. She patted his cheek and then stepped out of his arms. The Dead God appeared shocked that she could actually leave him and flopped on his sofa in a huff.
“Zyros is trying to destroy Thia because she’s gone mad,” Caris replied with a shrug of one slim shoulder.
“Was she always mad?”
The goddess shook her head, sending her smoky hair billowing out behind her in a black cloud. “No, she was driven mad.” Caris closed her fan with a sharp snap and turned her narrowed gaze on Nyx. “Like so many women in love, she got screwed.”
Caelan’s mouth fell open and his eyes jumped to Nyx.
The Dead God leaped to his feet and pointed at Caelan. “I know what you’re thinking, and I did not touch Zyros. My heart belongs to my incandescent inferno,” he thundered. “I only went along with Tula’s little game out of boredom.”
“Tula? The Goddess of Life started this?” Caelan demanded. “I don’t understand. How? Why?”
Caris frowned and opened her fan again with a flick. “Jealousy. Zyros made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong person, and Tula is a petty bitch.”
Pain ripped across Caelan’s mind and he screamed. Yet as suddenly as the pain appeared, it disappeared. He blinked and Caris was kneeling there in front of him, her fingers lightly sliding across his forehead.
“Don’t hurt him because you can’t accept the truth. We’re all in trouble and it’s your fault,” Caris murmured, but Caelan got the impression the Goddess of Fire was talking directly to Tula and not him.
“How do we fix this? Can we at least reason with Zyros?” Caelan asked.
Caris gave him a pitying look and shook her head. “There’s no reasoning with her. We certainly can’t reach her any longer. The only fix is to defeat Safa and strengthen the cage that holds Zyros. Bonding and then off to see the final god.”