His advisor and friend—though he was sometimes reluctant to admit it—let out one of his own long-suffering sighs. “I used the tracking software in your cell phone.”
Caelan narrowed his eyes on Rayne. “And you’ve not had me chipped?”
“No, I have not, though I’m sorely tempted.”
“Asshole,” Caelan muttered as he finished climbing into the car, sliding across so Rayne could sit next to him. After the driver shut the door, he glanced over at Rayne’s expressionless face, but there was something in his demeanor—relaxed shoulders or maybe an amused glint in his jade-green eyes—that left Caelan sure he was inwardly laughing. He’d known Rayne for about six years and had gotten damn good at reading the man.
As the driver climbed into the front seat and started to whisk them off to the palace, Caelan raised the privacy divider. He knew there was no point in getting Rayne to talk about anything interesting if there was even the slightest chance of anyone overhearing him.
“Did you have an enjoyable evening?” Rayne politely inquired the second the divider was completely up.
Caelan shrugged. “Not bad.” He’d had only one drink, but he hadn’t gone there to get drunk. Sometimes it was just nice to be out among people and watch them interacting without them knowing who he was. “Have you ever gone out to a bar like that? You know, in the LBC time.”
Otherwise known as the “life before Caelan” time.
Caelan didn’t like to think about how Rayne had come into his life. Maybe he had been trained and hand-selected, but he was still there now based on who he was. There was no doubt in Caelan’s mind that there had been others prior to Rayne, but none of them had lasted because Caelan hadn’t gotten along with them.
The same went for Eno.
He couldn’t have people around him he was unable to trust, didn’t feel at least bonded to as a friend. And despite Rayne’s stiff propriety, the man was definitely a friend. Caelan could depend on him, trust him to not go running back to his mother with every little story of his exploits. Not that there were many.
And he liked the idea that in some small way, Rayne trusted and depended on him too.
“Not as my personal choice,” Rayne admitted.
Caelan snickered as he slouched lower in his seat. “What is that even supposed to mean? Were you tied up and forced to go to a bar for fun?”
“I might have accompanied some friends to a bar like that during my university years, but I wasn’t there because I wished to be there, but rather I wanted to spend some time with my friends and that was where they wished to be.”
Caelan squinted at Rayne, trying to imagine the stiff man in a bar, laughing and drinking with friends.
“What?” Rayne inquired sharply.
“I can’t see it. I can’t even imagine what your friends might look like.”
Rayne rolled his eyes, and Caelan struggled not to laugh right in his face. Okay, so maybe part of Rayne’s appeal was the fact that Caelan was so good at annoying the man.
“Then you will be shocked to hear that my friends, LBC, were quite like you, Eno, and Drayce.”
“Glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” Caelan teased.
“Apparently so.”
A comfortable silence fell, and Caelan’s gaze drifted out the window in time for him to see the car glide through the front entrance without a pause. Behind them, the gates would be swinging immediately shut. Eno would have Drayce safely in hand by now, and they’d be making their way to the palace.
It was on the tip of Caelan’s tongue to inquire if Rayne knew what the queen wanted. He probably did. The man seemed to know a little bit of everything that was happening around the palace and the world. There was no point in asking; Rayne would just tell him to wait until he spoke with the queen.
His gut said that it was likely to do with New Rosanthe. The Empire was slowly conquering the world, with the countries of Damardor and Uris-Oladul having fallen to the Empire in his lifetime. Most of the remaining countries were allied with Erya, which made for some tense moments as everyone waited to see what the emperor would do next.
Not that Queen Amara would send him to deal with anything Empire related. It was more likely that the son or daughter of a visiting dignitary was in Stormbreak, and it would be his job to dance attendance while she soothed fears. Lovely.
There had to be better uses of his time, but there was no point in arguing and even less reason to bitch at Rayne over it when there was nothing he could do about whatever she had planned.
Caelan was well acquainted with his mother’s plans. Sometimes she was forthright about them and told him to his face, and other times, he could feel strings being pulled in the shadows to maneuver people and events around him. For the most part, he believed it was all done to prepare him to one day take the throne, but he would have preferred the forthright approach in all things. There were enough secrets in the palace and people looking to manipulate him into serving their needs.