“But who’s traveling with you?”
“Just Eno and Rayne.” Caelan pointed to each man as he named them. “I’m traveling incognito. Too many bodyguards attract too much attention.”
Drayce jumped to his feet to tower over Caelan, pointing at the prince so that he nearly poked him in the eye. “Oh, hell no! There’s no way you’re leaving here without me. Eno’s been training me. I can act as a bodyguard too. No one is going to think it strange to see four guys on a road trip. I’ll go talk to the queen myself—ah!”
Caelan grabbed Drayce’s shirt as he tried to step around the prince and march to the door, pulling him back down on the couch. “Idiot,” Caelan said with an affectionate laugh. “I already cleared it with her.”
“Really?”
Caelan’s smile dimmed. “It’s going to be incredibly dangerous even if this isn’t a trap. We’ll have to travel light and fast. I didn’t want to volunteer you.”
This time it was Drayce who shoved Caelan. “Asshole. Of course I’m going. Road trip, baby!”
Rayne rolled his eyes. Only Drayce would dare to call the Crown Prince of Erya “asshole.” The term had become a type of brotherly endearment between them, and Caelan frequently called Drayce “idiot.”
Eno made a noise and Rayne glanced up, surprised to find the bodyguard staring at him, amused by Rayne’s annoyance. Because yes, of course, he was the only one concerned with propriety when it came to the royal family.
Swallowing a sigh, Rayne turned his attention to Caelan. “So, we leave by boat—”
“Train, actually,” Caelan corrected.
“Oh, thank all the little dead gods.” Drayce sighed loudly and flopped onto the couch so that he was half lying on Caelan until the prince pushed him off.
Caelan jerked his thumb toward his friend. “Drayce gets seasick. A couple of extra cars are being added to the weekly export train as we speak. A ship will be taking off from port at the same time, but we’ll be the special cargo on the train. Hagen texted me the details while I was walking over here. I don’t want to know how they managed all of this so quickly.”
“Train is going to take longer,” Eno interjected.
Caelan hummed his agreement. “True. An extra full day as we cut through the mountains in the north of the Ordas, but no one is searching for us. The ship going to Sirelis is extra, unplanned. People will notice it. The train is the regular weekly train. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Then we should make preparations immediately, so we don’t miss our train,” Rayne announced.
Drayce jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together. “This is going to be great. The four of us off on an adventure. Seeing new places. Maybe we can even find Eno a pretty girl to put a smile on his face for once.”
Rayne opened his mouth to remind Drayce that this wasn’t a vacation, but Caelan caught his eye with a shake of his head. As the prince wished. Drayce would be hit with the reality of their situation soon enough.
“When you say ‘travel light,’ how light are we talking?” Drayce asked.
Eno wrapped his arm around Drayce’s shoulders and walked with him to the door. “If we need to suddenly bug out from where we are, you need to be able to carry all your stuff on your back, because I’m not carrying your shit.”
“What about my guitar? Sling it over my shoulder. Helps our cover as tourists. I can woo the ladies with my music…”
Rayne didn’t hear Eno’s response as they left his apartment and closed the door behind them. He looked over at Caelan to find his expression had turned dark and worried again.
“I don’t like this plan any more than you do,” Caelan softly admitted.
“Did she offer any additional information that might help us?”
Caelan shook his head. “Only a warning. My double will be active as long as possible to shield us. I know her. She won’t break that cover until it’s absolutely necessary.”
Which meant that if Caelan were captured, there would be no quick help coming from Erya. They were entirely on their own.
4
Eno Bevyn
Eno stood in front of the Godstone, feeling awkward and not quite sure what to do with himself. The room where the stone was held wasn’t particularly big or even ostentatious, considering the important item it held. The room was sort of octagonally shaped with walls made of perfectly smooth black marble. The same flawless marble covered the floors with a highly polished shine. The lighting was all recessed and hidden so that there was just a sort of glow to the room. It all left him feeling like he was floating in a sea of darkness.
In the dead center of the room was the stone. There was enough room for a person to comfortably walk all the way around it without touching it or the wall.