“Maybe we should just leave you on the train during the meetings,” Caelan grumbled as he dropped his hand to his stomach.
“Nooooo! I can behave!” Drayce whined. Rustling cloth and a shifting of shadows indicated that Drayce had rolled onto his side. “You know you need me with you anyway. Just to remind you to smile every once in a while. Besides, you can’t leave me behind. I may never get another chance to see Caspagir and Sirelis.”
Caelan grinned to himself. “We’ll see.”
There was no way he was leaving Drayce behind. His best friend was the only thing preserving his sanity on this trip. Drayce had a way of finding fun no matter where he went. He was good at enjoying simple things, something that Caelan was too skilled at forgetting.
“You know…doesn’t the queen of Caspagir have a daughter? Princess Fiona, right? And she’s about our age.”
Caelan groaned again, not caring if Eno or Rayne could hear him. “Do I even want to know where you’re going with this?”
Drayce’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you think you’d have to marry the princess to, you know, cement an alliance between Erya and Caspagir?”
“You’re insane,” Caelan grumbled, though he couldn’t complain too much since he’d asked his mother roughly the same damn thing when he’d seen her before they left.
“No, I’m not. History is loaded with stories from all the kingdoms, republics, and principalities of royalty marrying other royalty for the purposes of alliances.”
“Yeah, and there are lots of examples of royal retainers getting shipped off or married off for the same purpose.”
“Awww…are you threatening to make me a retainer again?” Drayce teased.
“That or I’m going to make you the servant who has to clean my bathroom every day.”
Drayce snorted. “I dare you.”
Not. A. Chance.
Caelan had no doubt that he’d find himself glued to the toilet or the shower booby-trapped.
“I’m not marrying Princess Fiona for an alliance or any reason,” Caelan said firmly.
“What about Prince Shey?” Drayce inquired. His voice was innocent, but Caelan could see Drayce’s evil grin in his head.
Prince Shey was rather magnificent. Where Princess Fiona was all chestnut brown hair and milky alabaster skin, her brother was pale white-blond hair and rich mocha-brown skin. Shey was ten years older than his sister and Caelan, his appearance too rough and cold to be called beautiful. He looked as rugged and dangerous as she looked sweet and angelic.
Prince Shey might have had the starring role in more than a few of his dirtier fantasies. While Caelan didn’t want to find himself married to Shey, he certainly wouldn’t mind being pinned down and fucked hard.
Of course, he hadn’t had any experience being fucked hard or soft. Sex wasn’t easy to come by, being an extremely shy person as well as someone deathly afraid of a scandal leaking that the Crown Prince of Erya was engaging in sex with random strangers. That was not a conversation he was having with his mother.
But more than that, he’d lost all interest in a random hookup with a stranger when his heart had already settled on who it wanted.
Shey felt like a safe fantasy, though. He was another prince. He would understand the difficulties of privacy and connection. It would never happen, but Caelan could daydream.
Drayce’s poorly muffled laughter pulled Caelan out of his fantasies.
“Shut it,” Caelan muttered.
“You got lost in thoughts of the man’s mouth, didn’t you?” Drayce teased.
He was not answering that, even if it was the truth. He shouldn’t have been thinking about Shey’s mouth or anything. Either Shey’s kingdom was in trouble and Erya would help, or Shey and his family were plotting to betray Caelan. He wasn’t sure which was the most likely case, but neither left room for sexual fun.
“There will be no marrying. I—shit!”
Metal wheels squealed loudly on the tracks, and Caelan was thrown backward into the wall of the small bedroom. At the same time, Drayce shouted and there was a loud thud on the ground as his friend was tossed out of his bunk and onto the floor. For some reason, the engineer had slammed on the brakes, bringing the train to a hard stop.
“What the fuck!” Drayce complained from the floor. “Why’d we stop? And like that?”
Caelan’s heart raced as he tried to get out of the tangle of blankets. “It can’t be for a good reason. We need to see what’s going on.”
Beside him, Drayce’s shadow rose up and pushed the door open, sending light pouring into the small bedroom. Caelan turned his head away and squinted against the sudden brightness. Pausing long enough to shove his feet into his worn black boots with the thick rubber soles, Caelan joined Drayce in the private car in time to see Rayne disappear into the next car, heading toward the engine.
“What’s going on?” Caelan demanded.