“That is what I fear,” Noemi whispered. “It’s what Amara feared as well.”
“And if the Emperor gets his hands on the Blood Stone?” Rayne inquired.
“Then I think there will be no saving any of us. All of Thia will be doomed.”
The weight of this new knowledge came crushing down on his chest and he struggled to breathe. It was more than the loss of his mother and his kingdom. The Empire had the Godstone, and there was no question that the Emperor had much bigger plans. He wanted the Blood Stone. He wanted all of Thia.
A soft knock at the conservatory door tore Caelan from his thoughts. His head jerked up in time to see the same page who had waved them into the room was now crossing toward them. The young man bowed deep, his voice a respectful whisper.
“I apologize, Your Majesty, for my intrusion, but it is time for your meeting with the Minister of Defense. He is waiting for you now in your office.”
Noemi nodded. “In a moment.” She turned her attention to Caelan and captured his hand. “We will talk again. You and your party can remain here in Sirelis as long as you wish.”
Caelan seemed to wake from his trance of wild thoughts and squeezed her hand. “One question—does Prince Shey know?”
Noemi nodded. “Yes. The night I learned of Queen Amara’s fate, I told him everything that I just told you. With what lay ahead of us, I thought it best.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Caelan murmured. His brain was completely on autopilot, but it didn’t seem like Queen Noemi was too surprised by it. With a final understanding smile, she stood and walked out of the conservatory with the page.
When the door shut, Rayne leaned across the table toward Caelan, his expression tense. “Caelan? What do you think?”
“Honestly…I don’t know. It’s too much. More than I was expecting. We need time to think on this. To come up with new plans.”
“Eno and Drayce?”
At least that was one answer he knew. “We’re telling them everything.” He met Rayne’s eyes, decision made. “This is worse than we imagined. If they are going to risk their lives for me, for Erya, it’s only right for them to know the entire story.” He forced a smirk he didn’t quite feel. “Plus, we can use all the brainpower on this one that we can get. Even Drayce’s.”
Rayne made a show of rolling his eyes, but Caelan knew he was teasing when he muttered, “May the gods help us.”
18
Drayce Ladon
Why the hell did Eno have to take such large steps? It was bad enough that he seemed to tower over Drayce, but each of his strides was one and a half of Drayce’s, which meant that every so often Drayce had to take a couple of skipping steps to catch up with the man. That meant he had no time to check out his surroundings, soak in the sights, and generally enjoy being in the city of Sirelis.
Of course, his outing with Caelan the other day had largely cured him of that curiosity. There was nothing like being accused of being a spy and getting locked up in a military jail to leave a person wanting to remain hiding under his bed.
Speaking of, he was already missing his new bed. He’d heard Caelan and Rayne leaving their temporary apartment this morning just before Eno showed up to dump him out of his bed and onto the floor. No, literally. Onto the floor. Freaking monster.
Drayce went through the motions, showering and dressing. Thought didn’t kick in until he’d sucked down his first glorious coffee of the day.
And then Eno had him out on the street, leaving the palace through a secret exit that put them in a narrow but clean alley.
They’d been walking for over twenty minutes, putting more and more distance between themselves and the palace. The buildings were getting closer together and more rundown as they progressed. Shops were boarded up here and there, or their wares started looking more basic. That didn’t worry Drayce; he’d frequented neighborhoods just like this back home plenty of times. These types of areas had the best dive bars and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Also, dragging Caelan to these parts of town was a surefire way to drive Rayne insane, and that was just too much fun to pass up.
The only problem Drayce saw was that Eno’s course was taking them close to the harbor, and Drayce didn’t want to get anywhere near the lighthouse. It didn’t matter if Prince Shey had already vouched for them. He didn’t want to press his luck.
“Are you sure you’re going the right way?” Drayce inquired, trying to not sound nervous. Just curious.
Eno glanced over his shoulder and smirked. “Not feeling safe with me?”
“That’s not the problem, and you know it. This reminds me of the neighborhood we visited back home to go to the Pink Pig.” Drayce skipped up to walk next to Eno, watching his smirk turn into a full grin.