That was a massive understatement. Their world was being torn apart and put together in strange and unexpected ways. But Rayne had to believe they would find a way through it together. For all their sakes.
20
Caelan Talos
“You have the look of a man who could use a drink.”
At the sound of Prince Shey’s voice, Calean straightened in the chair he’d been lounging in. He turned to see the prince strolling onto the balcony with the neck of a wine bottle clenched in one hand and a pair of wineglasses in the other.
He’d been seated on the balcony for nearly two hours now, watching the sun set and the lights brighten across the city of Sirelis. After the return of Rayne and Eno to their chambers, they’d had a long discussion about the godstones and the current fate of their home. Some of the discussion had devolved into shouting and maybe even a few threats.
It hadn’t been a pretty talk. His shoulders ached under the new heavy weight of his position of king. Calean was still recovering from learning there were so many other godstones in the world, but Eno had refused to even hear of it. He’d simply refused to believe it for several minutes. The man had always been stubborn, but this seemed to be extreme even for him. How could he not believe in Caelan’s senses and abilities?
But it wasn’t about not believing in Caelan so much as an unwillingness to have his entire perception of their world uprooted and flipped on its head.
For some strange reason, Drayce seemed to take it all in stride, as if it wasn’t a huge shock. But then, Drayce had always had the ability to have unbelievable things roll right off his back.
When they’d finally stopped arguing over the existence of multiple godstones, they moved on to arguing about what to do about the Empire in their home. They had too little information about the Empire’s weapon, how many troops they had at their disposal, or even the arrangement of the Empire’s forces.
So far, all Caelan had been able to do on that front was to call Tomas, which seemed to settle the old soldier, and reiterate Eno’s instructions to force the Empire to keep the stone in Stormbreak.
Until Caelan could cook up some firepower that allowed them to stand toe-to-toe with the Empire, there wasn’t much he could do. He did have one idea, but it felt like a long shot.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Shey suddenly apologized. He bowed deeply to Caelan, and it took Caelan a moment to realize that Shey was correcting himself. He’d first addressed Caelan as an equal but then remembered that Caelan was a king now. A bit of a king without a kingdom, but a king all the same. Caelan’s own mind shied away from the title at times, but there was no avoiding the responsibilities. Not that he wished to. He only wanted to protect his people.
But when it came to Shey and his own friends, he preferred to be just Caelan for a little while. Especially since Shey had at least ten years on him. It simply felt strange to have Shey bowing and addressing him so formally when they’d been seen as equals not that long ago.
“Caelan, remember,” he corrected Shey.
“Oh. Yes. Sorry.”
A bark of laughter jumped from Caelan, and he was left trying to ignore the bitter taste of it on his tongue. He waved Shey forward with a crooked smile. “Please sit. A drink sounds amazing.”
Shey instantly relaxed and closed the distance between them. Dropping into the seat next to Caelan, he made short work of opening the wine and pouring them each a glass.
Lifting his glass, Shey toasted, “To a quick end of the Empire menace and a slow death to the Emperor for all the suffering he has caused.”
Caelan clinked his glass against Shey’s. That was a toast he could drink to.
They lounged in their chairs, allowing the silence to settle over them before Caelan’s mind finally found a neutral enough topic to start with.
“I’m sorry that I’ve not been able to greet Princess Fiona since I arrived at the palace,” Caelan said.
Shey’s smile stiffened a little. “Yes, I know she’s quite upset at missing you. She’s the social butterfly of us all and enjoys entertaining guests, but my mother thought it best if she went to stay at our winter home in the mountains for a time.”
Caelan nodded and grunted softly. It was something he understood far too well, considering his own mother had sent him to Sirelis when she’d suspected there would be trouble.
“When the queen first told me of my trip to Caspagir, I jokingly asked if she was arranging my marriage to you. I had no idea that you had already dated my advisor. That was a shock.” Caelan flashed Shey a quick grin. “In truth, I’ve always struggled to imagine Rayne dating anyone. He’s always so serious and focused on his work.”