Eno grabbed Caelan’s shoulder and jerked him backward while Eno launched himself forward, knife in hand. Caelan’s heart stopped in his chest and only seemed to jolt into beating when his shoulders slammed into a brick wall of a nearby building. Where the fuck had he come from?
Caelan tried to follow the action as Eno fought with their attacker, but he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head in time to see another figure in black racing toward him, knife glinting in the light cast by a streetlamp. Cursing under his breath that they’d left their weapons at the palace. It had seemed rude to run through Sirelis fully armed. Now Caelan wanted nothing more than to have his sword in his hand.
Snatching up a metal trash can lid, Caelan ducked under the man’s arm and slammed the lid across his face with a loud metallic clang. The man staggered, struggling to keep his feet. Caelan stepped up and smashed the lid over his head, sending him into a parked car. As the man regained his feet, something silver flashed past him and a knife embedded itself in the man’s chest, straight in his heart.
Caelan twisted on a gasp to find Eno straightening from where he’d thrown the knife. He crossed by Caelan and pulled the knife free. With his empty hand, he brushed his fingers over the man’s eyelids, closing them.
“What the hell?” Caelan panted. He dropped the metal lid with a loud clatter and wiped his face. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was wiping away sweat or blood, possibly both. Either way, he didn’t want to know.
Eno bent and picked up the knife that had fallen from the attacker’s hand. He tilted the blade toward Caelan so he could see the eagle stamp for the royal house of New Rosanthe on the metal. “Empire assassins.”
“The Lord High Commander isn’t going to wait for Queen Noemi to hand me over. He’s sent his assassins in.”
“We need to be careful and stick to the shadows,” Eno said. This time he moved into the lead toward the harbor.
“Any chance Drayce and Rayne were kind enough to grab our gear?” Caelan asked as he chased after Eno.
“Damn. They better have.”
The race was now on. Caelan followed Eno as closely as he possibly could, darting across the street and down alleys. Hiding meant they couldn’t take a direct route.
But hiding only did so much good. It was as if an alert had been sent out that Prince Caelan Talos was on the loose in the streets of Sirelis. Hunting season was open. They were seemingly crawling out of the woodwork. They ran into four more small groups on their way.
Caelan was snatching up weapons from the dead men as he moved. The gun he’d recovered had only three bullets left, but it felt better than the poorly balanced short sword in his hand. If this was the kind the weaponry the Empire was supplying its assassins, it was surprising they had conquered as many people as they had.
“Do you think Rayne and Drayce are having the same problems?” Caelan panted as they hid inside an old warehouse two blocks over from the docks. The place was largely falling apart around them. The ceiling was mostly missing. The windows were broken out of half the frames and the other half was boarded up. The place smelled of alcohol, piss, and mildew.
“Yes.” Eno held up his phone to show a quick text from Rayne reporting that they had encountered assassins.
“Fuck,” Caelan snarled. He paced a short distance away from Eno, trying to keep to the deepest shadows as they waited to hear from their companions. Eno had already texted their location. Either they would join them in the warehouse or Rayne would text a new location.
“They’ll be okay. Both Rayne and Drayce have been trained for this,” Eno said calmly.
Caelan shook his head. “I was just thinking about something that Shey told me recently about Rayne.”
“Huh?” Eno perked up. “What? What’s up with Rayne?”
“No, he just said that Rayne was seeing someone.” Caelan sighed. “I hate to say that I never even considered it. Rayne…well, he’s always been there. Like you and Drayce. All three of you sort of jump into whatever insanity is going on in my life. I take it for granted that you’re just going to be there for me. I don’t consider that you might have a life that I’m interfering with.” Caelan spun on his heel, slashing the horrible Empire-made blade through the air. “What about this person that Rayne’s seeing? Does this person know what’s going on in Rayne’s life? If Rayne just disappears or stops calling, are they going to understand?”
Eno’s low chuckle surprised Caelan, and he lowered the blade as he turned to where Eno was peering out one of the broken windows at the street. A smirk was lifting one corner of his mouth. “I don’t feel like you take us for granted. We all knew what we were getting into when we became part of your personal entourage.” Eno glanced over at him and smiled. “This is more than a job for me and Rayne. We believe in you. We want to help you to protect our home.”