“They’re fine,” Eno murmured.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. The freak storm that brewed up earlier had me worried, but it seems to be passing now.”
Eno glanced up at the sky to see the last of the dark clouds drifting off to the west. He was willing to guess that it was from Caelan as well. Those black clouds had come out of nowhere and it appeared as if there were a few distant lightning strikes, but then the storm fell apart. It was worrisome, tempting Eno to ignore Caelan’s order to free Green Gate in favor of tracking down him and Rayne.
Both men were skilled fighters. He needed to trust them. Add in the power of the God of Storms, and they should be pretty damn unstoppable.
At the very least, Eno was inclined to believe they were in better shape at the moment than him and Drayce.
They’d made it to the opening in Green Gate nearest Uni Gardens after “borrowing” a car. Drayce had cackled like a lunatic and teased him about being the prince’s outlaw, thanks to his ability to hot-wire a vehicle. Of course, after he was done with his teasing, he’d then proceeded to beg Eno to teach him how to do it. That had seemed like a bad idea. Drayce had no trouble getting into hot water without that skill—teaching him felt like he was handing a stick of dynamite to a toddler.
But as they got near the exit into the broad swath of farmland that was to the east of Stormbreak, it was clear that no one was getting through. The Empire had the area cordoned off with thick rows of soldiers, all armed to the teeth.
“Shit!” Drayce shouted and slammed his hand on the door of the car. “Of course now we separate from Caelan. This is the perfect time for him to use his zappy fingers on them.”
Eno mentally groaned but also tucked that description away for a later date to pull out when he needed to annoy Caelan. “While he would have been helpful, I’d prefer to keep him as far from the fighting for as long as possible.”
“How are we supposed to do this?”
That was an excellent question. Eno shifted behind the driver’s seat, wincing at the bullet wound that throbbed deep in his gut. He was in much better shape than he had any right to be, thanks to Caelan. He was still a little tired and got winded faster than he should as his body healed, but he had most of his mobility and would be able to hold his own in a fight.
He probably hadn’t done his body any favors wrestling Rayne this morning before anyone had stirred in the house. There was no way they were going to separate for the gods only knew how long without giving that sexy man something to remember him by. Naturally, Rayne gave a good as he got. Eno rubbed a finger across his bottom lip, swearing he could still feel the tingle of their final kiss.
Movement in the shadows caught Eno’s eye, dragging him from lingering thoughts of Rayne when he was supposed to be working out a plan of attack. Drayce spotted it at the same time.
“What’s that?”
The movement solidified into a group of armed men and women sneaking closer to the heavily guarded gate. From Eno’s count, there were only six of them, and only half of them moved like they had any kind of training. The other half awkwardly held their guns and failed to properly take in their surroundings. This was going to turn ugly fast.
“Trouble,” he muttered, already reaching for the door handle. “I think they’re going to try to hit the gate.”
“Fun! Let’s go help them.” Drayce bounced out of the car, and Eno sucked in a breath to shout at him, but the man surprised him. He slipped over to a deeply inset doorway so that he was out of direct view of anyone. The little guy did have a brain in his head.
Eno silently slid out of the car and joined him. Drayce was going over his gun, checking that the ammo was properly loaded, and his spare magazines were handy.
“We hold back for now. Provide them cover in the event of a retreat,” Eno said.
“You think they’re going to fail?”
Eno grunted. “Six against two dozen trained Empire soldiers. They don’t have a chance.”
“Then why…?”
“They’re desperate.”
The Empire was trying to squeeze and starve the citizens of Stormbreak, likely to force the remains of the government to give in to their wishes.
But in all of this, where the hell was Erya’s army? Where was the might of the country’s impressive military to fight New Rosanthe?
Even if the majority had been sent to the Ilon border to help with other Empire issues, wouldn’t they have been called back by now? It didn’t make any sense that the people of Stormbreak had been left to fend for themselves.