Without another word, Jad slipped out of the room, leaving them to finish pulling their weapons and clothes together.
“Trap?” Eno inquired.
“Possibly,” Rayne murmured. He finished securing the worn leather strap for his staff holster. “But I don’t see how we don’t try to take advantage of this opportunity since they bothered to rearm us.”
Drayce lightly hit Caelan in the shoulder with his hand. “Hey, could you provide us with some cover once we get outside? Not so much wrath of the gods, but maybe a good downpour. Could make it harder for them to spot us.”
A smirk tilted up one corner of Caelan’s mouth. “I think so. I’ll try not to dial it up too high.”
“Pass out and Eno’s carrying you.”
“Better not, or I might just drop you on your head,” Eno grumbled.
“Time is running out,” Rayne snapped. “If we’re separated, where are we meeting up?”
“Morgan and Green Gate,” Eno answered.
“Backup?”
“Rayne’s parents’ place,” Caelan supplied before anyone else could speak.
“What?” Rayne looked as if his glasses were the only thing holding his eyes in his head.
Caelan ticked off on his fingers each point. “One, if we can’t get to Green Gate, we’re obviously being forced in the direction of East Ward. Two, I remember the address you wrote down for Maris, which was in East Ward. And three, your father has been and always will be a Royalist. That house will be safe for us.”
Rayne was not happy—not one bit—about this decision, but he agreed with a single curt nod. “Don’t turn on your phones unless it’s an absolute emergency. I’ll need to check them for tracking software.”
Drayce leaned close to Caelan and loudly whispered, “Doesn’t his brain scare you sometimes?”
Caelan grinned at him. “Not as much as yours.”
There was no chance for witty comebacks as Eno opened the door. He peered out and waved for them to be quiet before slipping along the hall. Rayne and Caelan followed next with Drayce bringing up the rear. He nearly tripped over the long, extended legs of the guard asleep in the chair by the door. His arms were crossed over his stomach and his chin was resting on his chest.
Reluctantly, Drayce pulled a gun with his right hand, his thumb resting on the safety. It was a last resort since the noise would catch the attention of everyone in the house, but he wasn’t going to let anything happen to Caelan or the others.
His stomach churned as his eyes dragged away from the guard. Shooting anyone meant shooting a soldier of Erya. It was one thing to take out New Rosanthe soldiers trying to kill them. There wasn’t much remorse there after all the devastation they’d wrought. But to kill someone who was supposed to be his neighbor, his brother in arms, was sickening.
But how could they all turn on Caelan? That didn’t make any sense to him. Didn’t they understand that Caelan was the only one who could save them? It had to be Chancellor Croft’s fault—the lies she was spreading.
They hurried down the hall, their footsteps muffled by the thick evergreen carpet. On the stairs, Caelan swayed and Drayce grabbed his elbow, pulling him toward the railing until his footing improved.
“Thanks,” Caelan murmured. “Summoning storms and stairs don’t mix.”
Drayce flashed him a reassuring smile. “You work on the storm. I’ll watch you on the stairs.” Keeping Caelan tucked against him, he kept his prince moving safely behind Eno and Rayne as they descended to the first floor.
Everything was eerily silent. No footsteps. No sounds of conversation. Had this Jad put everyone to sleep or poisoned them? By the front door, two guards were slumped on the wall, seemingly asleep on their feet.
Eno led them to the east wing of the house. They stopped and started several times, checking for guards to be awake. There weren’t many, but it looked as though everyone had enjoyed their morning coffee today.
As they neared the rear of the house, a bright-white light flashed beyond the windows and the lights inside the house flickered. A couple of seconds later, thunder crashed loud enough to rattle the pictures on the wall.
“Dude!” Drayce whispered.
“What?” Caelan snapped, his voice low and harsh. “This God of Storms shit doesn’t exactly come with a user manual.”
Drayce bit his bottom lip to keep from snickering. His prince was so damn touchy when it came to using his new gift. But that was Caelan. The guy was a fucking perfectionist at things, which was to be expected since he was constantly in the public eye with everything he did. Of course people figured he’d be perfect at it. It didn’t matter that there was no recorded incident in history of any human wielding the power of Kaes, the God of Storms.
After three tries and two close calls, they finally found a room that had a door leading to a rear patio area. The solarium was empty, but the escape wasn’t ideal. The medium-sized yard was open, giving anyone looking out the windows of the back of the house a clear view of them running toward the gate in the fence.