Caelan shook his head. “I haven’t fed the storm for a few blocks now. It has to run out on its own.”
Drayce groaned and looked around. “We need some kind of awning or overhang. Just to get out of the rain for a minute. Then we can get our bearings and figure some shit out.”
“Oh…um…there’s a spot not far from here. In the next alley.” Levi lifted a hand and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
“Great. Lead on,” Drayce instructed. They hurried down the empty street, watching in every direction for any sign of Empire soldiers or even Erya soldiers. Drayce wasn’t entirely sure if he welcomed them, though. How was he supposed to tell who was on Caelan’s side and who was on Croft’s side? This was getting exhausting.
After another block, they came to a faded red-and-white striped awning at the rear of a bakery. The scent of yeasty dough and sugar were long gone from the air. Now everything smelled like wet garbage.
Drayce shoved his hair back from his face and wiped the water from his eyes. They weren’t getting any drier, but at least the rain wasn’t pounding on his skull any longer. Beside him, Caelan shivered as he returned his sword to his scabbard.
“Where the fuck are we?” Drayce demanded.
“Uni Gardens, I believe,” Caelan replied.
“Still?”
“You’re near the edge of Uni and East Ward. The wall is about a block that way.” Levi pointed toward what felt like south to Drayce, but he was so damn turned around at this point, he was lucky he could recognize the sky from the ground.
“Since we found Levi, do you think we should head to one of the Erya secret strongholds?” Drayce inquired. “They’ll at least have weapons and a way to get in contact with Tomas. Possibly even the General.”
Lines dug deep in Caelan’s brow, sending a few drops of water down the bridge of his nose. “No,” he answered after a second. “It’s tempting, but Rayne and Eno will be heading to our agreed-upon spot. I don’t want to miss them. Particularly if one of them has gotten hurt.”
That was an excellent point. Caelan’s limited healing skills had already proved handy. Drayce could only imagine how they were going to improve after he fully bonded with the Goddess of Life. Rayne and Eno had stayed behind to cover them. They had to be okay and headed to Rayne’s parents’. Caelan was right. They needed to find the rest of their companions.
“Then we can take Levi with us,” Drayce suggested. “Once we meet up with Rayne and Eno, he can take us to where the other fighters are.”
Caelan nodded. “That will work.”
Drayce grinned at Levi, whose expression was looking distant and distracted again. Probably still starstruck that he was now being included with the king’s party. He clapped Levi on the shoulder, startling him. “Sound good to you?”
“Yeah. Sure. That works.”
“Do you know where Herald Court is?” Caelan inquired.
“I…um…I think that’s close to King’s Square.”
“Figures,” Drayce muttered. “We’ll have to be extra careful.” He checked the magazine of the weapon in his hand and swore. Empty. Fantastic. He tossed it aside. No point in carrying it if he couldn’t use it. “Levi, you got any spare ammo on you?”
Levi patted the pockets of his pants and finally coughed up a clip for him. Drayce frowned at it. The bullets were the right caliber, but the magazine itself was the wrong size. He would need to switch the bullets to his own clip.
Kneeling on the wet pavement, Drayce pulled out his gun and popped the empty magazine. He started slipping each of the bullets out of Levi’s clip and feeding them into his own. Tedious work and it would get him only one working gun, but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing.
Above him, there was a slash through the air and a clang as something metallic slamming into brick. Beside him Caelan fell over and Drayce gazed up to find Levi with sword in hand, a look of red-faced rage twisting up his features.
“What the fuck!” Drayce shouted, heart slamming into his rib cage. Had…had Levi just tried to kill Caelan?
“Stay out of this, Drayce!” Levi snarled. He took a step toward Caelan, who seemed to be frozen on the ground. He sat there, the upper half of his body now out in the rain.
“The fuck I will.” The awkward squat he’d been in and the closeness of Levi made it impossible to actually get to his feet in time. The best he could do was to push off in Caelan’s direction, putting himself between his prince and Levi. “What the hell are you doing? This is the king!”
“And he’s the reason my entire family is dead. My parents, my sister—they worked in the Towers. They all died the day the Empire attacked!” Levi screamed. He blinked and tears streamed down his damp face. “I like you, Drayce, but I will fucking kill you to get to him.”