His advisor might have said something else, but Caelan was too aware of Drayce’s lips moving across the palm of his hand followed by the long, slow swipe of his tongue. His own brain shorted out as all the blood in his body rushed to his dick. Oh gods, how would it feel to have that tongue sliding across other parts of him?
Drayce huffed a laugh, sending his hot breath dancing across the damp skin and Caelan ripped his hand away before he could moan.
“Are you three done goofing off?” Eno demanded, shattering the moment. Thank goodness. Now was not a good time to be running around with a fucking hard-on. He really doubted Drayce understood the effect he had on him.
The wicked grin Drayce shot him as Rayne walked over to join Eno was a pretty good indication that Drayce knew exactly where Caelan’s thoughts had drifted, though. Did this mean Drayce was willing to go further than a few stolen kisses? No, they’d agreed this had to wait. The focus was on the Empire and the godstones. He couldn’t let himself be distracted by Drayce’s mouth and all the wonderful things he wanted to do to it.
“Let’s move. We’re only a couple of blocks away,” Eno directed. He took the lead and Caelan immediately followed on his heels with Rayne and Drayce behind them.
The streets were empty in the early morning hours. The sun was just peeking above the horizon, painting the sky brilliant shades of blue, pink, and orange. Yesterday’s storm had cleared away the clouds, and today held the promise of being a typical hot summer day. The kind of day where people would slip away from the city and drive down the coast to one of the beaches.
Caelan hated seeing this barrenness. There should have been signs of shop owners preparing their stores for a new business day. There should have been people leaving their homes and heading toward King’s Square to start another day of governing their great kingdom. There should have been street cleaners, police officers on patrol, and others going about their lives.
But it was a wasteland. Tall, empty buildings. Or worse, buildings filled with people too afraid to come outside, in fear for their lives.
At the next block, Eno halted them again, but this time his hand moved slowly to the hilt of his sword. Caelan fought the urge to edge closer to try to see what had put Eno on high alert. Before his fingers could tighten on the weapon, he relaxed and straightened.
Caelan spotted Tomas stepping out of an open doorway, his hands held open and down at his sides, showing that he was coming to them with no ill intentions. Eno took a step toward him, but Drayce reached past Caelan and caught Eno’s wrist.
“Levi,” Drayce simply said in a low, hard voice.
Eno frowned, but in the end, he gave Drayce a brief nod. The warning was clear. They’d trusted Levi as a child and defender of Erya, and he’d tried to kill Caelan. No one was to be trusted completely except for the four of them.
Caelan hung back with Rayne and Drayce protecting him while Eno crossed the street to meet with Tomas. The old soldier’s eyes met and locked with Caelan for several seconds. He prayed it really was relief he was seeing in the man’s face. He’d met Tomas numerous times while living in Stormbreak. When he’d been training, the man had been a near-constant presence in his life. Caelan never thought Tomas would be a person he couldn’t trust, but the Empire’s attack on his home proved that he had to be extremely cautious.
At last, Tomas dragged his eyes to Eno as they spoke and Caelan could breathe again.
“Rayne, does it ever stop being exhausting?” Caelan asked quietly.
His advisor kept his eyes moving around the area, searching for attackers, but he tilted his head at Caelan to indicate that he was listening. “What’s that?”
“Wondering if you can trust someone.”
“I learned long ago to work under the assumption that no one is trustworthy until you understand exactly what they want most in life.” He paused and the hint of a smile lightened his expression. “However, the exhaustion fades when you surround yourself with the few people you can trust without question. Lean on them and let them protect you.”
“We’ve got you, Cael,” Drayce added.
The next breath was easier, and so was the one after that. They had his back both figuratively and literally. Their goal was the same—the protection and salvation of Erya.
Eno turned toward them and nodded. Drayce started first, a gun in one hand. As they reached Tomas, the Royal Guard nodded briefly and led them down another street and through the side entrance of a small warehouse. Caelan thought he caught a glimpse of some armed men on the rooftops, watching the street, but they were past them too fast to get a good count.