Embrace the Light (Godstone Saga 5)

“So…does the king have any problem with things getting bloody?” Adrian drawled. He glanced over his shoulder at Eno, one eyebrow arched while he rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb.

Eno nearly laughed at the question. “No. If your safest option is to kill the kidnappers, do it. They left you for dead and they have the king’s boyfriend. I’m sure Caelan just wants him back safe and sound. How it gets done is up to us.”

“Got it. I’ll take the lead. You and Davi wait here for my signal,” Adrian said and then jogged across the alley to the temple right next to the shrine for the broken toys god.

He made a grab for the former thief but missed. “What fucking signal?” he hissed, but Adrian grinned and flashed him a thumbs up.

Davi snorted and leaned against the wall where Adrian had stood a second ago. “Do all your missions go like this?”

“No,” he growled at his brother. “Adrian is new and far too fucking independent.” But that likely came from the fact that Adrian was accustomed to working alone as a thief.

From their spot, they tracked Adrian as he slipped into some darker shadows and then smoothly over a low wall that separated the other temple’s grounds from those belonging to the God of Broken Toys. He didn’t make a freaking sound, quieter than even the wind. Adrian briefly disappeared from sight and a couple of seconds later, the guard seated on the stairs gasped, grabbing at his throat. A shadow passed over the man, and he disappeared below the wall that obscured their view.

“What the…” Davi whispered.

“I’ll give him that he’s fast and quiet.”

“Like a fucking ghost. I get it. Don’t piss off the thief.”

“Royal Guard,” Eno corrected. Regardless of Adrian’s past, he was now and always would be of the Royal Guard of Eyra. Adrian was prepared to give his life for the crown, the Godstone, and his country.

Nearly a minute passed before Adrian stood up and turned to face them. He held up two fingers and motioned toward the rear door.

“I’m guessing we’re to follow in two minutes,” Davi murmured.

“He’ll try to clear the first floor for us. Drayce will likely be held up on the second floor.”

Adrian didn’t get his two minutes.

In fact, he couldn’t have been in there a full minute when gunshots rang out. From the sound, there had to be a lot more than the remaining four kidnappers it should have been. Eno swore, his heart leaping into his throat as he broke into a run, Davi right on his heels. They’d just gotten the damn man out of the hospital. There was no way Eno was sending him straight back there.

As they ran through the opening in the wall, Eno spotted the dead guard, his neck and chest covered in blood and his eyes staring blindly up at the black night sky. He grabbed the gun that was still in the man’s holster on his hip. Adrian hadn’t even given him the chance to pull his weapon.

Eno would have preferred his sword, but that wasn’t a smart option in this kind of close quarters, and he wasn’t nearly as skilled at throwing knives as Rayne.

He took the lead, charging up the three crumbling stone stairs. Lifting one booted foot, he kicked in the door, sending it flying inward and slamming against the wall. Davi was plastered to the opposite wall for protection, his own gun raised in front of him.

“Just got to be a badass,” Davi laughed.

He barely heard the comment over the sound of the guns and the bullets hitting the walls. There was no one in the small room except for another dead body. His throat was slit and blood soaked into his clothes.

Eno led the way into the temple but stopped sharply at the next doorway to what turned out to be a small kitchenette for the employees of the shrine with the requisite coffeemaker, microwave, and toaster oven for hot lunches. Of course, all those things were now broken and pockmarked with bullet holes. The sunny yellow walls weren’t looking any better as they now contained a number of holes as well. Adrian was crouched below a counter, replacing the magazine in the butt of his gun with a fresh one.

“Problem?” Eno called out.

Adrian’s head popped up and the man calmly rolled his eyes as if he wasn’t trapped. The other side of the counter led to a wide hallway and likely the rest of the shrine for the lost god. “Poor timing on my part. I’m rusty,” Adrian moaned.

“Drayce?”

“My guess is second floor,” Adrian confirmed. “At least two ran down the stairs, but I heard more footsteps. I’d say there’s at least one more up there with him.”

Eno frowned and leaned his shoulders against the wall. Could one of them go back outside and climb up to a second-floor window? No. There was no roof or anything they could grab into. They would need a ladder. Adrian might have been able to do it if he wasn’t already pinned behind the counter.

“How—” Eno started to ask, but Adrian was ready with an answer without needing a question.

“Davi and I will cover you. Come out and make an immediate right!”

“Got it,” Eno barked.