The second they turned in her direction, she darted away, a huge smile on her gamine face. She appeared as though she couldn’t be more than nine or ten with her smudged cheeks and long, lanky limbs. Who the hell was she?
It didn’t take them more than a block to catch up to her with their longer legs. She pointed at a manhole cover and tossed Caelan a crowbar. “Hurry! Open it!”
Eno grabbed the bar from his hand and quickly pried it open. He barely had the heavy metal cover moved away before she was dropping into the hole with practiced ease. Caelan glanced over her shoulder at Drayce, who simply shrugged.
“It’s gotta be better than staying on the streets.”
Caelan nodded and hurried down the ladder, trying not to think too much about the damp slime that covered the rusting metal. He found the girl standing a few feet away, a flashlight already turned on. She grinned up at him.
“Welcome home, Your Majesty.”
10
Caelan Talos
Caelan followed the girl through the storm sewer, trying to ignore the smell of rot and urine. They all turned on the flashlights on their phones, but there wasn’t much that Caelan honestly wanted to see of the closed-in space. He’d been in some nasty places in his lifetime, but he’d never imagined walking through the sewers of his own city.
Of course, it was considerably better than running from the Empire and potentially getting shot in the back, so he was considering this situation an upgrade.
No one spoke as they trudged along. There was only the constant drip of water echoing off the walls.
After nearly twenty minutes, she paused at another ladder leading up. This one was different from the first. The wood was old and worn, and definitely not installed by city workers. With a wink, she hurried up and easily pushed open a trap door. Caelan reached for the first rung, but a hand closed over his shoulder and pulled him away.
“I’ll go first,” Eno said in a low voice and quickly climbed up the stairs ahead of him. They waited near the bottom of the stairs for a heartbeat, ears straining to hear the sound of fighting or anything to point to this whole charade being a trap.
“It’s clear,” Eno called a second later. Caelan released a sigh of relief before leading the way up the ladder.
He paused at the top and scanned briefly to see that they were entering what appeared to be a basement. Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined all the walls, each filled with boxes. There were two shelves, however, that had jars of preserves and other homemade canned goods. A few other boxes were stacked in the room while a pallet made of thick blankets and a couple of pillows occupied a far corner.
The girl was seated on a table, one leg swinging free while the other foot was braced in front of her with her arm loosely hugging her knee. She was still smiling that same mischievous smile, as if they were playing the best game in the world.
“Who are you?” Caelan demanded, trying to ignore the way Eno winced. Okay, maybe he wasn’t great with kids. He’d had little experience with them. Besides, she just continued to grin and certainly wasn’t perturbed by his question.
“I’m Maris.” She said it like he was supposed to know who she was, but he’d never met her prior to this moment.
“And you know who I am?” Caelan continued.
“Of course,” she giggled. “You’re Prince Caelan.” She pointed a skinny finger at Eno. “That’s Lord Eno Bevyn, your bodyguard.” Her finger darted behind Caelan. “That’s Lord Rayne Laurent, your advisor. And that,” she finished with what almost sounded like a dreamy sigh, “is your best friend in the whole world, Drayce Ladon.” It was definitely a sigh, because she was now flashing enormous eyes at Drayce.
Caelan jerked around to gaze at his friend, whose face was turning red, his eyes wide with hints of panic.
“I read all about you in my favorite magazine,” she continued. She hopped down from the table and scurried over to her pallet. After a couple of seconds of digging under the blankets, she pulled out a wrinkled and worn glossy magazine filled with photos from celebrities and the various royal families of Thia.
On the front cover was a large photo of Caelan from one of his last large-press events that had opened a new wing of the Evrain Talos Hospital. It promised in-depth information on all of the prince’s personal entourage as well as exclusive secrets about Prince Caelan.
Caelan clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, trying to gather this strength for this insanity. He hated his privacy being invaded, and this kind of pap made him sick to his stomach. He twisted to glare at Rayne. “Is this the kind of stuff the public relations department has been approving for me?”