“Is that Adrian Westergren?” Noemi inquired after a moment of silence.
“He is. Now that Eno Bevyn has become another of my advisors, Adrian has stepped into the position of personal bodyguard.”
“Shey told me about meeting him and fighting with him in the Ordas. Shey spoke very highly of him.” Queen Noemi’s voice caught on the second mention of her son’s name, and she drew in a shuddering breath as if trying to steady herself.
Caelan put his mug aside before he could take his first sip and picked up one of Noemi’s hands, squeezing it.
“Please, Noemi, tell me what’s going on. You know I will help you any way that I can.”
“It’s…tricky. I don’t want to put you or Erya in a bad position. You know I wouldn’t bother you with this if I wasn’t worried.”
“I know. I know.” Caelan patted her hand with his free one. “Tell me what’s happened, and we’ll figure something out together.”
As he said the words, he could hear his inner Rayne growling at him. His poor advisor hadn’t even left town yet, and Caelan was already threatening to throw the kingdom into chaos. This had to be a new record for him.
But in his defense, this was Caspagir—their truest, most stalwart ally. If they couldn’t help Caspagir and the royal family, what was the point of having allies?
“Shey has disappeared,” Noemi blurted out.
“What?” Caelan gasped only to wince in the next second. He really needed to get better at censoring himself. “Sorry. What happened? How long has he been missing?”
“Since the collapse of New Rosanthe and the death of the emperor, the Empire’s territories have been in disarray. Things have been especially chaotic with Damardor.”
“Have they directly threatened Caspagir?”
Noemi shook her head. “No, but we maintain limited trade with them, and they have been a bit aggressive with our people. They have also made some strange overtures toward Zastrad and Uris-Oladul—both countries we’ve been successfully opening new negotiations with. Shey went to merely take a look around, trying to determine what was behind the government’s odd behavior.”
Caelan sighed and sat back against the cushions. “I take it Shey did this secretly.”
“He did.”
Not surprising. It wasn’t like Caspagir could openly ask Damardor to get their shit together if they were having some kind of identity crisis without the Empire there to hold their hand.
No, the surprising part was that the crown prince had felt it necessary to go himself. Idiot.
“Did he take anyone with him?” Caelan inquired instead. He had a feeling the prince’s mother had plenty to say about his recklessness. She didn’t need to hear it from him.
“He did. Two people he’s known and trusted his entire life.”
“How long has it been since you last heard from any of them?”
“Five weeks.” Noemi’s voice wobbled and Caelan grabbed her hand again. That was an impressive amount of time to wait to ask for help. Caelan was pretty sure he wouldn’t have made it five days if it was anyone from his family.
“I can’t contact the government. I’m afraid to send anyone from Caspagir in to search for him,” Noemi continued.
Caelan nodded. “Because at best, it would create a nasty scandal, and at worst, it would start a war. You need Shey found quietly and returned home.”
“I’m so sorry to even bring this to you. I understand completely if you are unable to help. I wouldn’t want to risk dragging Erya—”
Caelan scoffed and shook his head. “None of this nonsense. As if I’d leave Shey to his own mess after all the help he gave me. We’ll figure this out.”
“Are you sure?”
With a nod, Caelan released her hand and picked up his coffee mug. He slowly sipped it, allowing the warmth and caffeine to grease the wheels of his brain. This was Shey they were talking about. After Rayne stopped ranting about recklessness and political disasters, he’d agree with Caelan’s plan entirely. Besides, it wasn’t like he was volunteering himself for this mission.
“It’ll have to be a small party of just two or three people,” Caelan murmured, thinking out loud. “Preferably someone sneaky and good at blending in. A team who works very well together.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
A slow, devious smile spread across his lips. “I do.”
He’d have to get permission from his grandfather to borrow Haru for this little adventure.
And there was a good chance Adrian was going to strangle his king.
But he couldn’t think of two better people to rescue a missing prince.
Caelan turned his head and grinned at the queen of Caspagir. “Don’t worry. I have the perfect team in mind to locate Shey and bring him home. Have you told Rayne about this?”
Noemi shook her head. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I know he still cares for Shey as a friend, and I don’t want to upset him on his special day. He deserves to be happy today.”