NINE
Rayne Laurent
The Ordas was a miserable nightmare of beasts and bugs.
If he were the God of Fire, he’d raze the entire place and enlist the help of the Goddess of Life to turn it all into farmland. No more animals trying to eat him and vines choking out the sunlight.
They’d been marching through the Ordas for eight long, painful days, and he was so very sick of this place. He wasn’t a complainer by nature, but there was something oppressive about the Ordas. Everything was a fight. Even the air was thick and heavy, making it a struggle to draw in a deep breath. It was hard to keep his spirits up when he just wanted to be done with this march, even if it meant standing before Zyros, Lore, and the entire New Rosanthe army in Green Spring.
But they still had so very far to walk. They weren’t even sure they were moving in the right direction. Gilea was a few steps behind him, but she wasn’t offering up any information on Green Spring or her home of Hidden Falls.
Gods, I miss my suits.
I miss my shoes.
Caelan made a choking noise and stopped in the middle of the trail they were roughly cutting to stare at Rayne. “What did you say?” Caelan asked, sounding as if he were fighting laughter.
“What?” Rayne replied. He was sure he hadn’t spoken aloud.
“Did you just say you missed your shoes?” Cael chuckled.
Drayce snickered behind him, but Rayne stood frozen, replaying the moment in his head. Was he so tired he hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud? No. No, he wasn’t.
“I didn’t say it,” he stated.
Caelan shook his head, still smiling. “Sure you did. I heard—”
“No. I was thinking it. I didn’t speak.”
They all stopped moving and turned to stare at Caelan, who appeared to pale before Rayne’s eyes. The only one who seemed unaffected by their conversation was Gilea, who had been sticking close to Rayne since they’d set out that morning.
“This isn’t a funny joke, Rayne,” Caelan said in a strangled tone.
“I wouldn’t joke about this.”
Drayce backtracked to Caelan’s side while Eno closed the distance in the rear, a machete clutched tightly in his fist. They were all drenched in sweat and smeared with dirt from their walk, and the sun hadn’t reached its midday zenith yet.
“Can you hear anything now?” Drayce asked.
Caelan lifted an arm and wiped the sweat from his brow with his hand. “No, but I wasn’t trying the first time. I seriously thought Rayne spoke.”
“I’ll admit I was thinking rather hard at that moment.”
Caelan’s gaze whipped to him, his eyebrows snapping together over his nose. “About your shoes?” He didn’t have a chance to come up with an answer. Caelan was already lifting a hand, halting his reply. “Actually, none of my business. I’m sorry I invaded your privacy.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, Your Majesty, and this could be a positive development for us. You couldn’t read minds or hear thoughts before, but you can now. This power could be useful, and it could be a sign that more are to come as time passes.”
The king did not look enthusiastic about this development, but he’d suffered through having his thoughts constantly invaded for months by the gods. If there was anyone who valued privacy, it was the King of Erya. He’d known too few moments of true privacy from the second he was born.
“Concentrate. Try intentionally reading my mind,” Rayne instructed. He emptied his mind as best as he could and tried to picture his collection of polished dress shoes, neatly arranged according to color on the floor of his closet.
I don’t understand your obsession with your shoes.
Caelan’s voice echoed loudly through his mind. His eyes widened as he stared at Cael, who was smirking at him.
I have an excellent shoe collection, Rayne thought at Cael.
“Clearly,” his king murmured.
“Clearly what?” Drayce demanded.
Rayne glanced over at the dragon. “Caelan can read minds and speak to a person that way.”
“But it takes a lot of concentration right now. I’m not sure it’s something that I could do in the middle of a fight.”
“We’ll have to look for opportunities to practice,” Rayne pointed out.
Caelan started to speak, but his eyes grew wide as he watched something just past Rayne’s shoulder. “Get down!”
Rayne twisted, making a grab for Gilea before he even saw what was attacking them. He snagged the young woman’s arm and pulled her into the shelter of his longer frame as he caught sight of something large and black launching itself at them. From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of white. Caelan’s protective shield went up, and a large cat similar to the ones that attacked them on their first trip through the Ordas slammed into it.
“Bad kitty!” Drayce shouted.
While gripping his contracted staff from his hip with his right hand, Rayne gave Gilea a shove behind him with his left. “Stay there!” It was doubtful that she understood what he was saying, though. He hadn’t taken the time to translate into Rosarian. Caelan’s shield had already dropped, and his mind was filled with trying to fend off claws and teeth.