“We must hold off on killing him. Vitor and Adrian are confident that there is someone else issuing orders for Ruben and his followers. We must learn this person’s identity first, and then we may kill him.”
Tyche’s shoulders slumped, and he loudly slurped his coffee, an evil expression falling over his face as if he were murdering Ruben in his mind.
“How should we handle this?” Adrian asked.
“We need to make contact. You told me that Haru was pretending to be an investor to get in with them. Maybe he reaches out to see how he can get more involved,” Shey suggested.
“He is waiting for me to gain the shard of godstone from Sirelis. We could tell him I have it,” Haru suggested.
“Except you don’t,” Adrian pointed out as he walked back to the chair he’d been sitting in and threw himself into it again. Caelan had reported that Queen Noemi was not excited about sending a godstone shard to them but was willing to do it to help her son. The only problem was getting the shard quicklyfrom Caspagir to Damardor. The one from the Isle of Stone had arrived so fast because it had traveled by dragon. Unfortunately, Shou returned to the Isle of Stone shortly after they left Milway. By their estimate, the shard from Caspagir was likely on a ship near Uris-Uladol right now.
“He doesn’t need to know that,” Haru said with a smirk. “He was very excited to acquire the one from Caspagir. It might be the pick-me-up he needs after the disaster that was Milway.”
“Not nearly enough of a disaster,” Tyche muttered.
Shey nodded. “True, but we can still fix that.” A wicked grin spread across the prince’s face, and Haru lifted his eyebrows. “I want to accompany you and Adrian to the meeting.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Adrian gasped. He jumped out of his chair and stomped over to where Haru, Shey, and Tyche stood. “He’s going to recognize you.”
Shey shrugged. “He’ll recognize me as the prisoner he threatened. I think it’s time that he faced who I really am.”
“Ooooooh!” Tyche’s eyes were so wide they had bugged out. “You mean you’re going to tell him he kidnapped and nearly killed the fucking prince of Caspagir!”
“Why not?”
“I want to go too!” the little god shouted. He jumped and sloshed some of his coffee out onto his hand. He cried and licked it off his hand, making Shey chuckle as he crossed to the counter to grab a towel for him.
“Fuck,” Adrian growled. He shoved both hands into his hair and paced away, moving toward the wall of windows that looked out over the city. “Maybe we should call Caelan before we do anything. Or at least contact Vitor.”
The spy had left town briefly to check on the operations of the facility in Milway, wanting to know whether it had been shut down permanently or if Ruben had gotten it working. Theydidn’t expect him in Bellcairn for another couple of days. And if he was at the facility, they wouldn’t be able to reach him anyway.
“Didn’t Caelan say that your mission was done the moment you found me?” Shey inquired. “Right now, you’re not working for him.”
Adrian turned and glared at the prince, his voice vibrating with a quiet warning. “I’malwaysworking for King Caelan, and don’t you forget it.”
Shey’s smile didn’t waver. “Yes, but this is more of a personal mission. As long as you do nothing to endanger your king, you’re free to act as you see fit. You don’t even know if King Caelan had ordered Vitor to intercede in this matter with Ruben. We’re working in a murky gray area.”
“I know, which is why I think we should move slowly,” Adrian countered. He returned to his chair and sat, dropping his hands into his lap. “How is revealing that you’re Prince Shey Thrudesh-Vo of Caspagir going slow? Feels like throwing fuel on the fire to me.”
“It’s—” Shey started to speak, but Tyche slipped between Haru and Shey, placing a hand on Shey’s arm. He squeezed, and the prince fell silent. Tyche continued to cross the room and sat at the table where they’d been reviewing a map of Damardor. He even put his coffee aside, forgetting about his precious treat.
“I understand your need to go slowly. This is dangerous work with many lives at risk, but you must remember that sitting hidden among those humans are little time bombs. There aren’t a lot of us minor gods left. Zyros saw to that. We’ve survived by hiding among the humans, letting you forget that we ever existed. But that doesn’t mean any of us have lost our power. As I see it, one of two things could happen as Ruben and his people snatch us up. We die in a painful blast of power, killing those around us, just like Yesuntei did. Or…”
Adrian shifted in his seat and licked his lips. “Or what?”
Tyche slowly lifted his gaze from the map to look at each of them as he spoke. “Or one of those minor gods wakes up and realizes that we aren’t as powerless as we’ve told ourselves. That human weapons aren’t nearly as frightening as Zyros or Tula. That we’re one push away from snapping and reminding humans that while minor, we are still gods.”
“Shit,” Adrian hissed.
“Yeah. Something I hadn’t really thought about,” Shey admitted softly.
Tyche flashed a crooked smile and shrugged one shoulder. “Mostly, my kind are content to float along, existing on the outskirts of humanity, but no one enjoys being trapped.”
“Everyone has a breaking point,” Haru murmured.
“The world is better off if everyone forgets we exist. That is why we must force Ruben to give us the information that we need now.”
Adrian flopped against the back of the chair. “How should we do this?”
