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But the prince was an intelligent, compassionate man with a sarcastic sense of humor Rayne could appreciate. He could be a bit whiny at times, but then most young people in their early twenties could be whiny. Rayne wasn’t too worried that he wouldn’t outgrow it.
He would certainly need to with what lay ahead. Getting to Caspagir incognito was not going to be an easy task, and Rayne wasn’t entirely sure their welcome would be warm. It had been years since he’d last set foot in the country, and he had his own personal reasons for preferring not to return.
Memories of a warm smile and haunting eyes teased from the back of his brain, trying to distract him, but Rayne shoved those old thoughts away. There wasn’t time for that, and they’d do him no good now. He needed to concentrate.
As he entered the apartment, he found Drayce and Eno exactly as he’d expected. Well, mostly. Drayce was stretched out on the sofa, a sock-clad foot on the polished coffee table while Eno was turning away from the wall of windows looking out onto the city. The glitter of the lights framed Eno’s broad shoulders while the interior lamps reflected in his chestnut-brown eyes. For a heartbeat, their gazes caught, and Rayne simply couldn’t think. He hated that Eno had this effect on him, hated it more that Eno probably knew his ability to steal Rayne’s breath away.
Six years of working together and the need to touch this man was as strong as it had been the first time Rayne had laid eyes on him. His palms itched to slide up his arms and cup his grizzled cheeks. But that was nonsense. Eno enjoyed toying with him on occasion, but Eno had no interest in him. Rayne had seen the women Eno flirted with.
In the next second, the moment was broken as Drayce sat up partially and lowered a hand towel of ice from his left cheek. A bruise was already forming across his cheekbone, and there was a slight puffiness to his left eye. Because, of course, the best friend of the prince needed to look like he’d been in a brawl.
“Before you say anything, this was not my fault,” Drayce loudly declared, pointing the hand towel at him.
“It usually isn’t,” Rayne countered drily. He closed the door behind him and walked the rest of the way into the main parlor. While his appearance might be a little bland and austere, his home was not. He liked comfortable furniture, dark woods, and bookcases filled with books and curiosities he’d collected over the years. To him, a home should always be a place to engage and enrich the mind. Everywhere his eyes touched, he wanted to have something that teased his thoughts.
And right now, he had two very interesting puzzles in his home. Not a day went by that he didn’t wonder how Drayce was going to fit into the larger scheme of Caelan’s life.
Then there was Eno. The man’s role as Caelan’s bodyguard was simple and straightforward enough, but he teased other…interests for Rayne that were strictly off-limits and messy. Neither of them needed or wanted messy when it came to protecting Caelan, no matter how much he might long for all the mess that Eno offered.
“I’m serious. I didn’t know she was waiting for her boyfriend. She didn’t mention it, and we weren’t doing anything but talking,” Drayce explained. He sat fully upright, placing both feet on the floor. “If she didn’t want to talk to me, she could have said something. It’s not like she went, ‘I don’t know you. You ain’t my boyfriend.’ ” Drayce continued, lifting his voice into a high falsetto that was supposed to be for the poor woman in question. He completed the impersonation with a head bob and duck lips that had Rayne sighing and Eno snickering.
“But she didn’t,” Rayne said, trying to move the story along.
“No, and then the boyfriend shows up like some angry behemoth in heat. Then as I talk him down, that one over there sticks his nose in and gets me punched!”
Rayne looked over to find a smirk on Eno’s lips as he crossed his arms over his chest. Biceps muscles strained the plain black T-shirt he was wearing, and Rayne quickly tore his gaze to Drayce. There were far more details to this story, but for some reason Drayce didn’t see them as necessary.
“What’s going on, Rayne? You know why he’s been summoned?” Eno asked, getting to the heart of the matter with the prince.
“Caelan is being sent to Caspagir as part of a diplomatic mission at their request,” Rayne announced, and the entire room fell deathly silent in response.
It was to be expected. The Kingdom of Caspagir prided itself on its autonomy and neutrality. The people of Caspagir saw to their own problems. During the best of times, relations between Caspagir and Erya were tepid. The last time a member of the Caspagir royal family visited Erya had been to formally celebrate the birth of Caelan. That had been twenty-three years ago.
