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“Andy didn’t have much trouble recognizing you. We need to be sure that others won’t. I fear that the citizens of Sirelis are far more likely to be attuned to international issues and the royal families than some of the smaller towns,” Rayne murmured thoughtfully.
“We could always shave his hair off and give him a fake mustache,” Drayce suggested.
Caelan’s hand jumped to his black hair and tightly gripped it for a second. “We are not shaving my head. Not an option.”
Eno scratched his jaw with one finger as he stared at Caelan. He seemed to be thinking about it, but Caelan recognized the playful laughter in his dark eyes. “It would make it harder to recognize you.”
“No.”
“But—”
“Think of something else,” he growled at Drayce when his friend seemed to want to push the idea. There was no way in hell he was shaving his head. Only if it was absolutely necessary, and it definitely wasn’t yet.
“A hat along with some appropriately casual clothes should be enough,” Rayne announced. Thank the gods for Rayne’s sensible mind. “Caelan, or rather Cael, is normally photographed wearing formal and typically black attire. If we can avoid those two things, he should be fine.”
“Is it always so cold here?” Caelan asked, turning away from the window to perch on the arm of the couch closest to Drayce’s head. The temperature had steadily dropped as they approached Sirelis, but then it was only natural since the city was in the northernmost part of the kingdom.
Drayce lifted his head and narrowed his eyes on Rayne. “Yeah, I figured for summer it would be warmer.”
“This is warm for Sirelis. The city spends at least six months out of the year covered in snow.”
“What’s the plan?” Eno inquired.
“I’m still trying to set up a meeting with my contact. It’s proving…difficult,” Rayne muttered.
“So, you continue to work on nailing down your contact and getting info about Caspagir’s government,” Caelan started, turning from Rayne to Eno. “And you try to get ahold of anyone in the Erya military. There has to be someone left. We need to know what’s happening at home. Has New Rosanthe occupied our home?”
Rayne narrowed his eyes on Caelan and gave him the skeptical look that Caelan knew so well. “And what will you be doing?”
Caelan dropped his hand and gave Drayce’s short blond hair a tug. “Drayce and I are going exploring,” he replied with a forced casualness he prayed Eno and Rayne didn’t see through. “I want to wander around Sirelis, stick my head in some shops, and listen to talk at some of the pubs. You might be able to get a line on the official government stance toward Erya and New Rosanthe, but I’m curious about what the people are saying.”
Rayne’s expression turned darker, his mouth flattening into a hard line, but it was Eno that shocked him.
“I think that’s a good idea.”
Caelan swung to stare at him and even Drayce sat up, asking, “Seriously?”
“Yes. Seriously?” Rayne repeated. From his expression, it was clear that Rayne thought Eno had lost his mind.
The bodyguard shrugged. “A little reconnaissance wouldn’t hurt, and it would allow us to compare what you learn from your contact to what they learn from the normal people. Plus, they know how to keep their heads down and out of trouble.”
“True. Fine,” Rayne said with a heavy sigh. He waved his hand absently at Caelan and Drayce. “Go, but don’t draw attention to yourselves.”
“Hell, yeah!” Drayce shouted as he jumped from the sofa. He grabbed Caelan and pulled him to one of the bedrooms with his pack in hand. “Come on! We gotta get you lookin’ less like you.”
Within thirty minutes, they were both showered and changed into fresh clothes. Their last bit of clean clothes, in fact. Caelan had pulled on Drayce’s bright-blue jacket and a hat with the bill pulled low over his face. Combined with the dark sunglasses, his disguise made it nearly impossible for anyone to recognize him.
It took another five minutes to get through more of Rayne’s warnings and admonishments. Eno had even started to appear worried when he realized they couldn’t walk around town with their normal complement of weapons. Local law enforcement wasn’t keen on citizens and visitors being heavily armed.
Concealing a couple of knives on themselves, he and Drayce finally got outside and away from the boutique hotel.
They wandered to the end of the block when Drayce glanced over his shoulder at the hotel. “You notice anything weird with Eno and Rayne?”
Caelan couldn’t help but glance back as well, but there was nothing to see. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I feel like…they’ve been agreeing with each other more since we left Shallow Edge. Rayne didn’t even argue with Eno when he suggested that it was a good idea that we went out.”
