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“It’s not that bad,” Drayce declared as he turned to face Caelan.
His mouth just hung open as he stared at his friend. “Not that bad?”
Drayce gave his typical full-body shrug before dropping heavily on the bench beside Caelan. He scooted back until his shoulders were pressed into the corner and rested one of his heels on the edge of the bench. “Yeah. They could have shot us instead of bringing us here.”
Caelan groaned. “Yes, but if they think we’re spies, they can’t learn anything of value if we’re dead.”
Drayce snorted. “They’re not going to learn anything interesting, because we’re not spies. You think they’re going to serve us dinner? Lunch was soooo long ago.”
Twisting around, Caelan looked over his shoulder at his friend. Drayce was a short, slender man with long, lean muscles. He couldn’t be more than one hundred and sixty pounds, but he ate like he was Eno’s size. In all their years of being friends, he couldn’t figure out where Drayce stored all that food. Maybe his stomach was actually a black hole.
“I’m in no rush to eat. I don’t trust them—what if they drug us?”
“Really?” Drayce’s nose wrinkled, and his lips curled a little. “That sucks.” It meant they had to be cautious about eating while they were being held.
Not that Caelan thought they were going to be held long. If they couldn’t prove to be exactly what they said, then there was a good chance they were going to be executed. After the Empire’s attack on Erya, Caspagir couldn’t take any chances, assuming they weren’t truly in league with New Rosanthe. Maybe they knew exactly who Caelan and Drayce were. Maybe they were waiting until someone high up in the Empire government could arrive to fetch them.
Caelan dropped his head into his hands and groaned. All this second and third guessing was giving him a headache. Where the hell was Rayne? He enjoyed this shit. He could sort through all this nonsense and tell Caelan exactly what to expect.
“Hey, come here.” Drayce’s voice had dropped, becoming softer. Caelan glanced over to find that Drayce had extended one arm out toward him, beckoning him closer, offering himself up as a pillow. A comfort.
“Stop it.”
“I’m serious.” Drayce grabbed Caelan’s shoulder and pulled him backward.
With a sigh, Caelan shifted on the bench until Drayce had his arm wrapped around his shoulders. He rested partially on his friend, his head dropping to settle on Drayce’s shoulder.
“Stop worrying,” Drayce instructed in the same gentle tone. “We’ll figure it out.”
Caelan took a deep breath and slowly released it. There wasn’t much they could do for now. If they were lucky, Rayne was either meeting with his contact or would soon. He was dying to grill his advisor over that one. Rayne had refused to give up the person’s name, stating that it was for everyone’s protection, but he’d promised to tell all when he returned from the meeting.
At this point, Eno had to be losing his mind. Rayne meeting with only the gods knew who, and now Drayce and Caelan were missing. He could only hope that Eno had managed to get ahold of someone back home. There had to be someone who could tell them what was happening in the city.
“Who do you think is angrier, Mom or Dad?” Drayce suddenly asked. There was a hint of laughter in his voice.
Caelan chuckled softly. Rayne and Eno really were like overprotective parents. Naturally, Caelan and Drayce gave them plenty of reasons to worry, not the least of those being their current imprisonment.
“I don’t know. They’re both going to blow their tops when they find out we were arrested as spies.”
Drayce gave his shoulder a little squeeze, pulling him in tighter. “It might be safer if they just keep us in here.”
“So true.” Caelan closed his eyes and just let himself sink into the warmth of Drayce’s body. His friend always seemed to be his own personal heater. There had been plenty of times during the winter when the cold had never seemed to bother him, and Caelan had huddled close in hopes of stealing some of his heat. Now the warmth was soothing and familiar.
They sat in silence for several minutes, Caelan getting lost in the steady sound of Drayce’s breathing as his brain ran off in a few dozen different directions. He’d almost forgotten where they were when Drayce spoke again.
“I was thinking about what Andy said a few nights ago.”
Caelan grinned, though Drayce couldn’t see it. “You’re gonna have to be more specific. Andy said a lot of things the other night.”
“I was thinking about how she shipped you…you know…with that one guy.”
Caelan blinked. He knew exactly who Drayce was talking about. Andy thought he’d make a cute couple with Prince Shey. “Do I even want to know why you’re thinking about that?”
