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Adrian stepped close enough to bump his shoulder against Caelan’s. He leaned his head over so that he could keep his voice at a whisper as he said, “Think of it as a graveyard rather than a series of churches.”
Caelan’s head snapped up. “What?”
The corner of his bodyguard’s mouth kicked up, and there was a bit of mocking mirth in his eyes. “The gods are all dead and gone, right? All that really remains is the Godstone.” He jerked his chin toward the buildings across from them. “These are just monuments to what existed so long ago. Part graveyard. Part museum.”
Caelan’s heart settled in his chest as he understood what Adrian was trying to tell him. The people didn’t believe the gods were still among them, granting favors and honoring prayers. This was like visiting a museum dedicated to the gods.
Do you need to make us sound like fossils? Caris pouted in his mind.
No one could mistake your fiery brilliance for a dusty fossil, Nyx purred. You must remember; humans are simple and must think in simple terms.
Caelan fought the urge to roll his eyes. At least Nyx was getting along with the Goddess of Fire.
There was a sharp sound in his mind, and he wasn’t entirely sure if it was simply a snap of Caris’s fan or a thwack from where she’d smacked Nyx with said fan. Our Caelan is not simple.
At least he still held the favor of one of the four gods.
“This way. It’ll probably be the best place to start,” Adrian directed, thankfully pulling Caelan’s attention away from his disgruntled tenants.
He followed a couple of steps behind his guard as the man casually strolled among the late-day crowd. Caelan bit the inside of his mouth as he watched him lift his phone here and there, snapping pictures of different statues and fountains they passed along the way. Adrian was quite good at appearing to be the distracted and relaxed tourist.
“I’m beginning to believe that you truly earned the title of master thief,” Caelan teased when they stepped clear of a knot of people.
Adrian’s dark eyebrows lifted and he smiled, but Caelan didn’t miss the look of worry that clouded his hard gray eyes. Caelan widened his own grin and bumped the man. Who the fuck was he to make moral judgments? They’d sneaked across the border and into Brightspire. That alone gave Ilon ample cause to declare war on Erya.
“Not something I ever expected to hear you…praising?” Adrian said, though it came off more like a question.
“Trust me, I find that I very much need someone of your skills right now. Mine and Rayne’s seem to be getting us nowhere.”
Adrian snorted and some of the new tension slipped from his shoulders. “I wouldn’t count Laurent out yet.”
No, Caelan definitely wasn’t doing that. Rayne still had tricks up his sleeve, starting with the spymaster they were waiting to hear from. But Caelan didn’t believe in putting all his eggs in a single basket. The former thief at his side was turning into the perfect resource.
“May I ask how you got into that line of work?” Caelan inquired. He kept his tone casual, but he didn’t miss how Adrian’s muscles stiffened slightly.
“Oh, I would never call it work,” Adrian replied with a forced laugh. He paused and licked his lips, his eyes darting around the street. No one was particularly close to them, and it didn’t look as if anyone was paying them any attention.
“You know, you can tell me to fuck off,” Caelan said.
A horrible choking sound erupted from Adrian as if he’d sucked down air too quickly. Caelan swallowed his own laugh and rapped Adrian between the shoulders a couple of times as he helped the man catch his breath. This is what happened when he spent too much time away from the Towers, pretending to be a normal person. Drayce was also a negative influence.
“What I meant to say is that you have a right to your privacy,” Caelan continued when Adrian stopped coughing. “I’d rather you say you don’t want to answer than have you tell me things against your will, or worse, lie to me.”
“Oh, I…” Adrian hesitated and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “There’s not much to say. If I lied, it would be only to make it more interesting.”
Caelan smirked. “You know my life and my companions. I’d be content with some boring, if you don’t mind.”
Adrian nodded, but he didn’t quite relax. “The story is the same for most kids who got into trouble. My parents were never home. My dad left when I was a baby and my mom worked constantly to put food on the table.” Adrian shrugged. “I was bored. Or lonely. Or bored and lonely. I don’t know. Some kids dared me to break into this posh house and steal some food. They thought I’d get caught.”
“But you didn’t?” Caelan nudged when Adrian fell silent.
His companion shook his head. “Nope. When I was young, I was scrawny, and I knew how to be patient.” Adrian suddenly stopped and turned to face Caelan, his expression grim. “And before you get any ideas about this being about some kid who was starving, just stop. We all had food at home. It might not have been great, but we didn’t need to steal. This really was about boredom.”
Caelan felt his smile grow even wider. “And maybe about thumbing your nose to the world? Proving that the lonely and forgotten are worth more than the world is taking them for?”
Adrian’s eyes widened, and then he turned away with another forced laugh. “I think that might be a bit deep for a ten-year-old brat.”
But it definitely hit the mark.
