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Diogo’s plastic chair creaked as he shifted forward suddenly to look Adrian in the eye. “Are you serious?”
Maybe that was the super slimmed-down version of the story, but the highlights were all there. With his sneaking skills, he might have also helped the Royal Guard tighten up their security when it came to the Towers and the ministers’ offices, but that wasn’t the important part.
“Yeah, that’s where I’ve been. I went immediately into training, changed my name, and kept my nose clean these past ten or so years.” Adrian paused and then snorted. “I’m a Royal Guard. I never expected to leave Stormbreak. I’ve been stationed there the entire time. I never thought I’d run into anyone I knew from the old days.”
“Does that mean you were there…that day?” Diogo’s voice had dipped so low and soft Adrian had almost missed the question. But he knew what he was asking, and the memory of it immediately sliced through his heart.
The day Queen Amara Talos had been killed.
Everyone in Stormbreak could remember precisely where they were and what they were doing when the attack was launched on the city.
And as a Royal Guard, Adrian had asked himself a hundred times if anything would have been different if he had been there.
“No, I wasn’t there. It was my day off. I’d run outside the walls to hit a farmer’s market for my mom that morning.” Adrian dropped his eyes to the water bottle and picked at the label a bit, willing his voice to remain low and even. “I got stuck outside the city in the chaos for a couple of days, and then it took me another couple of days to meet up with the Royal Guard, who’d been forced underground in their fight against the Empire. It was crazy for a while. At least until the king showed up.”
He’d been there that day Caelan had walked into the warehouse filled with other soldiers. Adrian had been on the far side of the room, but he was tall enough to just make out the top of the king’s head as he stood next to Drayce, Eno, and Rayne.
That day was burned into his mind. That day he became sure they were getting their city back from the Empire. Something about the way Caelan stood there looking at them all, the straightness of his shoulders, or maybe it was simply something Adrian had wanted to see. It didn’t matter. They’d all found a second life that day when they renewed their vow to the crown.
The funny thing was that he’d been sure he’d never get another step closer to Caelan than that afternoon. Sure, he’d seen him around the Towers with Drayce when Caelan had been a prince, but Adrian had never been high enough among the guards to personally protect Queen Amara. He figured when Caelan seized control of his throne again, new and more experienced guards would be brought in as his personal detail.
Instead, he was traveling with the king as part of a very elite group. And right now, he was the king’s only protection.
There was a thought with the power to chill his heart.
“Your mom?”
“She’s okay. I got her out with some refugees early during the occupation. She went and stayed with my aunt about an hour from Stormbreak. They weren’t having any trouble with the Empire that far from the capital.” He turned his head slightly to look at his friend who was glaring at his beer. “Were you in the city?”
“Nah, I was setting up things here at the time. The news out of Stormbreak was so fucking sporadic. We never knew what was going on. Just sucked. The one thing they kept repeating was that Queen Amara and Prince Caelan were dead, as if they were trying to break everyone’s spirit. It wasn’t until the Empire had been kicked out of the capital that we even heard the first whisper that the prince was still alive.”
That was…strange. The rumors that Caelan was alive had spread like wildfire through the city when he returned, and that was before they managed to liberate it. How could the news not have spread to Brightspire as quickly?
Adrian tucked that information away for later. Maybe Rayne or the king would be able to make sense of it.
“What’s been going on here? They closed the borders and kicked out all foreign citizens,” Adrian said.
Diogo scrubbed a hand through his thick black hair and glared out at the street. “Man, it’s been chaos. I don’t think any of the people who live here understand what’s going on. Ever since the attack on Stormbreak, things have been touchy for Erya citizens here and there ain’t never been any problems like that in the past. The city patrols were singling out anyone who looks like they’re from Erya and harassing them. Then the shop owners and the restaurant owners started doing the same because they were afraid the city patrol was going to come down on them for serving the outsiders. I heard people reported it to the different officials and their answer was always the same: leave.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Yep.” Diogo tipped his head back and drained the last of his beer. He set the glass bottle on the concrete patio with a tiny tink and reclined in his chair. “I think most people left Brightspire well before the embassy was closed and the diplomats were kicked out. I’ve heard there might be some refugees left out in the countryside close to the border. Things were always worse here in the capital.”
The plastic bottle crinkled in his fist as it tightened. “Why the fuck did you stay if things were so bad here?”
His old friend smirked at him as he lifted one hand and rubbed his thumb against his index and middle fingers. “Money.”
“What?”
“I’ve got a good gig going here. I’ve got a line on a handful of artisans who make me up a bunch of pottery and a few who are working on some unique fabrics. I get the stuff that won’t pass the rigorous quality inspections here, pay pennies for it since it would normally get scrapped. It then gets shipped north to Erya, where it’s sold in a bunch of different shops. I’m making a freaking killing selling Ilon goods.”
“Are you seriously selling rejects in Stormbreak?” Adrian gasped.
“Fuck, no!” Diogo swiped a hand at Adrian’s head, but he ducked out of the way of the meaty paw. “I could never move this shit in Stormbreak. Those people are smart enough to look for the quality stamp. This stuff goes to the little towns and villages in Erya. These people just need to be told that it’s from Ilon or Brightspire and they snatch it up.”
Adrian sank into his chair and dropped his head back. “Freaking con artist,” he muttered under his breath. He’d said that without an ounce of surprise, though.
Of course Diogo was a con artist. All the people Adrian had run with in his past were thieves, con artists, and liars. They were all constantly working an angle. The only rule they had was that they couldn’t con each other. If someone broke that code, they were not only kicked out of their group, but the group then went out of their way to ruin any scam that person tried to run going forward.
