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Adrian snorted. “Save it. My friend drugged you, so at the very least, I think we’re even.” They sat there for several minutes in a strangely comfortable silence. How in the world had he grown so at ease with the King of Erya? That didn’t make any sense at all. He shouldn’t be comfortable enough to call the man an asshole. His mother would have beaten him black and blue with her house slipper if she’d heard him.
“I don’t understand these changes that are happening in Brightspire,” Caelan whispered. He paused and suddenly shook his head as if the thoughts running around in his brain still weren’t matching up. “Our relationship with Ilon has always been good. Even when we argued about trade agreements or the number of soldiers to send to the Ordas border, it still had the feeling of siblings disagreeing. No real resentment or animosity. But this new attitude toward our people…”
“Could Ilon have come under more pressure from New Rosanthe than you realized? They do share an eastern border with the country,” Adrian suggested, though he would be the first to admit he was talking out of his ass. He did not claim to understand statecraft in the least.
“I don’t know. Possibly. But if that’s the case, why didn’t they tell us? We would have been happy to send more aid.” Caelan dropped his head back and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “I just don’t know. Ilon was the one ally we could always rely on. There are some other problems, but this is all so out in the open by comparison and it leaves me feeling so blindsided.”
“Betrayed,” Adrian murmured in a quiet, hard voice.
Caelan dropped his hands into his lap and nodded. “Yes, but that’s wrong. They have no reason to betray us. There has to be more going on that we don’t see.”
“Your Majesty,” Adrian started slowly. He paused and frowned, doubting whether he should continue.
“Please tell me.”
Adrian cleared his throat. “When I was running around, doing things I shouldn’t, so much of my life depended on people I could trust. A lot of them people no one had any business trusting. If your gut is telling you that you’ve been betrayed, trust your gut. Doesn’t matter their reasons. Everyone has a choice. If they screwed you over, it doesn’t matter the reason why. The only thing that matters is that they can’t be trusted.”
“And Ilon, for whatever reason, has chosen to betray the trust of Erya,” Caelan finished. He sighed heavily. “But did they do it to side with the Empire, or does the prime minister have different plans entirely that have nothing to do with Erya or the Empire?”
“No idea. Sorry. I didn’t get around to asking Diogo anything helpful about the Empire.”
“It’s okay. It’s clear most of his interactions have been with Ilon, and what he told you gave us some good insight into what’s happening here. I’m disturbed by how information is being disseminated around the city and country. Why suppress the news that I’m alive? Why hide information about New Rosanthe’s occupation? For a country that prides itself on wisdom and knowledge, why are they so tightly controlling valuable information?” Caelan paused and sighed. “Rayne has some contacts in town that should be able to shed light on the Empire’s presence.”
Adrian turned his head to look at the king. “Have you heard from them?”
Caelan shook his head. “I texted them when I woke, but I haven’t heard from them yet. There was only a text from Drayce warning us about the curfew and that they were going to find a place to crash for the night.”
Adrian grunted. “Yeah. I got that one too. You think they’re okay?”
The king made a noise in the back of his throat. “Sure. How much trouble could they find?”
Adrian stared at his too-young leader for a second, as if he couldn’t believe the man had uttered those words.
Caelan sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll go find them first thing in the morning. We’ll drag them to the Shrine District if we have to. I want to have a peek at the temple for the God of Wisdom and ask about the Goddess of the Hunt. I still can’t understand why she doesn’t have a shrine or a temple. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Whatever the reason, the sick twisting in Adrian’s stomach told him it wasn’t a good one.
SEVEN
Eno Bevyn
Eno struggled to pull his eyes from their unexpected savior as they climbed out of the van neatly tucked into a garage under the town house. The man gave him a cursory glance before leading the way up the wooden stairs to the main floor.
He needed to pay attention to their surroundings. He needed to have a weapon in hand, ready for an ambush and betrayal. Yes, the guy said that he’d been sent by Erya’s spymaster, but they’d been fucked over in the past. Was there any proof that this time was going to be different?
But he couldn’t shake the new tension that was crawling across his skin and twisting his stomach in knots. Drayce’s random comment was playing on repeat in his brain. Davi did resemble him. Something in the face and eyes, maybe. Davi appeared to be just a couple of inches shorter than him, and his build wasn’t quite as wide. Still muscular, but leaner and rangy.
“Did you mean it?” Eno whispered to Drayce. “Do you really think he looks like me?”
Drayce stopped and stared at Eno as if he’d lost his fucking mind. “Are you shitting me? Seriously, you’re joking. He looks like your freaking twin. Are you sure he’s not your missing brother?”
The words coming out of Drayce’s mouth might have just stopped his heart. Thoughts of his lost younger brother had flitted through his brain at odd times since he’d discovered his existence months ago, but between their travels and nearly dying too many times, it wasn’t something he’d been able to pursue. He’d always clung to the hope that just maybe after everything was settled, he could start his search.
Eno turned his attention over to Rayne, who was closely watching him with worried eyes. If anyone knew anything, it would be his lover. He was the only one among them who was regularly in contact with this Gray Fox. Rayne would know if his missing brother was working for Erya’s spymaster, right?
“Rayne?”
“Truly, I’m as puzzled as you are. But Drayce is right. He resembles you a great deal.” Rayne took a step closer to Eno and placed his hand against his neck, his thumb caressing his beard-lined jaw. “I know how much you want to find your brother, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up unnecessarily. I did ask the Gray Fox to look into his whereabouts, but for him to be found here in Brightspire, it’s…unsettling.”
