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There was no need to say more about how things had ended up with the Life Stone in their home. If there had been some grand plan among the other leaders to help protect Stormbreak and the Life Stone, it had failed miserably. It was a mistake Caelan planned to not repeat when this was all over. Even if he didn’t survive to make that plan, he was confident that Rayne would come up with something to better protect the Godstone and Erya in the future.
Even if it meant exposing all the godstones to the people of Thia once again.
Adrian grunted and jerked his chin slightly toward a woman who was approaching in a pair of dark slacks and plain white top with a bit of lace around the collar. Her brown hair was pulled up in a loose knot on the top of her head and a pair of black-rimmed glasses dominated her slender face. A navy messenger bag was slung across her body and rested against her hip. “Is that the contact they texted about?”
Caelan wordlessly slipped his phone from his pocket and pulled up the text Drayce had sent over with the picture of a woman. It appeared to be a work photo for a possible ID badge with the typical white background and bad overhead lighting.
“I think that’s her,” he murmured. That was good. She would be able to safely take them to where Eno, Rayne, and Drayce were waiting.
Yes, it had been barely twenty-four hours, but he was eager to see Drayce. Every minute that passed without hearing his voice, without being able to reach out and touch him, left Caelan feeling edgy and more unsettled. It was as if something in him was stretching out for the man and retreating in pain when it found only cold, empty air beside him.
“Good morning. You’re friends of Vitor, right?” the young woman greeted when she stopped a few feet away from them. She looked as if she was in her midtwenties and spoke with a warm, friendly voice, but there was something cautious in her gaze and tension that tightened the muscles in her slender shoulders.
“We are. He said that you’d be able to give us a walking tour of the unique Shrine District architecture,” Caelan replied, giving the exact response Rayne had instructed him to.
Nina’s smile widened and her shoulders relaxed a touch. “Of course. I’d be happy to.” She motioned for them to accompany her down the street.
Caelan immediately fell into step next to her while Adrian walked behind them. “Have you heard from them? Is everything okay?” he asked in a soft voice so as not to be overheard by any of the other pedestrians. It didn’t seem as if anyone was following them or even paying them a bit of attention, but they needed to be careful.
“I got a text from Davi this morning.” She pulled out her phone from the front pocket of her bag and tapped the screen until she found what she was searching for.
Caelan’s heart flip-flopped in his chest to see a picture snapped of Drayce pointing a spoon at Rayne over what looked to be the breakfast table. Rayne was glaring at Drayce over his mug of coffee while Eno smirked in the background at both of them. The scene was so heart-stoppingly familiar that he could practically hear Drayce’s and Rayne’s voices as they argued over something inane.
“Good,” Caelan murmured in a rough voice while Nina put the phone away.
“It’ll take us about thirty minutes to reach them. It’s not far, but…”
“No problem,” Adrian said.
“Do we have time for a detour?” Caelan found himself asking before he could stop the words. He was in a rush to join his other companions, but seeing the picture of them healthy and safe had given him a second wind. There were other things he needed to know or at least start digging into.
Nina blinked at him a couple of times, but no words came out. She quickly turned her attention forward again, wrinkles forming on her brow as her thin eyebrows snapped together. “I…I don’t think that should be a problem. I would need to tell Vitor about the change in plans.”
“It would be fine if we could be met,” Caelan added. Actually, it would probably be most helpful if Rayne was there with him. No one researched like Rayne Laurent. The man could find any scrap of information that he might be searching for. “I need information on the history of the gods. Particularly stories prior to the war. The old mythology about all of the gods.”
The woman’s expression darkened further. “There are over one hundred gods catalogued and celebrated within Brightspire.”
Caelan shook his head. He kept forgetting that Ilon recognized all the old gods, even the minor ones who disappeared just prior to the war. “I’m most interested in the major gods, particularly the Goddess of the Hunt and her interactions with the major gods.”
They walked in silence for a couple of minutes, nearing the end of the block that opened into the massive crossroads with Tula’s tree in the center. Caelan could already see that some of the early-morning crowds had thinned out, or possibly headed off for the other shrines of the gods after paying a visit to the Goddess of Life.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Nina grab her phone again and start rapidly tapping out a message. Probably a message to the spymaster about the impulsive king’s desire to completely change their plans. He had no wish to make anyone’s life more difficult or to put anyone in danger, but they needed to find the godstone and right now, he had zero leads beyond the fact that it was somewhere in Brightspire.
“I think our best option would be the Library of Ancient History and Folklore,” Nina announced suddenly. “It has the best collection of old texts, stories, and mythology. The librarians there are experts on the subject and will be able to direct you.” She paused and significantly lowered her voice. “But I wouldn’t start off asking about the Goddess of the Hunt. Most theologists and historians don’t recognize her existence.”
Caelan stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’m sorry, but what?” His voice was too loud, and he’d captured the attention of too many people on the street, but he couldn’t continue another step until Nina clarified the nonsense that had come out of her mouth.
The myth of the catalyst of the great Gods War that created the Ordas was well-known, wasn’t it?
Or had he been spending too much time with the gods in his head? Had they convinced him that what he knew was actually common knowledge among the people?
There was a feeling of someone patting him gently on the head as Caris’s voice whispered through his mind. Don’t worry about where the knowledge came from. Just trust that it is the truth.
“Ha!” Caelan barked out and inwardly flinched when he realized that he’d said that aloud and not silently for the gods. It was a wonder all his companions didn’t think he was completely mad at this point.
We both know that the truth is a sketchy thing when considering my sources, Caelan sniped. While the Goddess of Fire hadn’t lied to him yet as far as he could tell, Nyx had proved to be far too slippery to be trustworthy. And he’d certainly been burned by Kaes and Tula in the past.
He felt Caris sigh as much as he heard it in his mind. There was a final pat on his head and a feeling of her sort of fading into the background, or maybe just toward her god lover Nyx.
