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And would that finally wake up the leaders of Ilon and force them to end their alliance with New Rosanthe?
But all those fears and worries were chased away when Davi sat down opposite him at the small kitchen table. They’d just eaten a quick dinner of sandwiches that no one was in the mood for and Eno had checked on Caelan to find that he was awake, while the others were still asleep. It was better to leave them for now.
Giving him time at last to speak to his brother.
“I…I’ll try to answer whatever questions you have,” Eno replied in a sudden rush of nerves. Sitting so close, Eno took the chance to really look at the man’s features, comparing them to his own since he had no memory of his real mother and father. Yes, they had similarly shaped eyes and jawline. Davi’s hair was lighter in color, and he definitely had fewer wrinkles, but Eno was convinced that most of his wrinkles had shown up in the past six months, thanks to Rayne, Drayce, Caelan, and the gods.
“Have you always worn a beard?” Davi inquired. He was squinting intensely at Eno as if he were also inspecting his face.
Laughter exploded from Eno, and he rocked in his chair. Not the first question he’d been expecting from the man. Eno relaxed and rubbed one hand along his jaw. “No. The beard is new. I grew it while we were crossing Zastrad as protection against the elements and to blend in with the locals. When we returned to Stormbreak, I trimmed it but decided to keep it.”
“Huh,” Davi huffed, sitting back in his chair. He started to cross his arms over his chest, but then seemed to realize that he was about to mirror Eno’s position and dropped his hands to his lap.
“Was that it?”
“No! Of course not. I thought that was the easiest question.”
Eno smirked at his brother. “How did you hook up with Vitor?”
“What?” Davi choked, his eyes going wide as he sat up straight in his chair.
“Vitor. How did you end up working with him?” Eno repeated. He narrowed his eyes on his brother, trying to pick apart his strange reaction, but Davi relaxed again, shaking his head.
“Oh, that.” He sighed and gave a little wave of his hand. “He caught me trying to break into the orphanage where I grew up. I wanted to see my records. The people of Ilon are known for keeping meticulous records about everything. I wanted to know who my parents were, what city I was born in. That kind of stuff.”
“So, at that point, you didn’t suspect that you were from Erya? Or rather, New Rosanthe?”
Davi shook his head. “I still thought I was from Ilon.” He paused and a crooked smirk spread slowly across his lips. “Vitor was already in the building and heading toward the records when I made a big mess of things. The guards were coming for me, and I was trying to escape. He helped to cover for me but got hurt in the process. So, I went back and helped get him out at the same time.” Davi paused and the smile changed to something…softer. “Broke his damn leg. He was laid up for a while and I let him crash at my place.”
Eno rubbed his forehead, directing his eyes to the table. Was there something going on between his brother and Vitor? The man had to be at least fifteen, twenty years older. Unless it was a disguise. But still, Vitor was his boss. And what about Nina? It sounded like Davi had a thing for Nina too.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
This was not his business. Well, maybe a little bit. Davi was his brother. He was allowed to worry about his brother’s well-being. But it was way too early for him to interject his thoughts and opinions into Davi’s life.
“Vitor disappeared one day while I was at work,” Davi continued with his story. “I didn’t hear anything from him for months. I figured he went off to wherever he’d come from. He gave me this bullshit story about looking for a child he’d given up for adoption.” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes on Eno. “Vitor can convincingly lie about a lot of shit, but I swear that man cannot convince anyone that he ever had a kid.”
Eno snorted. “I guess we all have our limitations.”
“True.” Davi shrugged. “Anyway, he showed up one night and told me that I didn’t have a file. I called bullshit. By then, his leg was healed and he helped me sneak into the orphanage again. We spent the entire night going through the files and breaking into the computers.”
“No file?”
Davi shook his head. “No file. But we found my name on a list with thirty other kids who’d arrived in the past decade from Erya. That’s how I discovered I was one of the kidnapped. I’ve been helping him ever since.”
“That’s…that’s insane.”
Davi placed his hands on the table between them. He stared at them and seemed to hesitate. Eno waited. He had questions too. A lot of them, but he’d just gotten a good chunk of Davi’s story. It was only fair to let the man ask a few questions.
“Have you been looking for me for a long time?” his brother almost whispered.
“Davi…” Eno stopped and shoved a hand through his hair, pain ripping through his chest.
“It’s okay if you haven’t. I mean, you’re the bodyguard for the king. That’s got to be pretty time-consuming. And you were in Zastrad, right? And—”
Eno half lunged across the table, covering both of Davi’s hands with one of his. “I didn’t know you existed.”
“What?”
