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But this…
“He set you up,” Rayne stated in a low, harsh voice.
“What?” Adrian stood, wiping his hands on his pants.
“This.” Rayne motioned toward the dead body with slightly trembling fingers. “He set Caelan up. There will be proof that we stormed the prime minister’s offices with the prime minister. We’ve killed dozens of New Rosanthe soldiers, and now the prime minister is dead while alone in the room with us.”
“But the Empire is the invader here!” Drayce argued.
“And Ilon didn’t ask for our help,” Rayne countered.
“The suicide?” Eno asked.
Rayne lifted his arm and wiped the blood from his face with the sleeve of his shirt. “They could argue we forced him to it. That he was left with no choice. That he killed himself rather than submit to our demands. There are any number of arguments that could be made. All of it will temper our kidnapping accusations.”
“What about that ‘Glory to the Goddess’ bullshit at the end?” Adrian demanded. “Who was he talking about? The Goddess of Life?”
Rayne shook his head, his voice coming out tight when he replied, “I think…I think he meant the Goddess of the Hunt.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Caelan stated, and all eyes snapped to him.
“What? Of course it matters!” Rayne shouted. “They are going to slander you. They are—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Caelan repeated. “We still have to meet with the God of Wisdom. We have to stop Safa. We have to stop the Emperor of New Rosanthe and the Goddess of the Hunt. None of this can matter until we’re sure Thia won’t be destroyed.”
“You’re right. Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Rayne suddenly said and bowed his head.
Caelan released a long, slow sigh and glanced at his companions. They were wet, bloody, and filthy. And they still had to face Safa. Part of him wanted to leave them behind as he continued on to the Light Stone, but they’d be trapped in this room as New Rosanthe, and possibly even Ilon soldiers, fought to break in.
But facing Safa felt more dangerous than remaining behind.
Maybe it was selfish, but he also wanted them with him as he met with one last god. Caris had hinted that Lore knew the whole truth of who Zyros was and why the war had started. He wanted to be able to tell them all why they were fighting and risking their lives.
Drayce clapped his hands together, startling them all. “Well, we ready to kick Safa’s ass and get this shit settled?”
Rayne groaned first, dropping his head back against the bookshelf. “Asshole.”
Caelan snickered, which broke the last of the tension, causing the rest of them to laugh. Oh, it was utterly inappropriate as they stood in the room with Jasper Feroz’s corpse, New Rosanthe gathering more forces, and an insane, goddess-bonded woman waiting to rip them apart, but then, nothing had been normal about their lives since they’d boarded the train for Caspagir.
“He’s right. We need to get moving. New Rosanthe will be through the door all too soon,” Caelan said.
Rayne pulled his flashlight from his pocket and flipped it on. He leaned into the thick darkness of the secret passage and passed the beam around for a few seconds. “Stairs. Straight down and a lot farther than five stories.”
Drayce moaned, “More stairs?”
“Of course. We’re at the top of the building. Where else were we going to go?” Adrian muttered.
Drayce threw up his hands. “I don’t know. The godstone is full of magic. I was hoping the door would lead to somewhere without more stairs.”
Caelan ignored them both and joined Rayne at the doorway. “Can you see a way to close the door behind us?” He turned on his own flashlight and began searching with Rayne. There was little more than a small concrete landing that barely fit the both of them.
“There!” Rayne suddenly shouted. “There’s a pedal on the floor.”
“Okay.” Caelan leaned into the room and called his companions to descend the stairs. As soon as Eno, Drayce, and Adrian were through, Rayne stepped on the pedal. The passageway was filled with the sound of metallic clicking and heavy wheels rolling as the bookshelf that formed the door moved smoothly back into the place, barring the way into the chamber.
Blackness engulfed the stairwell, broken only by five sharp flashlight beams. Caelan clipped his to the front of his shirt, leaving his hands free as he started his descent behind Eno while Rayne brought up the rear. Drayce was in the front, his voice seeming to echo up the narrow concrete passage.
“What is it with the godstones and stairs? Every time we go to see a god, there are always all these stairs,” Drayce bitched.
