“You and Eno go straight. Head for the Bazaar and get lost there. I’ll lead them away,” Drayce ordered.
“What—” Eno started to argue, but Drayce was already turning toward the soldiers. He lifted both hands, flipping them off while flashing his cockiest grin. “Emperor Suen sucks donkey balls! Long live King Caelan!”
With a cackle, he took off at a brisk jog down the street and away from where he estimated the Bazaar was. Eno and Rayne ran in the opposite direction though he swore he heard one or both of them swearing at him under their breath.
Yeah, maybe this was dangerous, but they were forgetting that he was a dragon. There were a few things he could do that they didn’t know about, and he preferred to keep it that way. If no one saw him doing these things, it didn’t count as breaking his oath, right? Not that he’d sworn an oath to his new clan leader Omari Nori to not reveal his true self. It was just understood that he’d continue to keep things under wraps for now.
Drayce glanced over his shoulder to find that two of the three soldiers were chasing him. That left one after Eno and Rayne. He’d hoped that all three would pursue him, but Eno and Rayne could easily handle one soldier.
Mentally chuckling to himself, Drayce sped up, darting down one street and up another. He was utterly lost, but he’d fix that once he escaped his tail and could stop somewhere to catch his breath. For now, his main goal was to remain in this lovely neighborhood with old, tall brick buildings. Each of them appeared to be at least six or seven stories high and were arranged so that there were ample narrow alleys.
Few people were on the sidewalks, and he wove between them with ease. The soldiers called out, ordering him to stop. They shouted a few threats, but thanks to the other people on the street, they hadn’t yet drawn their weapons.
When he’d finally broken their line of sight by darting into a new skinny alley littered with trash and old boxes, Drayce did the one thing he’d never permitted himself since moving to the continent. He called on his dragon strength while in his human form. He ran a couple of steps up the wall and pushed off, bouncing himself across the alley into the opposite wall. Catching it with one foot, he continued to ping-pong back and forth, working his way up as far as his momentum would carry him.
On the last bounce, he shifted his hand just enough to summon up dragon claws that dug deep into the brick. He hung there for a second, six stories up in the air, his breathing ragged but still feeling ridiculously giddy. Beneath him, the two soldiers ran past. They never looked up. But why would they? There were no fire escapes on this side of the building. No ladders. No way for a normal human to climb the sheer wall.
Drayce was barely holding in a final giggle when pulled himself up the last several feet to the roof. As his sneakers landed, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He grabbed it, expecting to see a call or text from Rayne or Eno. Instead, it was from Caelan.
What did you do?
His heart skipped a beat. How in the world did Caelan even know he was up to anything?
With a slight tremble in his fingers, he typed out “Nothing” and sent it. The message was marked read and the call instantly came through from Caelan.
“Hey,” he drawled, trying to sound completely innocent.
“What did you do?” Caelan repeated in his ear, though it did sound like his friend was relaxed and not angry in the least.
“What do you mean? I’m not doing anything…really…”
Caelan snorted. “I don’t believe you at all.” He suddenly lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “Caris has been giggling nonstop for nearly ten minutes. All I can get out of her is your name. What did you do?”
Drayce’s eyes widened, and his heart definitely stopped for a full second before racing ahead like a thing gone mad. Oh, shit. This connection to the Goddess of Fire was more intense than he’d expected, and she was directly tied to Caelan. That was bad. So bad.
“Oh…umm…nothing…”
“Drayce,” Caelan growled.
Okay, now he was getting pissed, but it was probably his worried pissed, and Cael didn’t need any distractions right now.
“I’m okay. Everything is okay. The Empire has the Parliament and government buildings surrounded. We might have also run into some Ilon soldiers. I escaped, but I need to check in with Rayne and Eno to make sure they’re good.”
“You’re safe?”
“Yup, not a problem at all.”
“Then why was Caris giggling?”
Drayce swallowed and rubbed his head. A curse left his lips when he realized he’d lost his new hat in the chase. That had been a cool hat. He’d thought about making it his new thing. Oh, well. “I might have used a tiny bit of dragon strength to climb a building. No big deal, and no one saw me.”
A low groan rumbled into his ear. “It’s like you take pleasure in scaring me. A giggling…you know…is not a good thing usually.”
“I know, but I swear I’m good. Everything is fine. Don’t worry. Where are you?” Drayce asked, trying to redirect Caelan’s thoughts.
“On the bus. We’re not far from our destination now.”
“Okay, you and Adrian be careful. One of us will check in with you soon.”