Heavy rain was now coming down hard, blurring the windows and turning everything slate gray. That would help, but Drayce wasn’t exactly excited about getting soaked to the bone again. Was it so wrong that he wanted to stretch out like a lizard on a hot rock, his belly exposed to the warm sun? No, it was as if the gods expected him to grow fucking gills.
Rayne darted across the yard to the gate and took out both guards before Eno could finish swearing at him for his recklessness.
Unfortunately, that was the end of their easy escape. The chancellor’s guards had been outsmarted and simply drugged, but the Empire had plenty of soldiers waiting in the lush, green park behind the mansion. Their every attempt to head to the closer Green Gate was thwarted by more and more men coming between them and their goal.
By the time they reached the edge of the park closest to Uni Garden and East Ward, Drayce was out of ammo and toting a fucking New Rosanthe rifle. The damn thing was bulky and liked to jam, but it at least had a full magazine.
“Cael, you and Drayce head for East Ward,” Eno ordered.
Caelan roughly wiped water from his face, but it did little good in the storm. “What?”
“Go! We’ll hold them off and lead them away,” Rayne added.
Caelan looked as if he wanted to argue further, but there was no room for discussion. They were outnumbered and outgunned. Drayce hated this idea thoroughly, but if they remained, they were all going to get killed. The important thing was protecting the king.
Grabbing Caelan’s upper arm, he pulled him forward without another word. With clenched teeth, Caelan nodded and ran with him to the wide streets of Uni Gardens, heading southwest as best they could while dodging groups of Empire soldiers. General Morgan must not have gotten her men to move this far from Green Gate.
Water splashed up Drayce’s legs and soaked into his jeans as they ran through the streets, winding along narrow alleys and out again. He’d lost his way blocks ago, but they had to keep moving, putting more distance between them and the Empire. Every once in a while, they’d run across some New Rosanthe soldiers, but they dispatched them quickly with gun and sword. Along the way, he changed guns four times as he killed attackers and stole their weapons.
“Drayce! Slow down!” Caelan shouted. “Do you even know where we are?”
“Nope,” Drayce replied over his shoulder. He glanced behind him at Caelan to smirk, but it meant he was taking the next corner blind. He slammed into something…or rather someone hard and stumbled backward into Caelan.
Blinking, Drayce brought up a New Rosanthe gun, finger already on the trigger when his eyes focused on a soaked and bedraggled figure.
“Levi!”
The young man staggered, catching himself before he could fall on his ass. His face was twisted up in anger, but it all disappeared the second he looked at Drayce. “Holy shit! Drayce!”
“What are you doing out in this mess?”
“Searching for you!” He laughed and shook his head. But the laughter was cut off when his eyes fell on the person just behind Drayce.
“Oh, yeah!” He twisted toward Caelan. “This is Levi. He was part of Melita’s group who helped to liberate Green Gate.” When he peered at Levi, the guy’s face had become incredibly pale and he seemed unsteady on his feet. “Levi, this is Cael…er, King Caelan Talos.”
Caelan snorted. “I think that’s the last time you’re ever doing introductions. Rayne would be losing his shit right now.”
“I think Rayne’s got more than enough to get his panties in a twist about. He doesn’t need to worry about my introducing skills.”
A playful sigh left Caelan. “And yet, he still would.” With one last smirk, Caelan stepped around Drayce and smiled kindly at Levi. “A pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for your assistance with Green Gate.”
“Uh…yes,” Levi stammered and then bowed deeply. “Sorry, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Drayce waved off, earning another wry grin from Caelan, but his prince didn’t say anything. “Why are you hunting for me?”
“The General sent word that they were trying to break you, Eno, and the others free of the chancellor today,” Levi replied to Drayce, but his eyes kept straying to Caelan, as though he couldn’t believe he was standing there with the king. “They were expecting you to go to Green Gate, but Tomas and Melita sent a bunch of us through Uni Gardens in case you ran into trouble.”
“We ran into a ton of Empire soldiers and had to change direction,” Caelan interjected.
“Oh,” Levi murmured, dropping his eyes to the ground.
Drayce huffed and wiped his face again before turning his scowl on his friend. “Any way you can shut the rain off now?”