“King Caelan, I am deeply sorry for this attack on your person. I would have never thought one of my own people—” Shey broke off as if he couldn’t give voice to the words. The prince looked paler than even Rayne, who was currently resting on Drayce’s bed with a fierce scowl. Shey stood near the foot of the bed, his body stiff and head bowed.
Caelan had made quick work of healing Rayne, but his advisor had lost a good deal of blood. He was off his feet for the rest of the day whether he liked it or not.
“He wasn’t one of your men,” Caelan corrected. “I’d wager neither of them was.”
Shey’s head snapped up. “What?”
“I saw…sort of glimpses of images while I was trying to heal him.” Caelan paused, trying to clarify his own thoughts, but they were a jumbled mess. He hadn’t expected to be able to get any of the man’s thoughts or memories while healing him. But then, he understood so little of his connection with Tula. “It wasn’t much, but I clearly saw Rayne’s assassin speaking to Lord High Commander Grim. He had orders to kill me.”
“So why was he going after Prince Shey?” Rayne demanded.
“Shey?” Eno asked in shock. “He wasn’t attacking you?”
“No, he was trying to stab me in the back,” Shey answered, sending a small smile across to Rayne. “Rayne moved me out of the way and wrestled the knife out of his hand. He saved my life.”
Caelan had questions about how the hell Rayne had ended up with a knife in his side, but he shook his head. That was for later. “It’s likely all the assassins put on my trail have orders to kill me as well as anyone who might be helping me.”
“You don’t think this is because of his tie to the Wind Stone?” Drayce inquired, mentioning the godstone that had its home in Caspagir.
Caelan shook his head. “No. I don’t think the Empire is yet aware that Shey has a link to the Wind Stone.”
Shey grunted and dropped into the one chair in the room. It was by the desktop bolted to the wall that Drayce had no use for other than a place to hold snacks when he was up for eating. “I’ve practiced a little, but not where anyone else can see me.”
Drayce scratched his head where he was leaning against the wall. “Yeah, it would probably be smart to keep that from people as long as you can.”
“What I don’t get is, why now?” Eno waved one arm at them and made a sound of disgust. “We’ve been at sea for more than a week. They could have attacked during the middle of the night and had a higher chance of success.”
Shey scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “I just heard from the captain a few minutes before I stepped out onto the deck to speak to Rayne. He was able to make up some time recently, and we’re on target to reach Sirelis either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We’re also reaching the point where we are the closest we’ll be to shore until we enter Sirelis harbor and well past the Ordas.”
Caelan couldn’t help but mentally sigh with relief at that bit of good news. The sooner they made landfall, the sooner Drayce would have a chance to fully recover from his seasickness. Crossing to Caspagir had taken half the time than when they’d traveled from Sirelis to Erya. But on that trip, they’d been moving cautiously and attempting to avoid New Rosanthe warships. This time, they traveled with a good chunk of the Caspagir fleet. No hiding necessary.
“One of them must have overheard and realized their window of opportunity was closing fast if they were going to strike,” Rayne murmured.
“Nothing has changed,” Caelan declared. “We knew the Empire wanted me dead. We need to all be watching our backs every step of the way.” He turned toward the Caspagir prince, his frown deepening. “I’m sorry, Shey. You’ll need to be cautious even in your own home until this is settled. I’m hoping the threats follow us to Zastrad, but I don’t want you or your family to be hurt because I didn’t warn you to be on your guard.”
Shey nodded. “My family and I have no regrets. We’ll be careful. Thank you for your concern.”
“Since we are getting so close to Sirelis, how long are we staying there?” Drayce asked.
Caelan glanced over his shoulder at his shadow with a smile. But the smile died away when his eyes landed on the splatter of dried blood across the side of his face. Just a few months ago, that was something he’d been sure he’d never see on his best friend. Drayce had always been a fun, easygoing guy. He wasn’t the type to run from a fight, but he also wasn’t the kind of person who went looking for one.