“Hey!”
Drayce jumped when Caelan bumped him with his elbow. He looked over to find his king watching him with an eyebrow raised in question, his lips twisted in a kind of smirk.
“What’s up? Did you say something?” Drayce asked.
Caelan snorted. “You’ve been totally lost in thought over there. I could have said we were ordering pizza and you would have missed it.”
Okay, he didn’t buy that at all. His ears were finely tuned machines, ready to capture even the barest whisper of the word “pizza.” It was one of his favorite things in the world, and it was cruel of Caelan to even use that word in vain right now.
Sinking a little lower in the seat behind Rayne, he glanced at Eno holding the wheel. The man appeared relaxed on the surface, but Drayce didn’t miss how Eno was gripping the wheel with both hands, his eyes scanning everything. At least he wasn’t the only one getting a creepy vibe from this place already.
“I doubt they even know what a pizza is here,” he muttered. He turned his attention to Caelan to find his friend grinning at him.
“If so, you could always retire from bodyguarding and move here, introduce pizza to Zastrad. I bet you’d be the most popular guy in the entire country in a matter of months.”
“Oh, and are you giving up being king to go into comedy?”
Caelan sat up, blinking wide eyes at him. “You think I should?”
Growling, Drayce launched himself across the rear bench seat into Caelan, where they wrestled. Caelan had this one ticklish spot along his ribs near his left armpit and the man defended it as if it were the key to the fucking crown jewels, but Drayce had long fingers and knew all his friend’s tricks.
“Enough,” Rayne called wearily from the front seat. “I can’t believe I even have to say this. You’re the King of Erya—”
“I’m bored, Rayne,” Caelan countered in his best spoiled royal whine.
Drayce popped his head up, his face feeling flushed. He shoved some hair from his eyes and gave his best innocent grin to Rayne. “And I’m a predictable distraction.”
“The gods know that’s true,” Rayne mumbled under his breath.
“Come on, baby. Let the kids play. They’re not hurting anything,” Eno said. He reached out and placed his hand on Rayne’s, earning a wild cackle from him and Caelan. Drayce barely heard the sound of disgust from Rayne, but he didn’t miss that Rayne was very slow to pull away from Eno’s grasp.
In fact, Rayne’s voice had lost much of its recent sharpness. Somehow, as if by magic or by some excellent ass-kissing, Rayne had mellowed out and was even speaking to Eno again. Drayce was dying to ask him about it. Even more, he wanted to gossip with Caelan about it, but he couldn’t. He’d promised Rayne he’d keep his mouth shut when it came to Rayne and Eno dating.
And it sucked.
Oh, well. It was only a matter of time before that secret exploded and Caelan knew about it. He hoped it all worked out for them.
Funny enough, he liked the idea of Rayne and Eno together. They just sort of made sense for reasons he couldn’t begin to explain, and it meant that Rayne wasn’t falling for that smooth-talking Prince Shey and moving to Sirelis. Caelan needed Rayne.
Sighing, Drayce leaned over and laid his head on Caelan’s shoulder.
“What are you sighing about?” Caelan inquired, poking him in the side.
“Guess I’m just a closet romantic. I’m glad Mom and Dad aren’t fighting anymore.”
Caelan chuckled, but Drayce was more concerned with the questioning glance he got from Eno in the rearview mirror and the warning glare Rayne threw in his direction from over his shoulder. Drayce grinned. Caelan didn’t think anything of the comment. It was probably better to redirect the conversation before Rayne strangled him, though.
“Do we know anything about this person we’re supposed to meet? Like a name? Or a gender? Maybe what he or she looks like?” Drayce asked.
“All we know is that the person is called Vale, but they are likely going under another name here in Zastrad,” Rayne replied.
“And I’m guessing we don’t know the cover name,” Caelan drawled.
Rayne shook his head. “I get the impression that it’s ever changing. Prince Shey said the situation in Zastrad tends to be very fluid and complicated as his people insinuate themselves into the culture and underground drug business.”
“Well, it appears we’re about to get our first taste of Zastrad life. Here’s the town,” Eno announced with a jerk of his chin ahead of them.
Drayce grabbed the front seats with both hands and pulled himself up to stare dumbfounded out the windshield. This? This was the town?
There were a couple of more permanent buildings made of wood, but the cluster of structures were mostly yurts constructed of colorful fabrics. Two rusted and battered trucks were parked together. He thought he saw another sedan on blocks and then horses. Lots of fucking horses.