“I’m surprised you shared your tea with me,” Vale said as she blew on the hot liquid. “I know you don’t like me.”
“I’m not particularly proud of my jealousy or insecurity when it comes to Eno,” Rayne admitted with the tiniest of smiles in her direction. “But then, you never made any secret of your attraction to Eno.”
Vale shrugged and took a delicate sip of her tea, her eyes lowered to the table in front of her. “Well, it’s not like I knew at first that he was seeing someone.” She paused and took another sip. “And to be perfectly honest, you two are a strange pair. I mean, Eno is this brave, adventurous guy. He’s perfect for a life on the hunt, constantly on the go and fighting people trying to hurt your kingdom. While you’re…”
Rayne lifted a brow as he sipped his hot tea, the liquid scalding the tip of his tongue. When he lowered his cup back to the saucer, he was still smiling. “I’m someone who doesn’t spend a great deal of time with a sword in my hand and roughing it off the land. I’m built for parliament meetings and dusty libraries researching old doctrines.”
“Exactly,” she agreed with a laugh. “Him with you…it’s just weird.”
“But Eno with you makes more sense.”
Vale shrugged again as she gulped down more of her tea. While it dug under his skin and played on his insecurities when it came to Eno, Rayne could see her logic. Vale and Eno did make a lot of sense. There were a high number of similarities between them. But it didn’t change the fact that Eno came to him, kissed him, flirted with him. Rayne was who Eno wanted.
“I will admit that I’ve replayed your decision to take Eno with you on that hunt. Drayce had offered twice, but you ignored him in favor of taking Eno.” Rayne lowered his cup and saucer to rest on his thigh. “I thought that maybe you wanted some alone time with him so you could tempt him away. And then after the kidnapping, I thought maybe you were attempting to protect him.”
“I—” She broke off and cleared her throat. “I didn’t know they were going to attack while we were gone,” she continued, her voice a little rough.
Rayne nodded toward her nearly empty cup. “Drink your tea. The heat will help soothe your throat. The wind was particularly bad today.”
She tossed back the last of her tea and set her cup and saucer on the table with a soft clatter. “I didn’t know.”
“But you got time alone with Eno, and he was safe from the attack. That was a win-win for you.”
Vale smirked at him, but when she spoke her words had grown even rougher and more strangled. “You’re sounding paranoid.”
“That’s the thing. Caelan pays me to be paranoid. I have to be on high alert for plots and schemes against his well-being and the kingdom.” Rayne set his own cup of tea aside. He’d enjoyed half of it, but it was cooling, and this conversation was something he wanted to fully savor. “Like the fact that we have never encountered this team sent with you to Zastrad. There are five of you, right?”
“Six,” she rasped sharply.
“And they didn’t meet up with us when they discovered our attackers were missing from Deora Pass.” He paused and just stared at Vale in silence, allowing a few seconds to tick by before he finally inquired, “How many are still alive after all this time, Vale?”
Vale’s dark eyes flared wide and she opened her mouth, looking as if she were going to shout at him, but no sound came out. Rayne’s heart picked up and he fought his own triumphant smile as he watched her hand fly to her throat. She couldn’t speak. Perfect. He didn’t need her to any longer.
“They’re all dead, aren’t they?” Rayne looked at his hands, part of him mourning the loss of good Caspagir men and women. “Five years in a country that worshipped death. You were likely unprepared for what you found. The fighting and poor conditions would have worn your team down. At least one or two would have been lost to stupid fights. Maybe even one lost to Kiss of Death itself. But in the end, you’re here alone, desperate to finish a job the prince asked you to do. Complete a duty left on your shoulders alone.”
Vale blinked back sparkling tears and opened her mouth again to argue or shout, but nothing came out. Her hand fell limp to her lap. He watched as her body jerked as though she were trying to rise to her feet, but it was just a twitch of her legs.
“I’m not sure you realize what Zastrad’s greatest export has been for centuries,” he started casually. “All of Thia knows about its beautiful silks and Caspagir has had the unfortunate experience with Kiss of Death, but what the country is really known for is poison. There are over fifty fatal poisons that can be found in only Zastrad, and another fifty toxins that can bring about the most interesting results, from paralysis to truth serums. It’s all quite fascinating, though it’s not something taught in university classes. It’s more the kind of thing that’s studied in dusty libraries.”