Rayne’s chest tightened when Caelan lifted sad pale-blue eyes to him. They stared at each other for several seconds. Rayne held his breath, waiting for the command. The same words Caelan had uttered more than once in Zastrad. Just fix it.
“We don’t,” Caelan softly said at last.
“What?” Eno cried, but Rayne was barely aware of it because his king had yet to break their stare.
“We don’t. The problems between Takahashi and Omari existed long before we landed on the Isle of Stone.” Caelan looked away at last and glared at his hands. “I know we made things worse between them, and I feel guilty over it. Gods, if Masaru knows that an Omari half-breed sits on the throne of Erya, he’s got to be fucking livid.”
“You can’t feel guilty over anything that Takahashi Masaru does,” Drayce argued. “He’s a dick. Always has been, always will be. He doesn’t care about anyone else but himself. He wants power, all the power, and he’ll always be jealous of anyone he perceives as having as much or more than him.”
Caelan nodded. “I’ll speak to my grandfather, offer our assistance, but I suspect he won’t accept it. He strikes me as someone who will want to take care of this on his own, and I will respect his wishes. The best way we can help him and all dragons is to find the Fire Stone and to remove the threat created by the Goddess of the Hunt.”
Rayne dropped his head in relief. Zastrad was a stain on his soul that kept him up too many nights. He’d begun to fear the stain spreading with actions he’d be forced to take while on the Isle of Stone. Closing his eyes, he slipped his index finger and thumb under his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yes, I think I fixed enough in Temit with Yash and Vale.”
He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. He’d been so relieved that Caelan wasn’t expecting to work insane miracles among the dragons on the Isle of Stone, the words had just slipped out.
The silence in the room was suffocating. Rayne froze, unwilling to move. He couldn’t look up, but he could feel every eye on him. The only thing he could hear was his heart racing in his ears.
“What do you mean, fixing Vale?” Eno asked in a low tone. “Rayne?” His name was like a roll of thunder that got Rayne to lift his eyes, but they automatically went to Caelan.
The king’s eyes pierced him, and he flinched on the inside, but he fought hard to keep his expression blank. He’d done the right thing. There was no question in his mind that he’d acted correctly. He’d protected Caelan, Erya—even Prince Shey and Caspagir—from a traitor.
“She didn’t commit suicide,” Caelan said in a dull voice.
Rayne managed to give the tiniest shake of his head, but it was enough for the room to explode.
Drayce rocked back, his hand covering his mouth and his eyes wide. Eno lurched away from him, jumping to his feet. Caelan also surged up, pacing the room. Only Adrian failed to react, but the guard had little knowledge of the events that had taken place over the course of their journey through Zastrad.
“What were you thinking, Rayne?” Caelan shouted.
“How could you murder her and then cover it up?” Eno demanded, horror trembling in his words.
Describing his actions as murder had Rayne standing, his face heating. “I did not murder her. It was justice. Punishment. I was protecting Caelan!”
“What?” Caelan snapped.
“I never bought her story that she’d arranged for the rest of her team to intercept the raiders who kidnapped us. She’d supposedly spent five years in Zastrad with her team. How could they miss the chance to stop the kidnapping?” Rayne shook his head. “I found a message that had been sent to Prince Shey asking permission to arrange a kidnapping of Caelan to draw out the Kiss of Death dealers. Shey said no.”
Caelan stopped his pacing, his eyes going wide. “You saw Shey’s response?”
Rayne nodded. “Yes, I still have it among my things if you don’t believe me.”
The king shook his head. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
The true story came spilling out of Rayne, his voice growing louder and rougher with each fact. “Prince Shey denied her request, and she went ahead with her kidnapping plot anyway. Her team was all dead except for her. The only thing that mattered to Vale was her mission. She betrayed her prince, her kingdom, and the King of Erya to get what she wanted. She was willing to let Caelan die. Assuming we survived the encounter with the Dead God, I knew she was too dangerous to leave running free, where she could create new threats behind our backs. She had to be eliminated to protect the king and all of Thia.”