Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Haru gasped. “You were arrested? Did you even have papers to be in that country?”
Adrian snorted and shook his head. “Papers? I didn’t have a single legal ID on me. Everything was fake, and not good fakes. We scattered, escaping the cops. Of course, I didn’t know my way around Brightspire, and the city is huge. I wandered for the better part of two days before I finally got back to where I’d last seen Diogo’s truck, which was now long gone. I had no way of contacting him, and there was no way in hell I was going to tell my mom I was trapped in Ilon.”
Haru frowned. “Why not?”
Adrian groaned and swiped a hand across his face. “Because by that age, she’d been called to the police station or had to see the cops drag my ass home plenty of times. She knew what kind of scoundrel I’d turned into. She would have told me to figure out my own way home since I got myself into that mess.”
“You didn’t think she’d be worried about you?”
“Can’t say I gave it much thought at the time.” Adrian looked at the fire and sighed. “I was a self-centered little shit. I took it personally that she wasn’t ever around to be my mom. What I didn’t consider was that she was working herself to death, so I had a roof, food, and clothes. Whatever. It took me two months of odd jobs, begging, and stealing to scrounge together enough money to buy a train ticket that would take me all the way to Stormbreak.”
“That long?”
Adrian grinned at him. “I wasn’t saving up the entire time. During that time, I was on my own for the first time. I made questionable friends, crashed on couches, and partied far too much. When summer was almost over and I knew I needed to at least appear at school, it took me only three days to pull the money together.”
“Was your mom happy to see you were still alive?”
“Relieved and so pissed. She had reported me missing, but none of the cops took it seriously. They were convinced I’d just run away, and I’d show up again when I was ready. After that incident, my mom stopped talking to me until I joined the Royal Guard. I think she’d lost hope that I’d ever turn into anything worthwhile. It hit me then that I’d let her down, but it took another couple of years for me to fix the mess I’d made of my life.”
Adrian’s voice sounded so desolate that it squeezed Haru’s heart. Even years later after he’d made his mother proud, he still hadn’t let that failure go.
Haru reached out and placed his fingers under Adrian’s chin, forcing him to turn his face to meet his gaze. “The difference between you and many hopeless people out there is that you took steps toward a better path. I am sure it was hard, but you persevered because you wanted better for yourself and your mother.”
“I laugh and make jokes about being a sneaky thief, but those years aren’t something I’m proud of.”
Haru adjusted his hand so he could rub his thumb along Adrian’s cheek in a gentle caress. The man closed his eyes and relaxed in his touch. “You can be proud of surviving those years.”
Adrian’s eyes flicked open, and he met Haru’s unwavering stare. “How old are you, Haru?”
Not the question he was expecting Adrian to ask, but he was still unwilling to dodge it. He’d made a promise, and Adrian had dared to reveal something very personal about himself.
“I am four hundred and twenty-three years old. Compared to human years, we are close in age.”
Adrian sighed again and sat up, pulling free of Haru’s touch. “That’s a big age gap. I—” Adrian stopped speaking suddenly and frowned.
“What?”
“We need to get moving. We need to find Shey,” Adrian announced, shoving to his feet and moving away from the fire to step into the deeper shadows around their campsite.
As much as Haru wanted to continue their conversation, he had a feeling that it was headed to a place that would end in an argument, which was not what he wanted. It was better to turn their minds back to the job ahead of them—finding the missing prince.
CHAPTER 6
Omari Haru
“We’re in luck. The sky is overcast tonight. No moon or stars to give us away,” Haru said easily. He rose from the log by the fire and motioned to the sky.
Adrian tipped his head up and stared at the clouds that blocked out any heavenly light. “Yeah, but it also means no light to guide you as you fly. Are you sure you’ll be able to spot a building if you do manage to fly over it?”
“My eyesight is quite good in the dark. Like that of a cat. I’m sure we’ll be able to spot it with little problem.”