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)
“I arrived a few days after you and Haru. If I had known that you were having such troubles, I would have reached out to you. Unfortunately, my attention was on gathering all the bits of information my spy network here in Bellcairn had cultivated.”
Adrian snorted. “Erya has spies in Damardor?”
Vitor smiled. “Erya has spies everywhere.” He huffed a near-silent laugh and lifted his gaze to Haru. “Nearly everywhere. The Isle of Stone has proved to be a tough nut to crack.”
Haru sneered and lifted his chin. Of course it was. Outsiders didn’t land on the shores of the Isle of Stone. No one approached without a dragon’s knowledge. There had been some limited trade over the years, and some people were shipwrecked on the Isle of Stone, but all outsiders were closely watched. They also never escaped the chasm. If there were spies in the chasm, they had no access to the inner workings of the clans.
Adrian scooted to the edge of the dark-blue cushion and leaned toward Vitor, who sat opposite him in a matching navy armchair. Only a low, dinged coffee table separated them. A hint of pine cleaner and old coffee lingered in the air. “If we have spies here, you must know what’s going on and where Shey is.”
“No.”
“You’re shitting me,” Adrian scoffed.
Haru frowned. He expected better of someone who worked for his cousin. “How is that possible?”
“Like the Isle of Stone, spies are hard to keep undercover and alive in Damardor. Until recently, New Rosanthe had a powerful presence here. They were good at sniffing out spies.” Vitor’s nose wrinkled and he slouched a bit in his seat, his hand clenching in his lap. “In addition, the elite of Damardor have been in lockstep with New Rosanthe because the Empire has always been good about feeding the rich and stomping on the poor.”
Adrian grunted. “I get that. I’m more accustomed to working the underground scene. Usually, you need to spread a bit of cash around and make some friends in the homeless camps to get the scoop on what’s happening.” Adrian made a noise of disgust and flopped back in his chair. “Just a lot of fear and suspicion. They all believe every newcomer is a secret police agent or a spy for New Rosanthe. No one talks.”
Haru was at a loss, but he wasn’t sure if it was a dragon versus human problem, or if the life he’d led with the Omari Clan on the Isle of Stone was sheltered. He’d had more than his fair share of scuffles with the other clans and even done some spying of his own, but gathering intelligence by pretending to be someone else wasn’t possible. He was sure everyone knew his face on the Isle of Stone.
“My time in Bellcairn hasn’t been fruitless. My people spotted Shey on several occasions while he was in the city, but we lost track of him about two weeks ago. When the news reached me that we needed to pull him out, all signs of him had evaporated. I’m confident he was abducted by one of the roving squads that’s working through Bellcairn and some of the larger cities.”
“Shit!” Adrian pounded his fist on the arm of the chair and lurched to his feet only to throw himself down again.
“These squads, they’re gathering up political dissidents? Is that what they believe of Shey?” Haru asked.
Vitor’s smirk returned, and there was a new glitter in his brown eyes. “That’s what they want you to think.”
“Huh?” Adrian grunted, and Haru almost echoed him.
“In the past, Damardor has used secret police to round up people who advocated for more freedom from New Rosanthe and policies that didn’t align with the Empire. The government was always very flashy about walking those people through fake trials or conjuring up nonexistent evidence of evil misdeeds so they would have an excuse to imprison or execute these people.” Vitor sat up in his seat and leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Now, people are simply missing. No trials or executions. Just disappearing as if they had never existed. People leave for work and never arrive. Entire families evaporate in the night.”
“And this is new?”
“Six to eight months new.”
Haru’s brows snapped together over the bridge of his nose, and he shook his head. “Eight months ago, New Rosanthe was still a powerful country. Their emperor has been dead only six months, correct?”
Adrian turned his head to gaze up at Haru, wearing the same puzzled expression. “Eight months ago…I was in Brightspire with Cael and the others. No! We were preparing to leave…” He trailed off, but Haru knew what he was going to say. Adrian, Cael, Drayce, Rayne, and Eno had all been preparing to leave the Isle of Stone after meeting with the Goddess of Fire.
They looked at Vitor to find that his smile hadn’t wavered one bit. “Because my hands were full in Brightspire and the rest of Ilon, I didn’t pay too much attention to the early reports of strangeness happening in Bellcairn. Damardor’s government has been rotten to the core for decades, but from Erya’s standpoint, most of its rottenness was directed at its own people. There wasn’t much we could do.”