Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 110079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Shey ripped his hand away from Tyche’s and took a step back. The heavy weight in his stomach turned into a ball of ice. “He’s not dead!”
The words tumbled out of him not just because they’d be damned in the worst way if Tyche was right. He didn’t want Adrian to be dead. The Erya royal guard was a good man. A funny, caring man who didn’t deserve to die so young. Haru and Adrian had headed off on their own only an hour ago. Maybe two. How could something have happened so quickly?
No, he refused to believe it.
“He’s not dead,” he repeated as much for himself as for Tyche. “Adrian is tied to the God of Hope. Even if it’s not a lot of power, he’s got some. It has to give him some protection.”
Tyche’s brow furrowed as he gazed at the city. A few seconds ticked by before the God of Luck nodded. “You’re probably right. It must mean they’ve been separated, and Haru is panicking. If Adrian had been injured, Haru would have scooped him up and carried him directly here. We need to find them.”
“Agreed, but…” Shey’s voice faded as he stared at his city. Sirelis was over two thousand square miles, from the harbor to the wall, from the palace to the historic district, and everything else in between. How the hell were they supposed to locate Adrian? Finding Haru didn’t feel like a big problem. The dragon had to be in the middle of the red and black swirling mist.
“Caelan!” Tyche shouted, startling Shey out of his wandering thoughts. His companion swung around and grabbed both of his arms. “Can you call Caelan? He could sense something from Adrian. Or maybe they can talk telepathically. Fuck! I don’t know. Something, right?”
Because of that magical link between them. It made sense. And by now, Caelan was likely to have returned to Stormbreak, making it possible for Shey to reach him.
Shey ripped his new cell phone from his pocket and nearly dropped it in his haste to pull up the phone number he had programmed into it.
The call rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Until it went to voice mail.
Shey paced and lowered the phone to end the call rather than leave a message. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s not answering. He might be in a meeting.”
Tyche waved his hands at Shey as if he were trying to chase away such thoughts. “No, it’s more likely someone is trying to convince him not to hop on his boyfriend and fly here. He would have felt it if Adrian had been hurt.” Tyche huffed and made a face as he suggested, “Do you have Rayne’s number?”
He did, actually, even though it didn’t feel safe to admit it. Rather than saying anything, he pulled up Rayne on his phone and called the number. Thankfully, it rang only twice before Rayne answered.
“What’s happened, Shey?” Rayne demanded.
“Caelan—”
The king’s name was barely out of his mouth when he heard Caelan in the background demanding the phone.
“What’s going on? What happened to Adrian?” Caelan barked.
“I don’t know. Haru and Adrian flew into the city while Tyche and I went to the palace to meet with the queen. There was a sound like an explosion, and then another nightmare swamped the city. We think Adrian and Haru have been separated. Can you feel Adrian?”
“Yes! He’s alive!”
Shey felt his knees go weak and his head spun. He must have wobbled because Tyche was right there, grabbing his arm and supporting him as he got his legs under him. He flashed Tyche a weak smile and mouthed that Caelan had confirmed that Adrian was alive. Tyche released him to sit down hard in the middle of the balcony. Apparently, the god’s confidence had been just for show a few minutes ago, and his relief now was very real.
“He’s in pain, but seems to be managing. He lost consciousness for a while, but I can sense him moving now.”
“Okay. Good. Is there any way you can see what he’s seeing? Do you have any sense of where he is in the city?”
A growl escaped Caelan. “A bit. It’s garbled. What I’m getting from him makes little sense, plus I don’t know Sirelis that well. We didn’t spend a lot of time walking all of it. If I fly there with Drayce, I’ll be able to pinpoint him.”
Shey’s stomach twisted. He could understand Caelan’s need to be on hand to help Adrian. “But it will still take you hours to reach here by dragon. I don’t know if Adrian, Haru, or Sirelis have that long to wait. Tell Rayne and me what you see. There isn’t a single place in the city that we haven’t visited.”
There was a long silence in which Shey’s hopes sank. It wasn’t as if he could order King Caelan, the God of Hope, to do as he asked. He couldn’t wait for Caelan’s arrival. They needed to do something now.