“And what happens when you are just a few days outside of Sirelis and your cell phone no longer has service? Which of you is going to be panicking the most?”
Rayne had little doubt in his mind that he was going to be the one hyperventilating over his inability to check in with General Morgan. The commander was going to do fine without him.
Shey smirked, accurately reading his mind again. “That’s what I thought.” Shey reached out and tapped Rayne’s chin lightly with the tip of his finger. “The road ahead of you into and through Zastrad is going to be a hard one. You should be resting as much as you can right now, not stressing yourself out more.”
Except part of Rayne’s stress was standing right in front of him.
“Thank you, Your Maj—”
“Stop it,” Shey snapped. His brow furrowed as he turned to face the railing, his arms folded tightly across his chest as he glared at the ocean. “I hate when you call me that.”
Rayne stood there with his mouth hanging open, unable to pull together a clear thought at Shey’s sudden explosion. He’d never complained about Rayne as much in the past, though he had to admit that he was using the honorific a tad more now than he might have previously.
“Why?”
“Because when you say it, I feel as if you’re stacking another brick on the wall you’re building between us.”
Rayne started to place his hand on Shey’s shoulder but caught himself at the last second. Not so much because it was improper for him to touch a prince, but rather, it opened a door to things he was very much trying to avoid.
“Your—Shey,” he corrected. “We will always be friends. I treasure the time we spent together.”
“It’s not enough,” Shey declared with a shake of his head. He turned his scowl on Rayne, the muscles in his jaw ticking. “I thought it would be, but we were both stupid and deluding ourselves all those years ago. I’ve never stopped thinking about you. And when you finally returned to Sirelis…” He paused. The glower transformed into something else, something filled with both pain and hope. Reaching out, Shey cupped the side of Rayne’s face, rubbing his thumb across his high cheekbone. A frisson of awareness tingled through Rayne’s entire body, catching his breath in his chest. He couldn’t have looked away even if his life depended on it. “I know I couldn’t let you leave again without at least trying.”
“Shey…” It should have been a “no” or at least a warning, but the prince’s name left his lips in a breathless whisper of heartbreak.
“We belong together, Rayne. No one has ever fit me like you do. I’m willing to wait until you’ve completed this mission with your king, but afterward I want you to return to Sirelis and marry me. Be mine forever.”
Shey leaned in. Rayne’s own lips burned in anticipation of the kiss that was coming. Part of him longed for it. To escape all the pain and confusion that filled his life right then, but there was no denying that it was wrong. All so very wrong.
Placing a hand against Shey’s shoulder, Rayne pushed him gently, slipping free of Shey’s grasp. “No. I can’t.”
“Why? Because of Eno?” At least there was no derision in his voice when Shey spoke his lover’s name.
“Yes.”
“A blind man can see that you’ve been avoiding him as much as you’ve been avoiding me. Are you even still together?”
“I don’t know,” Rayne murmured and shook his head. “Regardless, it feels like cheating. I have too much respect for him to behave like some randy teenager. How would you feel if the roles were reversed?”
Shey’s lips twisted into something like a sneer. “I’d blame myself that you could even be tempted in the first place. It would mean that I’m failing to give you something you need, and he’s succeeding in my stead.”
Because of course Shey would think of it that way. Unfortunately, Rayne’s life was more complicated than that.
“Shey, I’m not going to lie to either of us and say that I don’t have feelings for you or that I’m not tempted, but rushing into this talk of marriage when we haven’t truly seen each other in nearly a decade is foolish.” Rayne dropped the hand resting on Shey’s shoulder to his side and sighed heavily. “We’ve both changed. We don’t know each other like we once did.”
“Just tell me; do you love him?”
Rayne’s gaze darted around the deck, not truly seeing anything as his mind filled with years of memories of Eno. “I…I don’t know. But I want to at least have the chance to find out if I could, if we could love each other.”
And maybe that was the answer he’d been searching for these past couple of weeks. Yes, he was still pissed beyond belief at Eno, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand the man’s reasoning. Wouldn’t he have been tempted to do the same? To protect Eno at all costs.
Even if the road ahead of them was impossible and dark, couldn’t they at least cherish the love they could find in those dark moments before the end?
“I want to try with him, Shey,” Rayne said with a hint of pleading, though he wasn’t sure if he was begging Shey or fate to give him a second chance.
“And I want you to be happy, Rayne.”
Movement from the corner of his eye caught Rayne’s attention, or maybe it was the flash of something silver in the sunlight, but he was grabbing Shey as the thought was still forming in his head. Digging his fingers into the prince’s shoulders, Rayne swung him around so that their positions were reversed. His brain barely registered Shey’s surprised gasp as he turned toward the attacker, bringing his arm up to block the knife that was thrust forward. The man dressed in a Caspagir naval uniform had been trying to stab Shey in the back.
The knife flew free, tumbling overboard. The would-be killer tried to punch him with his free hand, narrowly missing Rayne’s cheek as he dodged.
A second knife was thrust over Rayne’s shoulder, burying into the attacker’s chest.
“No!” Rayne shouted.
The assassin became a dead weight in his hands. Rayne tried to hold him up, but he ended up going down to the deck with him. Around them, feet pounded on the deck and men shouted, but his entire focus was on the assassin who was quickly dying in front of them. The man coughed, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth while his gaze grew unfocused.
“We need him alive for information!” Rayne barked. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in the back of his throat. He had to do something before his life slipped away. “Get Caelan! I need his help to save this man!”
“Rayne—”
“Go!” He didn’t care one bit that he was yelling orders at the prince of Caspagir. It wasn’t just about getting Caelan’s help, though. If an attempt had been made on Shey’s life, there was a good chance there was at least one other assassin on the ship, and he could be making an attempt on Caelan’s life right now as well.
Feet hurried away from him as Shey raced toward the entrance to the lower decks. There were other sailors about, but they were a distance away, bellowing commands and likely running off to protect their prince and the visiting king.
Rayne turned his full attention to the assassin. The man had pale skin against his dark hair and nearly black eyes. How had he even gotten on the ship? It didn’t matter right now. If they saved his life, they could demand those answers later.