“What do you mean? Everyone seems very nice here,” Caelan asked.
Drayce walked over to the king and slung an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in close. “That’s just what I mean. They’re all too nice. Like they’re all part of a cult or brainwashed. How do we know they’re not going to file into the house during the night wearing white robes with hoods to drag us off to be brainwashed too?”
Caelan made a sound of disgust and shoved Drayce off him. “They literally live in the shadow of their god. There’s nothing wrong with being devoted. It doesn’t make them brainwashed.”
“Yeah, well you lived right next to the tower that held the Godstone for years, and you aren’t like that.”
The king shrugged. “True, but I didn’t think Tula was actually in the crystal. I thought it was just her powers.”
“So, all those times you went to the Godstone and stared at it, you weren’t praying to the goddess?” Eno asked.
Caelan winced and cringed, looking as if he were trying to shrink from Eno’s view. Or maybe he was wincing because he had a direct line to the goddess in his head. “No, the Godstone was just a manifestation of this entire future laid out in front of me. I’d go visit it to curse the goddess or my mom or Rayne,” he admitted with a wave of his hand in the air.
“I’m not sure whether I should feel honored or insulted to be included in that illustrious list,” Rayne muttered as he walked past them to the back of the town house.
Eno followed, belatedly realizing he should be doing a security check of the premises. Everything about Mrtyu seemed to be designed to lower his defenses and lull him into this feeling of security. Not a freaking chance when it came to Caelan’s safety.
The main living area led into a relatively small kitchen that held the basics. The refrigerator was filled with beverages in graceful glass containers while there were several covered platters of meats, fruits, and vegetables. On the counter was a large basket filled with different types of bread.
“I’ll start laying out the food,” Rayne offered.
“I’m going to check out the second floor. Be careful. There’s no lock on the exterior door,” Eno warned as he headed to the foyer and the staircase he’d spotted when they entered.
“Wait!” Caelan said sharply, and they all froze. Eno smoothly unsnapped the guard on the long knife he wore at his waist. The space was too small to draw his sword, but the long dagger was plenty to dispatch whatever threat Caelan was sensing. His heart rate ramped up, but his breathing remained smooth and steady, prepared for any attack.
“What’s wrong?” Drayce demanded, a pistol tightly gripped in one hand. He closed the distance between him and Caelan, becoming the man’s shadow.
Caelan paced into the living room, heading toward the front door. He extended his right hand in front of him, rubbing his fingers together like he was feeling or maybe testing something. Lines dug across his face while his eyebrows were angry slashes above his eyes. “That’s it. This is all wrong.” He stopped before reaching the door and turned to the parlor. “This is wrong.”
“What is?” Rayne pressed.
“I don’t feel anything.” He shook his head as Rayne took a breath to speak. “I mean, I don’t feel the Dead God.”
“Should you? He is dead, right?” Drayce asked.
“I thought I’d feel something. Even if it was just faint.” He looked at Drayce and then over to Rayne. “When I’m near Safa or if she’s just been in the area, I can feel the power of the Goddess of the Hunt. That’s not even the godstone that holds Zyros, but her bonded emissary, and I feel her. But Nyx? Nothing. Even for being dead, there should be some residual power left in the godstone.”
Drayce placed a hand on Caelan’s shoulder and partially turned him so their eyes met. “When Tula and Kaes talk about waking the Dead God, what they’re really saying is that you have to raise the dead?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” Caelan whispered. He paused and shook his head before turning his wide gaze to Rayne and then Eno. “What if the godstone isn’t here? Everyone has just been assuming it’s here because this is the capital of Zastrad, but what if it’s all a lie to protect the real location? Maybe that’s why I can’t feel anything from the Dead God.”
Eno’s stomach sank at that thought and his knees tried to give out. Not here? After everything they’d been through, the godstone of Zastrad had to be here. They just couldn’t have been sent out on another soul-crushing quest.
“Enough!” Rayne snapped in a hard voice. But Eno didn’t miss the tiny tremor in Rayne’s fingers as he held his hands up in front of him. “This is idle speculation with no information. We gain nothing from it but exhaustion.”