“Come on, let’s head back,” Caelan urged.
Drayce flashed his friend a quick smile, trying to not let his mounting worry show. The guy was standing on his own two feet again, he didn’t need to know that Drayce was starting to freak out over all this god nonsense.
The walk to the camp didn’t take nearly as long as Drayce expected, and he was even more thrilled to find that Eno and Vale had located them. More thrilled for Eno, less so for Vale.
And the first sight of them might have set off lots of little panic alarms running through Drayce. When they stumbled into camp, it was to find Eno with his arms around Rayne in a fashion that screamed lover more than brother or friend. When Caelan had dipped into Rayne’s mind, had he seen the truth of Rayne’s relationship with Eno?
But before he could figure out how to handle that and potentially cover for them, his attention was drawn to the woman who’d gotten them kidnapped in the first place. She was kneeling in front of the man known as Ram, her fists clenched in his shirt, shaking him as she shouted what sounded like demands in Zastari.
Swallowing hard, Drayce snapped his attention to Caelan to find his friend staring at Eno and Rayne, a frown playing on his lips; then his gaze slid over to Vale.
“He’s not going to tell you anything,” Caelan announced. His frost-covered voice blanketed the camp, making everyone jerk their eyes toward them.
“Cael!” Rayne shouted, pushing out of Eno’s arms. He staggered and Eno remained right beside him, a hand at his back.
It was doubtful that Caelan even noticed. He didn’t look away from Vale, who had released Ram and was shoving to her feet.
“What do you mean? He’s the one who kidnapped you, right?” Vale demanded.
“What happened here? How the hell is there a forest this high in the mountains?” Eno added.
Yeah, that was a question Drayce was in no great hurry to answer. His main concern right now was keeping Caelan calm, even though he might also want to strangle the woman who was glaring at them.
“There’s nothing he can tell,” Caelan continued in the same cold, dead voice. “I wiped his mind completely clean. There isn’t a single thought in his brain. It’s incapable of actual thought. His brain can only make his heart beat and lungs draw in air.”
Drayce placed his hand at the back of Caelan’s neck, his fingers brushing over the soft skin there, trying to soothe away any feelings of anger and betrayal. He didn’t know if this Caelan was now in control of his emotions, or if this calm Caelan was more dangerous than the one who’d shattered into a million pieces just minutes ago.
“It’s okay. I’m here. We’re all right here and safe,” Drayce murmured in a low voice.
“What?” Vale gasped. She took a step toward them, her hand motioning at Ram. “But why would you do that? We need to know why he kidnapped you. He might have been part of the group moving KoD into Caspagir.”
“But you already know that he was part of that group.” A sliver of steel sneaked into Caelan’s tone. “That’s why you told one of his men about us. We were kidnapped for ransom, even though they had no intention of letting us live after they got their money.”
Vale paled, but she didn’t deny any of it. Her mouth snapped shut and the muscles in her jaw tightened as if she were clenching her teeth.
“What?” Eno roared. “You arranged for this?” He took a step in Vale’s direction, but Rayne grabbed his arm and dug his heels into the dirt.
“Don’t,” Rayne snapped, but his expression was frighteningly cold.
Caelan flung out an arm and the air was suddenly heavy with magic again. His own hand tightened on Caelan’s neck. There was no way he could stop Caelan from attacking Vale with the power of the gods, but he was hoping that he could at least talk Caelan down from the edge.
Not that the woman actually deserved any mercy in his eyes after betraying their trust. It was only that his friend had killed enough people in the name of protecting them. If Vale’s life had to end today, he’d rather be the executioner than Caelan.
Plant life shivered and writhed around them in the camp. Trees creaked and bright green leaves fluttered in a nonexistent breeze. A vine twisted on the ground a couple of seconds before it lifted a limp body into the air. The man’s dead eyes stared blindly at the sky and a trickle of dark blood ran out of the corner of his mouth. Like a puppet, the vine carried the corpse over to Vale and held it right in front of her.
Her eyes moved over his face and then darted away. Drayce hadn’t thought it possible, but she became even paler in the darkening light.