“I saw it all in Ram’s mind. In the last town we visited, you spoke with this man while we were in the shop. You told him about King Caelan Talos of Erya,” Caelan recited in sharp tones. He dropped his hand to his side and the dead man fell to the ground. “He reported to Ram, who planned the kidnapping.”
“You betrayed us!” Eno roared. He was already drawing a knife when he charged toward Vale and to Drayce’s surprise, Rayne had released him completely, doing nothing to stop his attack. And neither was Vale.
But Caelan did. With just a flick of his hand, several thick vines popped up out of the ground, creating a low wall between Eno and Vale. He was actually protecting the woman.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,” Vale admitted in a low voice. She shoved one hand through her thick hair and her knees gave out. She dropped to the ground, but the eyes she lifted to Caelan were angry and mutinous. “Five years! I’ve been trapped here for five years while my people die. I just…I want to go home. I knew we were close to reaching the source of these drugs, and then you arrived.”
A throbbing ache echoed out from Drayce’s chest, but he tamped down the painful emotion. He didn’t want to sympathize with her. Protecting Caelan came first. It had to or there would be no going home for any of them.
“What was the plan?” Caelan prodded. Some of the undercurrent of anger had disappeared, but the coldness didn’t relent.
Vale sighed and dropped her gaze to the dirt in front of her. “My team and I planned it. We would let it slip to one of Ram’s underlings that someone important was moving through Zastrad. We figured they’d make a move for you in Deora Pass. It’s another two days from here and notorious for kidnappings and robberies of supply trains.”
“And you were just going to let us be attacked so you could get closer to Ram?” Rayne demanded.
“No!” Vale shouted, her head flying up to glare at him. “My team was supposed to intercept them in the pass, well before we reached it. They’d take control of Ram and all of his people. We would go right by them without ever knowing it. You were never supposed to be taken.”
“Except that Ram and his men got by your team, attacking us early,” Caelan finished.
“Yes. None of this was supposed to happen,” she admitted in a quiet voice. “I never meant to betray you. We thought we could keep everything under control. We’d have Ram and then eventually the source of the drugs all while keeping my promise to get you to Temit.” A harsh bark of laughter jumped from her throat followed by what could have been a choked sob. “Now we’ve lost our only shot at destroying this drug trail, and I’ve betrayed two kingdoms.”
A heavy silence settled over the camp. Even the leaves stopped rattled and the wind no longer howled. Drayce didn’t know whether to believe her. He did pity her. This was a harsh land to be trapped in for so long, but it was no reason to risk their lives. She should have at least told them of her plan so they could be ready in case things went horribly wrong.
Drayce’s stomach felt queasy and his head throbbed as he waited for Caelan to decide whether her life was worth sparing. He wouldn’t blame his friend if he decided she wasn’t worthy of mercy, but he was already sick of death.
Caelan broke the silence at last when he said, “Yash Magar of Temit. Kamal Giri of Mrytu.”
“What?” Vale gasped, wet eyes lifting to his face.
“I wiped his mind, but I followed the trail of thoughts back to Temit and Mrytu. His main contact is Yash Magar in Temit, but it looks as if Magar works for someone called Kamal Giri.” Caelan’s shoulders slumped a little and he shook his head. “If you wanted to use us for bait to help your cause, we would have helped. You needed only to ask.”
“Your Majesty, I-I…”
Caelan quickly cut her off. “Don’t betray us again. I am out of forgiveness.”
Drayce wanted to pull his friend into his arms and hug him so damn tightly. He didn’t know whether leaving Vale alive to potentially betray them was the right call, but he sadly understood her reasonings for doing what she did. They’d been bad, but she’d also been desperate in a lot of ways.
The king’s gaze slipped away from Vale to land on Ram. The man hadn’t moved from where Calean had left him, though he was sort of tilted to the side now following Vale’s shaking. Leaving him in his current state was cruel. He was dying slowly. Wasting away. There was nothing left of him and there would never be more. He’d also threatened the King of Erya as well as his companions. That in itself was a death sentence.