Drayce flipped him the bird. “Yeah, yeah. I’m a poster child. I get it.” But he blinked and was serious again. “Now imagine zero-impulse-control Haru attached to someone. That’s a freaking nightmare with wings.”
And that was another excellent point from Drayce.
A big enough one that it sent a chill along Adrian’s spine. Was Haru attached to him?
Why did the thought make his heart speed up even more?
Relief swept through Adrian when Drayce changed the subject to the people walking down the street beyond the window, freeing his mind of the sunset-colored dragon at last. He needed to stay focused on the problem that was in front of them. Haru…Haru wasn’t coming to Ilon or Erya anytime soon. It was likely the dragon would find a new shiny object to focus on, forgetting about Adrian completely.
The server had just taken away their dirty plates when a woman in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt appeared in the doorway. Her red hair was piled into a messy bun on the top of her head and her eyes were wide as she briefly searched the pub. Another server started toward her, but the woman brushed past her and nearly ran to their table and dropped into one of the open seats.
Out of habit, Adrian reached for his knife, but Drayce grabbed his wrist, halting him, while directing a smile at the stranger.
“Lookin’ for someone?” Drayce asked in a light and breezy tone.
“Yes. You.” Dark-brown eyes flicked from Adrian to Drayce. She was panting and a sheen of sweat covered her tanned face. “I heard you were searching for the prime minister. You need to come with me now.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Drayce held up both hands in front of him, his smile still firmly in place. “Who said we had any interest in him?”
The woman frowned at him. “It’s all over the district that you’ve been asking about him. You’re trying to rescue him, right? To get rid of the Empire? You have to come with me.”
Adrian’s heart skipped a beat, but he kept his face impassive, leaving the conversation to Drayce. He was clearly under very specific orders from Rayne or Caelan. They had been searching for days for some kind of information, but this was not how Adrian had expected to have it land in their laps.
“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Drayce relaxed in his chair and even gave a chuckle that Adrian found to be a nice touch. Just the right balance of amused and indifferent. “We’re tourists visiting Brightspire for fun. We heard rumors that your prime minister was missing. We’re not looking for any trouble.”
The woman leaned closer, dropping her voice to a hissing whisper. “But you have to help me. The prime minister is in danger. They’re going to capture him if you don’t help me.”
“Who are you?” Adrian asked. “You haven’t even told us that.”
She glared at him as if to say “how dare he even ask that” and turned her attention back to Drayce.
“He’s right. You haven’t introduced yourself yet. I’m Duncan and this is my older brother Ollie,” Drayce continued.
Adrian was so fucking tempted to stomp on his foot under the table. Fucking Ollie. Drayce wasn’t allowed to make up names anymore.
“Sh-Sheena,” the woman stammered, and Adrian was pretty sure her name was Sheena as much as his was Ollie. “Now, please, you have to come with me. You have to help me save the prime minister.”
“What about the police? Why don’t you tell the police?”
Sheena stared at them confused for a second before shaking her head. “The police are working with the Empire. They can’t be trusted. We need to go now. If you don’t go with me now, you’ll miss your only chance to meet with the prime minister.”
“Look, Sheena, as much as we would like to help the prime minister, we’re just two normal guys. There isn’t anything we can do.” Drayce sat forward and placed one of his hands on top of hers. “But if you want to give us an address, we’d be happy to head over in a bit. We might be able to gather some friends to help us too.”
Sheena’s mouth fell open and she glared at Drayce as though he were speaking another language. This was not the response she’d been expecting to receive from him, and it left Adrian wanting to giggle. Of course, this was all bad if she was telling the truth.
But if this was a trap, Drayce had definitely outfoxed her.
“We’re out of time,” Sheena tried one last time.
“And I think you’ve got the wrong guys,” Drayce replied with a faux-sad expression. “But if you want to give us an address, we—”
She didn’t stick around to hear the rest of his comment. She bolted up from the chair and hurried out of the pub as quickly as she’d arrived.
“That was fucking weird,” Adrian muttered.
Drayce grabbed his phone and tapped on it, pulling up the messenger. “Totally, but kind of what I was expecting.”
Adrian leaned closed to see him send the same message that Caelan had sent.