SHEY THRUDESH-VO
TWENTY-SIX
Bones rattled softly, the sound barely reaching Shey’s ears above the rustling of the leaves as the wind picked up. He leaned on a large oak tree, the bark biting through his shirt while he kept his eyes on the meadow before him.
The rattling stopped, and Tyche swore under his breath.
“How do you know you’re doing it correctly?”
“Dragon,” Tyche growled, and Shey bit on the corner of his mouth to hold in his snicker. “If you imply one more time that I don’t know how to use magic…” Tyche left the threat hanging unsaid, but he knew without a doubt that Haru didn’t take him seriously.
“At this point, I don’t think he’s implying any longer.”
Naturally, Adrian had to stick by his mate and just throw more fuel on the fire.
“I know what I’m doing,” Tyche snapped in a low voice. A moment later, the rattling started again.
It had been three days since they’d left Green Hollow, cutting through the southern tip of Zastrad to enter Uris-Oladul. They had alternated between Haru carrying them a good distance at night while in his dragon form and resting for several hours, then continuing more of their trek on foot.
As a group, they were avoiding all towns and villages they came across.
Occasionally, they would send Tyche into a town to get supplies and see what news he could gather.
The God of Luck had spent far longer than all of them combined traveling the world and blending in.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Order had plastered Adrian’s, Shey’s, and Haru’s faces across TV screens and in newspapers, labeling them terrorists and threats to all safety. Somehow, Tyche had escaped notice.
That afternoon, they’d reached the outskirts of a village called Three Hills—named for how it was nestled within a valley surrounded on three sides by hills.
The town appeared to be about the same size as Green Hollow.
It was positioned halfway between the capital of Olan in the northeast and Damardor’s former capital of Bellcairn in the southeast.
Adrian walked to where Shey stood, his arms folded over his chest. “I don’t think our contact is coming. We’re a day late. These people freaked out and decided not to risk it.”
“They gave us a three-day window. We only missed the first day,” Shey reminded him.
That had been the hard thing about making the trek from Sirelis to Three Hills.
Everyone knew there was a high chance of them running into problems from the Order, so they hadn’t been able to give an exact time of when Shey and his team would arrive.
The best they’d had to offer was an estimate of a few days.
“Do we know how trustworthy these people are?”
“No.”
Shey wished he could add something more reassuring, but he couldn’t.
He didn’t trust the people of Uris-Oladul any more than he trusted Damardor or New Rosanthe.
Probably even less than he would have trusted Ilon if the country had reached out to his mother.
Sure, he understood that Uris-Oladul had some damn good reasons to want the Federation of Order destroyed as quickly as possible.
This was their chance to make a clean break from New Rosanthe.
However, if things went even the slightest bit sideways, he expected Uris-Oladul to abandon them and plead innocence.
Or worse, snatch them up and claim it was all a plot to capture them for the new chancellor.
Haru strolled close and draped himself across Adrian’s back while loosely wrapping himself around Adrian’s arms. “Why do we not go to Bellcairn ourselves? We have all spent time in that city. We could find a hiding spot until it was time to strike. The march is planned. It will provide ample opportunity to strike.”
It was something Shey had been considering during their long journey. The only snag was that their contact was supposed to have information on Chancellor Feng’s itinerary, allowing them to line up the perfect shot.
Instead of answering, he turned from the meadow bathed in golden sunlight and stared at the redhead sitting in the dirt, tossing a set of well-worn chicken bones carved with symbols. “Ty?”
The snarky man with the flashing green eyes didn’t even bother looking up. “He’s still coming.”
“Okay, but are these people on the level?” Adrian demanded.
That got Tyche to lift his face and look at Adrian as if he thought the man didn’t have a single working brain cell in his head.
“I don’t even need to throw the bones to get the odds on that question.
” Adrian sucked in a breath, but as he opened his mouth to comment, Tyche held up one finger, stopping his words.
“That being said, luck is still in our favor to succeed in our mission. It’s just that things are going to be messy. ”
“Huh,” Haru mumbled. “It seems Tyche was right.”
“Of course I was right,” Tyche snapped, making Shey smile. Tyche snatched up his lucky bones and paused, blinking rapidly. “But which thing am I right about?”
“I think that’s our contact,” Haru replied.
Tyche scrambled to his feet with a hand up from Shey, and they all turned in the direction that Haru was facing.
A young man in his early twenties stepped out of the thin grove of trees on the other side of the valley.
His brown hair was messy and sweaty from his trek, and his dark-rimmed glasses caught the sun, causing him to lift a hand to shield his eyes.
He wore jeans and a T-shirt but didn’t have a backpack or even a water bottle to indicate that he’d come out here for some kind of nature walk.
There were also no visible weapons on his person.
“Who wants to check him out?” Adrian inquired.
“I’ll go.” Shey didn’t get even a single step forward before Tyche caught his arm.
“Dyed hair isn’t enough to hide who you are.
Besides, you’ve got several inches on him and can be scary looking.
I’ll go. I’m short, and I appear harmless.
” He gave an incredibly fake smile that almost caused Shey to choke on a laugh.
Haru had told him what had happened at the New Rosanthe staging area. There was nothing harmless about Tyche.
Tyche was slipping away from their group, not giving Shey a chance to argue, and walked out of the deep shadow cast by the trees toward the stranger.
“Adrian, circle to the right. Haru, to the left. Watch for any signs that this guy isn’t alone. If something looks bad, I want him alive, but Ty’s safety is the priority.”
Shey was aware of them hurrying off, barely making a sound as they moved.
He didn’t take his eyes off him as Tyche drew closer.
One wrong move and Shey would be happy to encase this man in a block of ice and sort it out later.
Nothing was going to happen to Ty so long as he could do something about it.
He watched as the man stopped short as soon as he spotted Tyche. His eyes widened behind the lenses of his glasses, and he swallowed hard. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense the same as a hare that had just spotted a fox.
“Hey!” Tyche greeted, lazily waving one hand in the air as if meeting a stranger in the woods was the most normal thing in the world. “You come out for a hike in the woods too? Such a gorgeous day for it.”
The man’s mouth bobbed twice, but not a peep left him.
Tyche cocked his head to the side, and the man finally got his tongue working.
“Y-yes! Yes, a hike. But I’m lost. Yes, I mean…
I was hiking, and I got lost.” He cleared his throat and said louder than necessary, “I came out for a bit of birdwatching and was searching for a blue warbler, but got myself lost.”
There. Those were the key words their contact was supposed to use. If it was safe, he’d mention that he was seeking a blue warbler, but if something had gone wrong and it wasn’t safe, he was to mention a yellow finch.
“A blue warbler, huh?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Tyche nodded. “I think I’ve seen one of those.”
Shey had waited long enough. Powerful god or not, he didn’t like so much distance between himself and Tyche.
He stepped out of the shadows and entered the meadow, moving straight toward Ty.
Adrian and Haru exited the trees, both converging on the group.
The stranger took a nervous half-step back but stopped and straightened his shoulders.
“Sorry about the delay. We ran into problems,” Shey murmured as he reached Tyche. He placed his hand on his lover’s shoulder and noticed how tense it was despite him looking completely at ease. Tyche was a master of disguise and subterfuge.
“No worries,” the stranger said with an easy wave of his hand and a wide grin. He started, eyes turning owlish. He bowed sharply, his whole body going stiff. “Forgive me, Your Highness.”
“So, you do recognize me.”
“Of course. I mean, your hair is different, but your features are very remarkable.”
Tyche tipped his head up and smirked. “Told you so.”
“I also know that you’re Adrian Westergren,” the man stated, pointing at Adrian.
Excitement bubbled in his voice, making it sound as if he’d gotten over his fears about them.
“You were identified pretty easily because you’re usually seen at King Caelan Talos’s side.
” His expression clouded as he gazed at Tyche and Haru. “But I don’t recognize either of you.”
Haru stuck out his hand. “I am called Haru.”
“Jules. Jules Holly,” he replied, taking Haru’s hand without a bit of hesitation.
“Call me Ty.” The god didn’t offer his hand. Just a brief nod of his head.