Enoria is preparing for war with Irithara, and the team sans Kaleth are doing the best they can to put a stop to it before it progresses even further.
Their plan? Find Mereria, get her help with killing Relioth, and save Kaleth in the process. They...
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Despite the fact that they were basically going on a suicide mission, Rayni was having quite a good time chatting with Nira's father. The guy was weirdly upbeat for an Iritharian. He was also surprisingly funny for a nobleman. Or maybe she'd just spent too much time with Kaleth and assumed all noble people were as serious and formal as him.
It also amused Rayni to no end how Mereria kept giving her and Hidarion sour looks. As if she thought she and Hidarion had spent the entire trip flirting or something. Rayni didn't bother explaining this to her, though, that would ruin the fun.
All in all, Rayni wouldn't mind going out drinking with the guy after this was all over, assuming they both survived this. Iritharians were infamous for their drinking habits, after all.
Right now, though, she had to listen to him and Kaleth discuss strategy for what felt like the hundredth time, and the awkwardness between them was killing her. Usually, it would most likely be fun to watch, but it was just painful this time.
It didn't take a genius to figure out Hidarion had a thing for Kaleth. Where he'd got it from was a different matter, but Rayni assumed it had happened during the fake negotiations that had taken over a month. She remembered that time well. To replace Kaleth as team leader during his absence, they'd gotten an even bigger stick-in-the-mud.
It also didn't take a genius to figure out that Kaleth didn't reciprocate Hidarion's feelings by how hard he tried avoiding personal subjects, and how Hidarion kept staring sadly at the map of Aleara and its surroundings on the table in front of them. Also, if Kaleth was on board with this, Rayni would punch him because her brother sure as hell deserved better than this.
Working in this environment was basically impossible, but Rayni stayed away from it because it just wasn't worth it. If she tried making fun of them, Kaleth would get snappy and Hidarion even sadder, and if she told them to talk it out, they would just either deny everything or tell her they didn't have time for it.
Ever since she'd joined Luxarx, Rayni often felt like she was in high school again. Actually, she probably had never been in high school, but her fake memories clearly fit with what she was seeing here.
Except both of these morons were over forty years old!
"Okay, so to recap," Rayni said when they both stayed quiet for a good twenty seconds. "We get out of this tunnel here." She pointed at the map at a spot right next to Alara. It was a shame they couldn't get closer, but there apparently wasn't any other still usable exit at this point. At least that was what the moody Iritharian Eternal had told them.
"Then we somehow need to go around the city without being seen, get here." Rayni once again pointed at a spot on the map, this time behind the palace, but almost outside the city. "And go into some medieval tunnel that might not even be there—"
"It's definitely there, don't worry," Hidarion said, smiling. He totally looked like a parent amused by his child's antics when he did that. Rayni wasn't sure how she felt about it, but it always did remind her that she looked only a little older than Nira, even though she was apparently four freaking hundred years old. So she understood why Hidarion looked at her this way, but that didn't mean it made sense.
