Chapter 123: The Raid
There was a knock on Caius’ bedchamber, which was immediately followed by another knock before the door was opened, and Rylen appeared. Though it was almost midnight, he was still dressed in day clothes and looked like he had hurried to meet the crown prince.
"Your Grace," Rylen said upon entering, bowing toward the bed.
"Here," a voice called from the opposite direction.
Rylen lifted his head to see that Caius was not in bed; rather, he was by his desk scanning through some documents. He was shirtless, with the table hiding half of his body.
"Your Grace," Rylen called, unable to hide his shock. "You’re awake?"
Caius kept his expression neutral as he slowly lifted his head from the paper he held. "Why are you shocked? Didn’t you come here expecting me to be awake?"
"Well, not only are you awake, but you seem busy."
Caius narrowed his eyes at Rylen, more because his shock couldn’t be faulted. Caius avoided working unless it was something that couldn’t be done by anyone else. This was not something he was required to do—he could have assigned it to Rylen and asked for the summary later.
However, he had to do this recently as it was great for taking his mind off things. His days were currently busy with preparations for Lord Leopold to leave with guards; it was the nights that were troublesome. It annoyed him to no end that she was right across the hall and yet, here he was tending to bookings.
"Just state your business, Rylen," Caius said instead.
He could already guess why his cousin was here. Tonight was when the masked auction would be raided. Since Prince Rylen was here, there was no doubt he brought news—whether good or bad was left to be seen.
"Thomas has returned," Rylen announced.