“Good. I’ll tell the peacekeepers you’re in charge.”
“Fine.” Soren glanced past him. “Where’s Raiah?”
“I sent her and Alida back to the palace under armed guard.”
“You should head back there as well.”
“I will as soon as the motor carriage arrives out front.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to still persist with a damn parade, princeling.”
“I’m an emperor now, in case you missed that.”
“I missed you beingrational. You can’t know if there are others like her out there waiting to take a shot. We don’t know what she is or who sent her.”
“Even if there are, I can’t start my reign letting the Houses think I’m weak. The only way to prove otherwise is to continue as if this didn’t happen.”
Soren straightened up and blew out a harsh breath. “That’s a good way to end up dead.”
Vanya smiled slightly. “I seem to have a knack for not dying when you are around. That’s twice you’ve saved my life.”
Soren shot him a look. “I don’t need another vow from you.”
“Enough people shot at her that it would be impossible to say whose bullet reached her first. If you like, I can give credit to the legionnaires on duty.”
Soren seemed relieved about that. “You do that. I’ll deal with the dead in here. Get out there and show your people that you’re still alive.”
Vanya badly wanted to kiss him, but there were too many witnesses. He had to settle with gripping Soren’s hand in thanks instead, before retreating back to the legionnaires. They formed a protective circle around him before guiding him toward the entrance of the star temple, pistols out and held at the ready.
The coronation guests hadn’t gone far once it became apparent the threat was neutralized. The crowd beyond the temple gates hadn’t dispersed either. Vanya pushed his way past the legionnaires to stand before his people at the top of the steps. He spread his arms wide, starfire flickering at his fingertips.
“As you can see, your emperor lives,” he called out, pitching his voice to be heard across the courtyard.
The cry that erupted at his words was one of relief that segued into raucous cheers. The pop and flash of cameras going off from the press who hadn’t gone far would provide everyone with proof in that evening’s broadsheet that the House of Sa’Liandel still held the Imperial throne.
Seven
SOREN
Soren missed the coronation feast, not that he was in any mood to eat the food Vanya said waited for him at the palace when he came around hours later. With both hands buried in the chest cavity of the would-be assassin, Soren’s interest in meat was nowhere to be found.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Soren said as he pushed the dead woman’s rib cage open wider.
Vanya arched an eyebrow, staring at the mess Soren had made in the crypt’s embalming room. It turned out therewassomething like a crematorium beneath the palace, or at least the rooms used for body preparation. Currently, Soren was using the embalming room for his examination of the dead.
“The festivities are over, and I put Raiah to bed. She asked for you,” Vanya said.
“I’ve been busy.”
“I can see that. Have you found anything?”
Soren grunted when bone cracked, the dead woman’s ribs splayed open like butterfly wings. He stared through his goggles at the mess of organs below. “Come here.”
Vanya approached the worktable to stand by Soren. The light in the embalming room was bright, throwing everything in high relief and glinting off the metal in the dead woman’s chest.
“What is that?” Vanya asked sharply.
Soren used his gloved hands to move aside the lungs. He hooked his fingers around the clockwork metal heart buried in the chest cavity and gave it a yank. The tiny screws and washers connected to the veins and arteries to keep them in place ripped through the delicate flesh as it came free. He cradled the intricate machine in both hands, tilting it for Vanya to see.
