“Joelle goes against the throne with this. She goes against Solaria,” he spat out.
“She goes against the Star Order and the Poison Accords, but you can’t prove it.”
Vanya bared his teeth at that pointed remark. “I would if you’d left something behind for me to use.”
Soren scowled as he levered himself up to a sitting position. “I wasn’t about to leave a horde of revenants in that pit. There were easily a thousand in it. Burning them was the only answer.”
“And the machine?”
“Would you rather I have died in it?”
“You know I’d never wish that.”
“It was either leave it all intact or make sure no one else could use it again. I’m not going to apologize for doing my duty as a warden. I’m not yours to command, remember?”
I wish you were.
The traitorous thought was something Vanya could never give voice to. It would be easier to keep Soren safe if he could order the warden tostay. But even an emperor had no control over Maricol’s wardens.
“Joelle will know by now of its destruction. If I were her, I’d have taken the last couple of days to eradicate any remaining evidence,” Vanya said.
Soren closed his eyes. “I’m fairly certain I killed everyone with my bombs. They took my pistols. I need to get new ones.”
“I’ll have Alida retrieve a set from the Legion’s weapons storage.”
“You won’t have the right kind. I need to go to a warden’s resupply station.”
“You need to rest.”
Soren cracked open one eye and gestured at himself. “What do you think I’m doing?”
“Being stubborn.” Vanya returned to the chaise, leaning down to brace himself against the back of it so he could kiss Soren with slow thoroughness. “I need to continue my trade talks with the Tovan Isles ambassador. That’s not something I can walk away from, but I’ll take a meeting with my military advisors tonight on this matter.”
Soren’s fingers tangled in the fabric of Vanya’s richly embroidered robe, keeping him close. “Do you want me there for the meeting? It’s technically a border report.”
Enough rumors existed in the upper echelons of the government about Vanya’s preference for Soren’s presence that he’d rather not fuel that fire. “No. I’ll handle it. You can keep Raiah company. She’s missed you.”
Soren cracked a smile at Raiah’s name, expression softening. “All right.”
Vanya straightened up and gestured at the food on the table. “Eat. I’ll send Alida back in to tend to your needs.”
He trailed his fingertips across Soren’s forehead in a gentle goodbye before taking his leave, thoughts heavy with the knowledge of the threat clawing at his House and country.
Four
VANYA
Vanya cradled the telephone handset between his ear and shoulder as he flipped through the maps Alida had retrieved for him from the archive kept by the House of Dayal. The specific area he was looking at was the land outside Bellingham. The maps were copies of the ones updated yearly by their country’s cartographers based on the border reports from wardens.
Soren had mapped the location for him during the evening meal before retreating to Vanya’s bedroom to sleep. Raiah had been excited to see him, though Vanya hadn’t let his daughter sit in Soren’s lap how she preferred. Even with the magician’s intervention, he could see that Soren was in pain and still recovering.
“Any House will protest the intercession of the Legion in their lands on your orders, Your Imperial Majesty.Vezirscommand ranks on their own within theirvasilyets. They’ll demand those legionnaires be involved with any searches and not ones based out of Calhames,” Imperial General Chu Hua said, her voice tinny through the wire. She was back in Calhames, the hour later there, but she’d answered the call regardless.
“Are you asking me if I care what they want? They lose whatever right they think they have for going against Solarian law when it comes to the dead,” Vanya asked irritably.
“You called for advisement, which I am giving. Better not to tip your hand in a situation like this. Send a platoon ofpraetorialegionnaires to the area in question. We can say they’re undergoing some field training while you are away to hide their true purpose. No one questions war game training.”
Which was true, but that didn’t ease Vanya’s desire to eradicate a House down to its very foundations as his mother once had. Soren’s explanation of what he thought the death-defying machine did was terrifying enough. Knowing that Joelle had allowed it all to happen, probably for years, spoke of a game Vanya was only just becoming aware of.
