It spoke of betrayal to Solaria that no House could accept.
He’d risked the call to Imperial General Chu Hua only because her loyalty had never been in doubt, either by his mother or himself. Chu Hua belonged to no House, major or minor, but she’d risen through the ranks of the Legion and had spent the majority of her career within thepraetoria, the personal guard of the Imperial throne. Their job was to guard Solaria. Their loyalty was to the country first, the Imperial family second, and the Legion after. She’d become the Imperial General during his mother’s reign, and Vanya had supported her position ever since. Chu Hua would always fight for Solaria, even against a House.
“How fast can you deploy a platoon?” Vanya asked.
“We can muster up a training exercise within a day. I’ll adjust assignments accordingly. We’ll put them on a military train heading north to Bellingham but have them disembark at a way station.”
Vanya straightened up, grasping the handset to hold it against his ear. “I wouldn’t trust any communications station the House of Kimathi has control over. Send an ornithopter with the train, and have an aeronaut fly the report back to you.”
“Very well.”
Vanya glared down at the map and the grid area that Soren had circled. “Find me evidence, if you can.”
He doubted there would be any left, but they needed to look regardless.
“As the throne wills it.”
Vanya placed the handset on the base of the telephone, ending the call. He rubbed at his eyes, wishing he could rub away the headache that had grown in the wake of Soren’s report. Sighing, Vanya set the maps aside in favor of reviewing the day’s gains and concessions from the trade talks. They were close, he thought, to coming to an agreement. Perhaps another day or two, and he could leave Oeiras for Calhames.
He worked until the clock chimed the midnight hour. The grittiness in his dry eyes and the ache in his neck and shoulders from hunching over his desk for so long was what finally prompted him to go to bed.
The hallways leading to the private wing of the Imperial estate were dimly lit in deference to the late hour. Vanya passed a few legionnaires on guard duty on his way to his bedroom. A servant had left a light on in the antechamber, making it easy enough to navigate into the bedroom proper.
No light burned there, save what little filtered through the gauzy curtains hanging over the windows. The private courtyard used only by the Imperial family was lit by a single gas lamp throughout the night, providing faint illumination to see by through the windows.
Vanya didn’t bother calling for his body servant at this hour. He removed his shoes and stripped out of his robe and trousers, leaving everything on the floor. In the summer heat, he wore no clothes to bed and crawled beneath the thin blanket and soft sheets that were all he cared for when the weather got warmer.
Soren had wrapped himself up in both without a care for Vanya’s comfort. He had to smile at that as he tugged some of the blanket and sheets free.
“How’d the call go?” Soren asked, voice sleep-soft but clear.
Vanya wasn’t surprised he’d woken up. Soren was a light sleeper even when recovering from wounds taken on the poison fields. “Well enough. I doubt we’ll find any evidence we can use against the House of Kimathi, but the presence ofpraetorialegionnaires in thevasilyetwill put Joelle on notice.”
“Can you afford that scrutiny?”
“Every House is under scrutiny.”
“What about Raiah?”
It was telling that Soren could cut right to the heart of Vanya’s fears. Wardens were trained to see threats, though, so it should not have come as a surprise. While the political field was not usually their expertise, he supposed Soren had absorbed some insights from all the times Vanya had confided in him.
“I’ll do whatever I must to keep her safe.”
Soren slid closer, wrapping an arm around Vanya. “I know you will.”
Vanya turned into Soren’s warmth and closed his eyes, trying to set aside his worries in favor of much-needed sleep. Soren’s breathing lulled him into a dreamless sleep he could have been cradled in until dawn.
He woke, instead, to the sound of a gun firing, ears ringing with it. He jerked to a sitting position and was promptly yanked back down again, Soren’s grip like an iron vise on his shoulder. The warden leaned over him, newly gifted pistol in hand, still shooting at the shadowy figures in the room with them.
Vanya yanked a hand free of the sheets, starfire pooling in his hand, throwing the bedroom in high relief. Shock coursed through him as he realized the people who had tried to murder him in his sleep wore the uniforms of legionnaires with the patch indicating they belonged to thepraetoria.
They’d been the ones on guard duty outside his bedroom when he’d retired for the night.
The sinking sense of betrayal didn’t stop him from casting starfire in the direction of the wounded legionnaires bleeding all over his bedroom floor. Soren’s instincts were to be commended, because Vanya doubted he would have survived what the traitors had planned.
“Leave some of them alive for questioning,” Soren snapped, still leaning over Vanya, shielding him with his body.
Vanya’s temper was such that he’d rather annihilate the threat in its entirety, but he managed to reel in the desire for murder. Starfire erupted around the arms of every legionnaire, the smell of burning flesh filling the air as Vanya seared through skin and muscle to bone, making it impossible for any of them to hold a weapon.
