Soren kept his face impassive, even if he couldn’t stop the way his breath caught in his throat, remembering their time in the bathhouse. Pleasure was part of Solarian society, grown out of a refusal to apologize for enjoying life in a world where the dead walked if they weren’t burned and where the Houses killed for power.
The promise in Vanya’s eyes meant nothing more than that—a seductive way to pass time together before the prince married Nicca to bring a House to heel and Soren left for the poison fields.
In the end, it was simple. Soren was twenty and young and not bound by the games the Houses played. His status as an outsider could, perhaps, ensure the House of Kimathi didn’t try to strike him down before he left Bellingham. Soren remembered well what happened when bloodlines went to war amongst each other.
“If you like,” Soren echoed before taking a sip of water.
He’d take today, and he’d take tonight, and wouldn’t feel guilty for standing in a world long since denied him. Soren knew how to be a warden, even if he had no idea what it was like to be a prince, but here he was the guest of honor. It was only fair to let Vanya see to his comforts.
Twelve
JOELLE
VezirJoelle Kimathi of the House of Kimathi was born in Seventh Month, under the Lion constellation, and she was as fierce as the animal the stars represented. In her sixth decade, she’d escaped the ravages of the sun that shined on Solaria by virtue of her position asvezirfor the House of Kimathi. Her rank meant she could not escape the politics that dictated the games the Houses played.
Beingvezirmeant she had absolute control over the members of her House, and it was her duty to see them survive. Her word was law, her demands were orders, and her life was lived in pursuit of the Imperial throne.
As such, she bowed to the only person she would ever owe a debt to, but it was no mortal she gave gratitude to that evening after the celebration of the Imperial crown prince’s return had ended.
“Your guidance was ever true, my lord,” Joelle said, ignoring the fiery ache in her joints as she held the deep bow.
Warm fingers that held the heat of the summer sun in them touched her jaw, guiding her back to a standing position. Joelle raised her gaze from the intricately mosaiced floor of the House of Kimathi’s personal star temple on its ancestral grounds to meet the eyes of a star god.
The Twilight Star was not a star god Joelle had thought she’d ever find herself worshipping, but his promises had held true over the years, unlike Solaria’s guiding star. Giving Innes her loyalty for his attention over the silence offered by the Dawn Star was merely good prayer.
“Unlike my sister, I do listen to the prayers of our children, and I do grant them as I see fit,” Innes said.
He wore the robe and trousers of a Solarian noble, the fabric a rich blue in color to match his eyes, but the clasps down the center were undone. It put on display the golden Viper constellation tattoo across his chest, the lines glowing as if made from starfire. The Twilight Star spoke Solarian with a flawless accent, the sound of his voice soothing in the deepest hours of the night. No one else was present in the small star temple lit only by the endless flame that burned at the feet of the statue carved in Callisto’s likeness.
“My House is forever indebted to you.”
Joelle would be bitter about that truth if she didn’t know what was promised. Having her granddaughter betrothed to the Imperial crown prince put her House within grasp of the power they’d sought to claw back for centuries.
Innes had promised her what seemed impossible when she’d been younger, her own children not yet old enough for the secrets she continued to keep, but she’d bartered their lives anyway. That he’d kept his promise meant he would always have her loyalty and her House.
Innes settled both too-warm hands on her shoulders. “I know. But you made the right choice, my child. Your people will thank you for it in the future.”
Joelle could only hope. She’d given him her granddaughter and what had once been the cleansed lands of hervasilyet. She’d done so for the future of her House, of her country, because the House of Sa’Liandel had dictated the direction of Solaria for too long.
“If that is a blessing you will impart, I will carry it with me.”
Innes smiled as he stepped past her. “You will carry whatever I ask of you. You will sacrifice what I require for the Imperial throne you wish your House to regain.”
When she turned to watch him leave, the only thing her eyes met was the empty space of the star temple. Joelle would have wondered if he had even been present if she didn’t have the lingering warmth of his touch pressed into her shoulders.
She sighed and glanced back at the depiction of the Dawn Star, Callisto’s granite-carved face a mask of flickering shadows cast by the candlelight. One of the smaller candles that encircled the endless flame had burned out, the wick curled down.
Joelle walked over and touched a finger to the burned wick, calling forth starfire from the aether. Heat sparked at her fingertip, igniting the wick with a flash of white-gold fire. Her House still carried starfire in their souls, but it was lessened in the generations that came after her. But they had it, and it was still enough of a spark to stake a claim on the Imperial throne.
“If you had ever heard my prayers, perhaps I would not have turned from the road you were supposed to guide me down,” Joelle felt compelled to say into the quiet, heavy darkness.
As with all the nights before in her life spent in prayer, Callisto did not answer.
Joelle left the star temple behind, cognizant of the stars spinning through the night sky above, the Viper constellation brighter than all the rest to her weathered eye.
Thirteen
VANYA
