Joelle had cried, too, but only as long as the mourning period required. There was little to be gained from the dead, and it was the living she needed to focus on.
She looked at her eldest daughter, garbed in a high-necked black gown, hair piled high on her head, and wondered when Karima would deem it time to wear color again. “Because Raiah is half our blood, and if we call for a blood feud against the House of Sa’Liandel, we call it against her. Would you see your granddaughter and my great-granddaughter dead?”
“I haven’t seen my granddaughter at all.”
Karima’s bitterness was shared by Joelle, but she hadn’t allowed grief to keep her from moving forward. “And that is why I will not call for a blood feud. We still have a claim to the Imperial throne through Raiah. A blood feud would deny her our House and forever associate her with the House of Sa’Liandel.”
“They do so already. Zakariya refuses us our right to bring Raiah to Bellingham. You refuse to let us go to Calhames. Raiah will not know us, her true family, if we cannot be in her life.”
“To go to Calhames and beg for the chance to see my great-granddaughter diminishes our position. The House of Sa’Liandel murdered Nicca once they got an heir off her. To be conciliatory toward them is to forgive, and I will not allow such lies to perpetuate,” Joelle said tartly.
Karima’s hands curled into fists, the intricate design stained onto her hands from pigmented paste showing up bright over her knuckles. “You leave an heir in the viper’s nest.”
“That heir will ensure we have a claim to the Imperial throne until we can seize it ourselves.” Joelle softened her tone, reaching out to settle her hand over Karima’s. “I grieve as much as you do, but do not let your grief override our search for justice.”
Karima nodded jerkily before uncurling her hands to clasp Joelle’s between them. “We should have never agreed to the marriage contract.”
Joelle said nothing to that, because there was no marriage contract she would not have approved and signed on behalf of their House if it would tie them to the Imperial throne. Karima was to bevezirone day. She should know the sacrifices that had to be made for prestige and power. Grief should not have dissuaded her from that road. It made Joelle wonder if it would be prudent to choose her son over her daughter to succeed her.
Artyom and his wife had only borne sons. Joelle knew from her spies that the Imperial crown prince enjoyed both men and women in his bed, but an heir could only be begotten from a wife. She’d chosen Karima because of Nicca, but with Raiah born and Nicca ash, Artyom might be the better choice for the future of their House.
“I have a meeting,” Joelle said, pulling her hand free. She cupped her daughter’s face, ignoring the ache in her swollen knuckles to draw Karima close to press a kiss upon her brow. “Don’t spend all day in prayer.”
Joelle pushed herself to her feet, taking a moment to adjust the fall of her robes and the angle of her headdress. The weight of the gold and onyx felt heavier these days, but she would never leave it by the wayside, even within the vast estate of their House.
Bellingham was the heart of thevasilyetthat the House of Kimathi ruled over, the one which all other minor Houses within their rule of Solaria looked to for guidance first if they knew what was good for them. The House of Kimathi kept the northwestern borders of Solaria and guarded the trade routes with Daijal for the good of Solaria.
Joelle guarded her political relationship with the crown princess of Daijal’s military advisor for the good of her House and herself.
The handmaidens that followed in her wake wherever she went waited for Joelle out in the hall and bowed at her arrival. The women varied in age, but their loyalty was never in doubt. A touch of mind magic from a magician helped with that. The four handmaidens escorted her out of the family wing of the estate to the civic wing where her office was located.
Artyom was already there, having been responsible for seeing High General Kote Akina to the estate with no one the wiser. Secrecy had to be kept in getting the man south across the border to Bellingham. His visits always coincided with his time spent traveling to field-train Daijal soldiers. His presence was more easily missed when he was not in New Haven.
The Daijalan military officer wasn’t dressed as such, though Kote held himself with the bearing of a man who preferred a uniform over the Solarian-style robes he wore. But the disguise was necessary, as communication through telegrams was too easily intercepted, and Joelle had never trusted telephone calls.
Joelle’s actions today and all the days before where she parleyed with Daijal’s shadow ruler were considered treason by her country’s standards. It didn’t matter that she did thisforher country. There were many Houses that would never understand her reasoning.
Kote bowed in greeting. “VezirJoelle of the House of Kimathi. My queen sends her regards and heartfelt prayers for your granddaughter lost earlier this year.”
“Eimarille is not queen yet,” Joelle said as she settled into her plush leather seat behind the wide desk. “And prayers cannot return Nicca to my House.”
Kote said nothing in the face of her statement, disinclined to rise to the veiled insult Joelle had given regarding Eimarille’s rank. A princess did not make a queen, no matter the guidance of a star god.
Joelle sighed, curling her hands together over the desktop. The ache in her bones was a side effect of having survived an assassination attempt by her brother fifteen years ago. Poison had damaged her nerves before a magician was able to counteract what they could. Damage from poison was difficult to heal from, and there was no miracle cure for what ailed her these days.
In retaliation for the harm sustained, Joelle had ordered her brother’s death and refused to have his name written on a memory wall. She hadn’t stricken his name from the nobility genealogies, but she still could, and the threat of it mostly kept his surviving children in line.
Her House could be so troublesome at times.
“What is it that Eimarille desires now?” Joelle asked.
“I have been authorized to speak on my queen’s behalf. The banking laws in Daijal have expanded the breadth of collateral. While that means we’re coming into more debtors, we need more room for experiments.”
“If I carve any further land in myvasilyet, I risk the attention of wardens. They will, in turn, bring such reports to Calhames. If Eimarille wishes to use my land for your country’s experiments, then I want assurances in writing I will have her backing to take the Imperial throne.”
Kote gave a slow blink at that demand. He was a difficult man to read; very much Daijalan to his bones despite the Tovanian look to him. “My queen anticipated such a request.”
Joelle smiled thinly. “And does she agree?”
