Soren pulled off his brass goggles and undid the straps of his metal-plated leather helmet, shaking free some of the dust from the road. He rather thought the hilt of the poison sword sticking out over his shoulder should have been identification enough but opted not to argue.
“I’m a warden. I’m here for a resupply,” he said.
Which was true, even if he wouldn’t be going to a resupply station. Vanya always got vaguely insulted when he tried. Soren did have to admit that Solaria’s Legion had vastly superior grades of weapons, and he was always appreciative of what he could walk away with from the royal munitions stores.
It took longer to get through the checkpoint, and Soren attributed that to the crush of people hoping to be present for the coronation of their next emperor. A darker reason was to perhaps limit the number of threats aimed directly at the person who now occupied the Imperial throne.
Soren got through the main gate, and it took almost two hours for him to get from the outermost wall to the center of Calhames, where the grounds of the Imperial palace resided. When he finally drove up to the security perimeter held bypraetorialegionnaires, he thought he’d have to argue his way past them.
But several of the legionnaires recognized him from all the times past that Soren had visited Vanya. He was waved through the golden gates and into the grand courtyard of the palace without argument.
He knew his way around the palace these days, and the servants knew how to attend to his velocycle whenever he arrived. By the time he braked to a halt near the building’s entrance, a servant in white robes was there to oversee its care. Soren took with him his satchel of poison samples and antidote vials, the border reports from Rixham, and his own field reports.
“Everything else will be brought inside for you,” the servant promised with a bow.
Soren trekked through the cool hallways of the palace to the private wing that had been Vanya’s for so many years. But when Soren got there, the usual bustle he expected was missing, and the rooms he passed through had been stripped of every hint of décor Vanya had favored.
“I’d heard you had arrived,” Alida called out from behind him.
Soren turned and watched Vanya’s majordomo walk toward him down the wide hallway, dressed in a more elaborate robe than he’d ever seen her wear before. The blue fabric was detailed with golden embroidery that had desert flowers blooming across her shoulders and down the sheer sleeves of her robe.
Soren frowned at her. “I’ve been in the Wastelands the last few months. I only just heard about what happened. Where are Vanya’s things?”
Alida sighed as she came to a stop some feet from him, clasping her hands together in front of her. Her makeup was pristine as usual, and while it helped to hide the circles beneath her eyes, Soren could see the exhaustion in her gaze. “His household has moved to the main family wing, where his parents kept theirs.”
Soren swallowed. “Right. Because he’s the emperor now.”
Alida arched an eyebrow. “He’s spent much of his time of late with Raiah. They’ll both be pleased to see you. Come. I’ll take you to them.”
Soren nodded, trying not to feel awkward and out of place as Alida led him through the palace to an area he had never set foot in before. Usually, when Soren stayed at the palace, he rarely left Vanya’s bed, much less the private wing.
The grandly decorated halls and rooms they passed through were filled with numerous servants and other officials in more formal roles. Furniture, artwork, and all manner of decorations were being removed and replaced. Soren wondered if this was tradition, to erase the ghosts of one’s familial past in favor of the living. He didn’t ask.
The organized chaos was a sound in Soren’s ears that didn’t fade until Alida led him into a set of private living quarters decorated in a style Soren was familiar with, even if the layout of everything was new. Vanya had a preference for creams, golds, and crimson, and those colors were resplendent here.
There were fewer servants and far morepraetorialegionnaires present than Soren remembered from all his previous visits. The men and women in uniform eyed him with various expressions of recognition or disapproval on their faces.
“The warden should not be armed,” the woman with ranking chevrons on her sleeve said.
“The warden is of His Imperial Majesty’s household,” Alida replied, her stride never slowing.
She gestured imperiously at Soren, and he could only obey the silent order. Maybe her position as Vanya’s majordomo outranked even those assigned to protect him. He nodded at the legionnaires in passing anyway but didn’t bother with any sort of conversation. Alida was already slipping through the doorway up ahead, and Soren hastened to follow her.
“Raiah, that’s to play with, not to eat.”
Vanya sounded tired, and he looked it, too, when Soren finally got eyes on the other man. The slump of his shoulders wasn’t normal as he watched his daughter play with a clockwork train. The two-year-old Imperial crown princess sat in the center of the circular tracks, chewing on one of the blocks that had held up a now knocked-over tunnel. Her dark, curly hair had been neatly tied into small twisted knots over her skull, held in place by ties rather than pins. She’d grown in Soren’s absence, but her smile and laughter were still the same.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” Alida said with a deep bow.
Vanya didn’t look away from Raiah. “I asked not to be disturbed for at least the luncheon hour while I spent time with my daughter. Surely you can handle the household transition without me? I know the Senate is preparing the coronation law in my absence without needing my oversight.”
“Your warden is here.”
Vanya turned his head with a sudden jerk, piercing dark eyes landing unerringly on Soren. He was too much of a royal, too much of a politician in some ways, to visibly show how he felt, but his dismissal of everyone in the room was enough of a hint. It made Soren’s gut tighten, being the focus of Vanya’s formidable attention.
“Leave us,” Vanya ordered brusquely.
The handful of servants in the room silently left, with Raiah’s governess being waved off by Vanya. Alida shut the door behind everyone, leaving Soren alone with Solaria’s new ruler. Vanya stood from the chaise, moving to pick up Raiah. She shrieked in glee but became shy when she caught sight of Soren, tucking her head against her father’s shoulder.
