Vanya kept his eyes on Soren, neither of them speaking until they were alone. The only sound between them was that of the faint hum from the heaters and pumps beneath the bathhouse. Vanya spread his fingers over the top of the water, petals clinging to his oiled skin.
“I thought you’d left,” Vanya said.
Soren crossed his arms over his chest. “I was going to.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Soren’s mouth twisted and he didn’t speak for half a minute. “You have an unguarded border. It doesn’t matter if the tombs are welded shut with starfire. A warden needs to guard it.”
“So guard it. I will not argue with you on that.”
“The wardens’ governor is responsible for assigning border patrols.”
“And did you inform her of what I showed you?”
“I called her about the crypts and the state of the Houses early this morning.”
Vanya glided toward the steps to exit the pool, feeling Soren’s gaze on him as he walked naked over to the altar where the ceremonial bathing robe was laid out. Tradition dictated a star priest should dress him, but Vanya didn’t call back any who had left. He pulled on the crimson robe edged in gold to ward off the faint chill from leaving the warm waters of the pool. He didn’t belt it, which caused the front edges to fall open, hiding nothing.
When he turned to face Soren, he found the warden walking toward him around the pool. Vanya watched him approach, seeing the glint of a gold chain beneath the open collar of his shirt. Even now, Soren hadn’t removed the vow.
Soren came to a stop beside Vanya, head tipped back some to look him in the eye. “I asked the governor to hold off on announcing sanctions against Solaria.”
Vanya arched an eyebrow. “Did you?”
“Wardens aren’t meant for politics. We aren’t supposed to interfere with matters of state, but when governments put the borders at risk, we are obligated to respond. We’ve charted the rise in revenants in the northwest of Solaria, as well as in Daijal and Ashion. I told the governor the House of Kimathi can’t be trusted and that any move toward sanctions against Solaria as a whole will make it more difficult to find out what’s going on in thatvasilyet.”
“Did your governor agree with your reasoning?”
Soren nodded slowly. “She told me to stay and guard the border between the living and the dead beneath your palace. She won’t initiate the sanctions clause in the Poison Accords just yet. But Vanya, you have to know your country will be punished with them in the future.”
“I’m well aware of what Solaria will owe. We’ll pay the tithes if I sit on the Imperial throne. If another House rules in my stead one day, then it will be up to them to pay. If they refuse to do so, I know you wardens will hold them accountable. That’s why I brought you down into the crypts yesterday.”
“I don’t appreciate being manipulated. You could have just told me.”
“Would you have believed me? Would you have understood such a threat if you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes?”
Soren took a half step closer, eyes flashing with the same sort of anger Vanya remembered from yesterday. “Don’t play your House games with me.”
“Such games are all I know.”
“Vanya.”
Vanya reached out and hooked his fingers beneath the chain Soren wore, pulling out the roaring lion head medallion. He slid it open, revealing the dried blood still smeared over the metal there from the vow he’d given several years ago.
“You ask things of me for your duty but never for me to pay you what is owed. Will you have me pay it now when I am still a prince or in several hours’ time when I am crowned emperor?”
Soren pulled the medallion free from Vanya’s grip. He snapped it closed before tucking it beneath his shirt and vest. “I’ve told you for years you don’t owe me anything.”
“Yet you still wear my vow.” Vanya settled his hand against the side of Soren’s throat, thumb pressing into the hinge of his jaw. “You still come to me. Why?”
Soren’s gaze tracked up and down Vanya’s body, lips parting slightly as his tongue flicked out to wet them. “You know why.”
“Would you still come to me without the vow or a border to guard or reports to deliver?”
“Wardens exist to guard. We’re not supposed to want, not the way I want you, even when you do something so idiotically stupid as break the Poison Accords because oftradition.”
The aggravation in his voice made Vanya’s lips twitch. “So I’m an exception.”
