Whatever bit of mirth that had been creeping into Soren’s gaze fled at that statement. “Exceptions are a dangerous weakness for a warden.”
Vanya slid his hand up to cradle Soren’s jaw. “I won’t be a weakness.”
“You already are, princeling.”
Soren gripped the edges of Vanya’s ceremonial bathing robe and tugged him closer, rising up on his toes to slant his mouth over Vanya’s to silence any protest. Vanya tightened his grip on Soren’s throat, forcing his head to a better angle that allowed him to deepen the kiss. He licked his way into Soren’s mouth and tried to breathe for both of them. When they finally broke apart, Vanya realized his fingers were pressing bruises into Soren’s fair skin.
“Guard your border for however long you must, but you’ll stay with me while you do so,” Vanya said.
Soren splayed his fingers over Vanya’s chest, swallowing tightly against his grip. “You focus on the future with the Houses. I’ll focus on your past mistakes.”
Vanya thought of Iosiv and his parents and Nicca and the buried dead scratching at their iron tombs. He thought of the quiet killer poison he’d swallowed on that train to Bellingham and the chance he’d chased it with at Soren’s urging.
What might have been, what could have been, wouldn’t have seen Vanya walk into the star temple later that morning. But that winding road led him to kneel before the high priestess and accept the crown his mother had once worn to thunderous applause that was meaningless. The senators and House representatives weren’t applauding his ascension so much as they were applauding his hopeful demise.
As he turned to face the congregation ofvezirs, senators, military officers, ambassadors, foreign dignitaries, the press, and others given invitations to the coronation, Vanya forced himself to smile. The gold crown was heavy on his head as he raised his hands in front of him, calling forth starfire.
It formed between his curved hands like molten gold, magic of a strength few could wield. Starfire curled around his fingers and palms, drifting around his wrists as he proved he had the right to rule how the star gods had decreed at the birth of their country.
The high priestess rapped her ceremonial staff on the floor, using a voice amplifier to call out, “By authority of the Dawn Star, in her graciousness, the Star Order acknowledges His Imperial Majesty Vanya of the House of Sa’Liandel, holder of the Imperial throne, ruler of Solaria. Long live the emperor.”
The answer to that announcement was an acknowledging roar as the crowd stood from their seats. The Solarians in the audience bowed, as did the foreigners. The only one who didn’t bow in that sea of people was Soren, seated in the first row reserved for the family and close allies of the new ruler. The House of Vikandir took up the majority of that row, but Vanya only had eyes for Soren.
Which was why he didn’t see the assassin until it was nearly too late.
As Vanya stepped down from the altar, the crowd surged, and someone screamed, “Gun!”
Thepraetorialegionnaires around the dais rushed forward, seeking to protect him as thecrackof a pistol discharging echoed in the star temple. Screams replaced the cheers as the crowd panicked and rushed for the exit at the rear of the temple. The legionnaires surrounded him in a flurry. One raised his wand to cast a shield spell that erected a wall of magic between them and the panicked audience, hexagonal shapes glowing in the air.
“Come with us, Your Imperial Majesty,” one of the legionnaires barked at him.
The legionnaires whose sole duty was to protect the Imperial throne and whoever sat upon it would do their duty and get him to safety. Only Vanya refused to start his reign cowering in what passed for safety.
And he wasn’t leaving without his daughter.
“Where is Raiah?” Vanya snapped as he was forcibly dragged aside, surrounded by legionnaires. “Raiah!”
She’d been left in Alida’s care under Amir’s watchful eye since the House of Kimathi had refused to send any representative, not even their senator, to his coronation. Vanya looked at the bench she should have been in, but he didn’t see his daughter or her minders.
“Raiah!” he shouted again, a sickening sort of fear making his chest hurt.
Thepraetorialegionnaires assigned guard duty during the coronation had overtaken the crowd. A cluster of legionnaires was detaining the shooter in the aisle, but they missed the woman who stepped onto a bench, her robes indicating no House affiliation, but the pistol in her hand was all the proof of where her loyalty didn’t lie.
Her arm moved in an arc, pistol aimed unerringly in Vanya’s direction, but she never got the shot off.
Soren got his off first.
The warden’s bullet found its home in the center of her face, exiting out the back of her head with an explosion of blood and brain matter. More bullets tore through her flesh barely half a second later. The would-be assassin fell over, body jerking from the bullets still tearing through her.
Vanya’s attention was riveted on Soren as the warden turned to face him, Raiah held close in one arm, his daughter’s face tucked tightly against Soren’s throat. Relief coursed through Vanya so quickly he staggered, causing several legionnaires to look at him in a panic.
“Your Imperial Majesty!” one of them cried out.
Vanya violently shrugged off their hands, trying to push his way toward Soren and Raiah. “I’m fine.”
Thepraetorialegionnaires refused to move. A tall woman with auburn hair shot him a fierce look from beneath hereffiyeh. “Stayhere. We can’t protect you if you run off, Your Imperial Majesty.”
The chaos of the attack was dying down, with legionnaires and quite a few acolytes forcibly bringing everyone to order. Vanya had eyes for none of it, all his attention riveted on Soren and Raiah as the warden approached with his daughter.
