Taisiya appeared tired, the droop of her mouth more pronounced. But her words were precise when she spoke, voice as ruined as ever. “You haven’t been to the estate.”
“I’ve been busy,” Soren said.
“Raiah has asked for you.”
He swallowed, thinking of the Imperial princess and missing her in a way he didn’t have the right to. “She knows I come and go.”
Taisiya’s gaze was shrewd. “And are you leaving this time for good?”
“I’m a warden.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Isn’t it?” he asked sharply. “This whole mess lies at my feet. If I hadn’t pushed for a stay of the sanctions, Joelle wouldn’t have been able to use the revenants against the rest of the Houses.”
To say nothing of the way Vanya had looked at him when he’d cast starfire in defense of the emperor and Raiah—as if Soren had turned out to be a worse enemy than Joelle with such betrayal.
“You were not the one who freed the dead and let them walk.”
“My choices enabled hers.”
“Perhaps, but you did so to protect my House. I cannot fault you for that.”
His lips twisted bitterly. “Everyone else does.”
Taisiya waved aside his words. “The major Houses obeyed the decree set by the Dawn Star Ages ago. The minor Houses will not argue that, no matter their losses.”
“And the public?”
“Vanya ensured no revenants made it beyond the palace gates. He burned down his home rather than risk the lives of his citizens.”
“Is that the story you’re feeding the broadsheets?”
“It’s the truth.”
Soren snorted. “It’s barely that.”
“Truth is what you make of it, and right now, the truth keeps my House in power. The Conclave is set to gather in the Senate tomorrow to discuss Joelle’s transgressions.”
“I know.”
“You will join me.”
Soren reeled back, nearly falling off the pew. “I can’t.”
Taisiya arched an eyebrow. “Can’t or won’t?”
“It’s not my place.”
“My dear warden, it’s too late to pretend otherwise. You are of the emperor’s household. He beds no one else. This”—she leaned forward, sliding her fingers beneath the collar of his shirt to hook around the chain of the vow, pulling the medallion free—“is not given lightly.”
Soren grasped the chain and gently tugged it out of her grasp. “I will not ask for payment.”
“You will,” Taisiya corrected with a knowing glint in her eyes. “Everyone always does.”
He wished badly she wasn’t right, but wishes were like prayers in his experience—useless and meaningless.
Taisiya pushed herself to her feet, smoothing down the line of her black robes. Calhames was in mourning, the House banners with the names of the deceased hanging from the walls of every estate who lost someone. It wasn’t quite reminiscent of the pageantry that had accompanied Vanya’s false death some years back, but the grief within the Houses was impossible to miss when he rode down streets for the palace grounds.
