“And do you have proof?”
Vanya grimaced, irritation making his skin prickle. “None that would grant a blood feud. None the Houses would believe. But tell me, who else would be behind my attempted murder and Raiah’s attempted kidnapping?”
Taisiya sighed heavily, a rasp that sounded painful. “Every House that is not ours. You foolish boy. If you have no proof, then you must provide rumors. I can guarantee you Joelle has already started those.”
“If you only came here to disparage my choices—”
“I came to ensure we still have a House at the end of this mess,” Taisiya interrupted sharply. “The Imperial throne will outlive us all, but I would not see our House fall to ruin the way the House of Laxsom did. You live in the shadow of your mother’s choices, and we all pay for them. Or did you wonder why so many fought to have their debts die with her?”
Vanya snapped his teeth together. “Mother did what she thought was right.”
“And we’ve a country kept whole because of her, but ask yourself how much longer that will remain true if what you bring to the Senate today is believed?” Taisiya turned and headed for the door, stride slow due to age, but she carried herself with a regality that came from her station. “I am not your enemy, Vanya. I am of your House, and I am yourvalide. Now, come. I would see you act the emperor and not the fool.”
She left, and Vanya had no choice but to follow. His mother had trusted Taisiya’s counsel when she ruled, despite the distance between them. He could not say the same just yet, but she was of his House, and there were so few of them left to stand against the currents of politics that ruled his every step.
Two
VANYA
The Senate building was a grand thing, edged in gold, with its domed roof of the central building covered in a mosaic depicting every House emblem in Solaria. Surrounded by its own set of walls well guarded by legionnaires, it was a place of power that every emperor and empress had worked to oversee.
Vezirsof major Houses governed theirvasilyetsat the grace of the Imperial throne, with the understanding that the senators they sent as their representatives to Calhames debated laws that would live or die by the stroke of the emperor’s pen. Committee work was a slog, but it was where political and House alliances were made.
The Imperial throne oversaw the Senate as it had since the Dawn Star had decreed Solaria’s form of rulership. Vanya had learned much from his mother, both in listening to her counsel those who sought an audience with the Imperial throne amidst the court back at the palace or here, within these hallowed halls, where even blood feuds were momentarily set aside for the sake of the country.
Vanya knew there was a risk of creating a blood feud today with the House of Kimathi with the accusation he intended to level against Joelle. But his mother had taken a risk at Rixham all those years ago, and he would do the same here. When he walked into the Senate chamber with its senator seats and the mezzanine above for the Houses, he did so leading coffins bearing the dead into a place of the living.
The gasps of surprise and, yes, even shock echoed through the air. The gas lamps burned bright around the room, allowing him to see the concern and even hints of horror on the faces of nearby senators. When Vanya glanced up at the mezzanine, he found nearly every seat there full, numerous members of Houses peering down at the Senate floor and the currently empty golden throne on the dais.
It was easy to pick out the House of Kimathi, Joelle sitting front and center in the first row, flanked by her son and heir, Artyom, both of them dressed as if for a state occasion in their finest robes and jewels. All they lacked was the crown on Vanya’s head, and the juxtaposed symbolism wasn’t lost on him.
The section located directly over the throne was reserved for the House of Sa’Liandel. Those seats were filled on occasions by distant relatives, seeking favor and to flaunt their ties to the Imperial throne. The august body gathered there for the latest session erupted in a surprised murmur of countless voices as Lady Taisiya Sa’Liandel of the House of Sa’Liandel was escorted to her seat by Amir.
Vanya met her gaze from the floor of the Senate, and she inclined her head toward him in acknowledgment before gracefully taking her seat, the only member of his House in attendance. Amir bowed to her before taking his leave to find his own seat amongst his House several sections down the length of the mezzanine.
“What is the meaning of this?” the sergeant at arms demanded from the front of the chambers, standing ramrod straight in his pressed uniform. Maurizio was a man who knew the rules of the Senate like the Imperial tax collector knew taxation laws. Everyone was bound by Senate rules inside these walls.
Everyone save the person who sat upon the Imperial throne.
Like his mother, Vanya rarely broke the rules of the chamber for his own needs. To rule in such a way was to invite assassins into one’s life. Vanya’s job as emperor was to think of Solaria as a whole, and he worked in tandem with the Senate when required to achieve that harmony. His House would not be seen as a dictator, though he knew others saw them that way, especially after what was done to Rixham.
“I am here to put to rest the rumors of what happened in Oeiras,” Vanya said from the Senate floor, gaining everyone’s attention.
Thepraetorialegionnaires in charge of the coffins lined them up side by side before the dais. At Vanya’s nod, the magician stepped forward, wand raised as she worked to undo the spell keeping them sealed. Senators reared back in shock at her actions, voices rising in protest.
Vanya ignored the furor with a calmness he didn’t fully feel, but he’d spent his entire life projecting a sense of command. This was no different.
“The dead should not be here,” Maurizio snapped, recoiling as the coffin lids were raised.
“The time has passed for them to have risen as revenants. I bring the dead here for a reason.” Vanya stepped closer to the coffins, taking the box that held the shattered pieces of clockwork metal heart. “It is true it waspraetorialegionnaires who attacked me in Oeiras and sought to take my daughter. But the men and women who were once loyal to the throne did not lose their loyalty by choice.”
Vanya opened up the box, the pieces of once-spellbound metal shifting inside. “A captain who was not afflicted used mind magic on the dying and discovered they called themselvesrionetkas. They were loyal to a different master, made that way by having their hearts replaced with clockwork gears and alchemy, with mind magic to ensure control. They acted normal, right up until the moment they tried to kill me.”
Vanya stalked across the open floor of chambers, slipping between two coffins, until he could stand before the sergeant at arms. He offered Maurizio the box, raising an eyebrow when he didn’t immediately take it.
“It will not harm you,” Vanya said with a gentleness that felt like a lie on his tongue. “Whoever was behind this atrocity set a self-destruct to the clockwork hearts. Pass it to the senators.”
Maurizio was all too willing to pass the shattered metal pieces to the next person. “With all due respect, Your Imperial Majesty, the dead should not be here.”
