“The dead are what hunt us, and therionetkasare no different, being little more than living puppets.”
“Who is to say you did not carve the bodies open yourself?” Joelle called out, her voice carrying. A soft murmur of agreement drifted up from other Houses present, lending their support.
“Speaks one whosevasilyetis overrun with revenants and a border porous in ways that speak of deficient law,” Taisiya countered almost immediately. Her rough voice didn’t carry as well, but the immediate hush that settled over the Senate proved she was still someone all those present listened to.
Vanya tipped his head back, crown never shifting, as he stared up at where Joelle sat. Artyom had stood at Taisiya’s accusation but said nothing, not while Joelle commanded his silence. Raiah’s great-grandmother looked down at him, expression carved from stone.
“A heavy charge for a House who lets the dead be viewed when they shouldn’t,” Joelle said.
Her words were like a double-edged blade, designed to slice through all defenses. She didn’t accuse him of bringing a warden into the crypt, but she might as well have. The buried dead was a secret for the Houses who had sat upon the Imperial throne to keep and not meant to be argued in public. Joelle skirted the unspoken law by bringing up that subject, but then, Vanya himself had broken it when he’d brought Soren to his parents’ funeral rites. Here, in this chamber, Vanya would keep his teeth sealed on recognizing the bodies buried beneath the palace.
Joelle was not to be so easily deterred.
She stood, looking as if the motion pained her, and Vanya was reminded of the many assassination attempts she’d survived. “You speak of theserionetkasas if they are real. Who is to say you have not desecrated the living to lie with the dead? This horror you yourself could have ordered—just like your mother.”
Others murmured agreement to her words, a hubbub of noise that cut off when Vanya raised his hand. “This is not about secession. I am not here to bring avasilyetto heel.”
“Yet,” Taisiya demurred, drawing a sharp look from Joelle.
Vanya didn’t allow himself the indulgence of smiling at her pointed remark. “I have witnesses from the remainder of thepraetorialegionnaire who were with me in Oeiras and those of my household.”
“That means nothing,” Joelle countered.
“I suppose it means as much or as little as the quarry in yourvasilyetfull of revenants.” The accusation came out sharper than he intended, but Joelle’s expression didn’t falter. “One must wonder if the uptick of revenants in the northwest of Solaria is manufactured. I’ve heard complaints from merchants about the risk of road travel in yourvasilyet. The border reports have nothing good to say about the known attacks in land under your governance.”
“I know nothing of this quarry you speak of.”
Vanya allowed his voice to be like ice. “Of course you don’t. But a warden saw firsthand the atrocity you allowed and Imperial General Chu Hua confirmed its existence.Praetorialegionnaires brought back photographs of the charred landscape.”
“For all we know, they did the damage themselves during field training. As to this warden—” Joelle tilted her head, bracing herself against the mezzanine railing as she leaned forward. “—I give no credence to a warden’s word if they are the same one who sleeps in your bed.”
Vanya had expected such a dagger-tipped accusation, and he let it wash over him like so much water, ignoring the speculative looks in the Houses surrounding him. “Who I sleep with is not your concern.”
“It is when they are around a member ofmyHouse. Where is my great-granddaughter? No one has seen her since Oeiras. You have made it known for years that if I am to see her, I must visit Calhames. Well, Your Imperial Majesty. I am here, and I would see one of my House.”
Vanya’s teeth ground together, having seen the verbal corner she’d been herding him to well before the conversation even started. He’d expected such a demand since first hearing the House of Kimathi had returned to Calhames. “Raiah is not a subject for the Senate to debate.”
“But the Houses are allowed to, and so we shall.” Joelle straightened up, gesturing widely with one hand. “My fellow Houses, I call for a Conclave of Houses, as is my right when a member of my House is under duress.”
“One wonders why you wouldn’t call for a blood feud,” Vanya said sharply.
“Willyou, Your Imperial Majesty?” Joelle asked with such sugared sweetness the insult was known by all.
Vanya didn’t move. “You have nothing I want.”
It went unsaid that he had everything she desired, and the fury that seeped through the cracks of her iron control was a victory Vanya knew he’d never get to savor.
“The House of Aetos is amenable to a Conclave,” Lady Vesper called out, neatly cutting through the rising murmur of voices with a calm sureness that spoke of political ties already knotted together before today.
Where the House of Aetos went, others followed. Enough support was present that there was no outmaneuvering Joelle in this moment. Vanya could only tally those in favor and those reluctantly so. One could not deny a Conclave of Houses, a public judgment of peers that could not strip Vanya of the Imperial throne, but it could strip him of support, and that was a death knell in and of itself.
Debts were handled in secret, as were assassination orders and bribes. A public airing of grievances was done to give cover to the backdoor politicking that could and had realigned House ties in the past.
“The Imperial throne has never stood in the way of a Conclave of Houses, and it will not do so now. The House of Kimathi will have their grievance heard so long as the House of Sa’Liandel’s grievance is given the same contemplation,” Vanya said.
“And what grievance do you carry?” Joelle asked, careful to keep the scorn out of her voice, but the polite coolness of her tone was a barb nonetheless.
At this, Vanya allowed himself a smile. “As your emperor, I hold grievances for the whole of Solaria. The border reports do not lie and the wardens have taken notice of your hostility to the Poison Accords and the right of passage they are allowed through all countries. I would have the Conclave review your decisions asvezirto see if you are still worthy of such a title.”
