Vanya straightened up and slowly approached the table, cognizant of the empty courtyard and the heaviness of the air above. Everything was quiet when the Imperial palace typically rang with sound. He couldn’t even hear the wind.
He took his customary seat on the cushioned bench and reached for a pair of cups from the tea service. He poured the strong red tea he knew Taisiya favored into the cups, serving the Dawn Star first before himself. She took no honey from the tiny ceramic pot even as Vanya added some to his.
“A good blend,” Callisto said after taking a sip.
Vanya tipped his head in silent thanks to her, fingers curled loosely around the teacup as he waited for it to cool. The glass was heating up against his skin, but it didn’t bother him at all. “My lady, why now? My mother prayed to you many times when she was alive, and you never guided her.”
Callisto took a sip of her tea, staring at him with unblinking eyes. “I heard her prayers, but guidance was not needed for her.”
He wondered if she’d meant for Rixham to fall, then, for his brother and parents to die, for him to stand alone as head of his House. It was a lonely road she asked of him to walk, and Vanya could only swallow his bitterness. One did not argue with a star god, after all.
“What made you answer mine?”
“I’ll keep my counsel on that, thank you. Suffice to say your road is one I have a particular investment in.” Vanya opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his televox chimed in the pocket of his robe. Callisto’s mouth quirked at the corners. “You’ll want to answer that.”
Vanya slipped his hand into the pocket of his robe to retrieve the televox. The clarion crystals embedded on the front were glowing, and he thumbed it open to answer, heartbeat quickening at who it might be. “Hello?”
Soren’s voice came steady and clear through the tiny device. “We’re fine, but we have a problem.”
Vanya tightened his grip on the televox, trying not to fall apart in relief before a star god. “What happened?”
“Papa!” Raiah said gleefully, her little voice sounding distant but no less healthy. “Papa, I miss you!”
Vanya closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. He had to remind himself that her absence was a form of love, but hearing her voice settled him somewhat. “I miss you, too, my sunshine. Have you been well?”
“Um.”
The quiet hesitancy in her voice made Vanya grimace. “Soren?”
“We made it across the border into Ashion to a town that had a resupply station. One of the wardens passing through was arionetka,” Soren said.
A cold knot of fear settled heavily in Vanya’s chest, catching at his lungs. “Are you and Raiah all right?”
“Neither of us is injured. Raiah did cast starfire, though, and we had to abandon the resupply station after I killed therionetka. We took an airship to Karnak, where the House of Vikandir took us in.”
“She’s four. She isn’t trained for that.”
“I’m fairly certain it was instinctive, and she managed to put it out.”
Vanya blew out a breath. “What of the wardens? Have you warned the wardens’ governor about what occurred?”
“Delani knows about the clockwork metal hearts, but I haven’t told her about therionetkas. I didn’t have the time in Oeiras before we left.” Soren went quiet, and Vanya listened to his lover breathe for a few heartbeats. “I don’t know if we can trust the wardens. Not unless we’re standing in front of them and they can prove they don’t carry vivisection scars.”
“Your governor knows about the dead here in Calhames. If she cannot be trusted—if her loyalty does not lie with the wardens but with Joelle—Solaria is at risk more so than before.”
“The engineer in the quarry implied I wasn’t the first warden who had made it past their walls and died there.”
“You’re no revenant.”
“Neither am I arionetka, but Joelle is playing with both abominations.” Soren sighed thickly, and Vanya wished desperately that Soren could be there by his side and not in Karnak. “This is a border issue. I think you should demand a meeting with the wardens’ governor. Have her come to you in person and see if she is truly of her own mind or not.”
“If she comes now, it will not reflect well on my House,” Vanya said after a moment. “Joelle has called for a Conclave of Houses.”
“Lady Malia mentioned that.”
“Every decision I make will be watched and picked apart until it is concluded. If I called for the wardens’ governor, if the Houses knew for certain Delani was aware of the crypt, judgment against my House would be passed with swift intent. Joelle questions my place and Raiah’s absence already. With no heir, it is easier for her and others to take the throne.”
“You have an heir.”
