Soren didn’t trust her, but then, he trusted no one of the Houses, save Vanya.
“Valide,” Soren said politely.
“You’re not dressed for the day,” Taisiya said, setting down her glass cup, the red tea half-finished.
Soren glanced down at the uniform he wore, the weight of his weapons on his hips and back familiar after so many years carrying them. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“That is not proper attire for a Conclave gathering. Where are your robes?”
“I’m not Solarian.”
“I’ve been told you have worn them on occasion.”
“Once,” Soren conceded, thinking of the funeral procession he had marched in at Vanya’s request years ago. “I’m a warden and can be nothing else.”
“I find that difficult to believe when you’ve been in Vanya’s bed for the past six years.” She raised a knowing eyebrow, mouth quirking at the corners. “Or joining him on the throne.”
Soren wasn’t prone to embarrassment, but the heat that came to his face wasn’t something he could stop. He knew the servants would gossip about their tryst last night, but he hadn’t known it would reach Taisiya. “I don’t expect anything from Vanya.”
“You would be the only one who doesn’t. The fact that he has taken no one else to his bed, not even a royal courtesan, since you two met has made people talk.”
Soren resisted the urge to reach for the vow hanging around his throat and tucked safely out of sight beneath his shirt and leather waistcoat. “I saved his life once. He’s always been thankful for that.”
“Yes, I am aware of what you did. Our House is ever thankful for your intercession. What he owes you is something of gossip.”
“As I said,valide, I am a warden. The only thing any Solarian owes us is adherence to the Poison Accords.”
Taisiya’s smile was indulgent in the way of one who knew a lie when they heard one. “A fact I’m sure Joelle is loath to acknowledge these days. Be that as it may, you still did not answer my question.”
“Vanya owes me nothing.”
“You would like to think he doesn’t.” Taisiya rose from her seat, moving slowly in deference to her age. She crossed the room to him, her gaze shrewd and sharp as she took him in. “But I know how this House holds its debts. The legality of your position aside, you saved his life, and our House would owe you a debt. Do you stay because he asks you to or because you told him you would?”
Soren kept silent in the face of that question. He doubted she would appreciate knowing the wardens’ governor’s order setting his position in Solaria. Soren had been sent to observe the country’s politics to ensure its compliance with the Poison Accords and uncover more information about the influx of revenants. That it had coincided with Vanya’s demand to see him had made it easier to fit the lie into a mold of truth.
But the reality of the dangerous game Vanya played hung around Soren’s neck, and he couldn’t quite stop himself from taking Taisiya’s wrist in hand when she reached for his throat. The glint in her eyes was almost too knowing. “Ah. I see I was right.”
Soren smiled tightly. “About what?”
She raised her other hand to tap at his chest over where the medallion rested against his sternum beneath his clothes. He’d kept the chain of it hidden while in public, or thought he had—habit to hide an indiscretion that would damn him and Vanya both.
“Vanya owes you a debt.”
Soren opened his mouth to deny that fact, but someone else beat him to it.
“He has never asked for anything in all the years I’ve known him,valide. Let it be,” Vanya said from behind him in a low voice.
Taisiya stared at Soren, arching a neatly painted eyebrow. “Is that true?”
“I’m a warden,” Soren said evenly, refusing to think about the broken road he might have once walked if the world was different.
If the star gods were kinder.
She pulled away from him, and he let her go. The sound of the door closing reached his ears before Vanya’s hand settled briefly against his lower back. The warm touch slid away as the other man stepped around him to stand between them.
“My mother was aware of my decision at the time,” Vanya said.
Taisiya slanted him a look that spoke volumes. “She was a fool.”
