Rixham would never hold life inside its walls again. Guarded by wardens and Solarian military automatons, the revenants inside its sealed city walls had yet to fully be eradicated in the years since. It was a waiting game, one that would continue for years to come.
Revenants were the walking dead. They didn’t stop unless they were put down.
Eradicating a city the size of Rixham risked sending spores into the air and poisoning the surrounding habitable land. Rixham was a risk at the southern border—to the country but also to Vanya’s House.
“I’ll go,” Soren said after a moment. “It deals with a border, in a way. We can play off my presence through that angle.”
Two hours later, Soren was regretting having agreed to be present, mostly because politics, when it got this detailed, wasboring.
The Senate floor was full, as were the House sections in the mezzanine, though not every House had sent theirvezir. The House of Kimathi had sent Artyom, who refused to look their way and had only grudgingly given the barest of bows to Vanya when he’d arrived to open the session.
Soren had thought he’d be relegated to the public viewing section, but Vanya and Taisiya had insisted he observe from the House of Sa’Liandel’s seats in the mezzanine. Taisiya, for all that she’d spent years on the seaside, was an astute teacher on the intricacies of the decision being voted on today.
“It is a death sentence to be uninformed,” Taisiya had explained after she’d near correctly predicted the final tally and Vanya’s granting of the bill.
“Even about something as innocuous as this?” Soren asked.
“You never know when a favor may be drawn because of a vote.” Taisiya stood, smoothing down her gown. “Come.”
They weren’t the only ones making their way to the Senate floor to mingle after the vote. Other Houses joined them to discuss the aftermath with the senators, a few even going so far as to thank Vanya for the way he’d ruled on it. Those tended to be minor Houses, and Soren figured perhaps their smaller towns had needed this to pass more than the larger cities.
Soren stayed by Taisiya’s side, who never drifted far from Vanya, listening with half an ear as she talked up the results with the Houses who would listen. He ignored the lingering glances cast his way. The bill was essentially about borders, and the few senators who drummed up the courage to approach him for a brief chat got the same answer.
“I’m here to report back to the wardens’ governor on the likelihood of changing the maps,” Soren said. It wasn’t necessarily a lie, and he’d carried the border reports to and from Calhames for years already. Artyom still found a way to twist it.
“I assumed you were here to service our esteemed emperor,” Artyom drawled.
Soren stiffened, turning his head to find Artyom standing nearby in the middle of a group of senators. “You are mistaken.”
“Am I? You’ve certainly been presented in a way that says otherwise. It makes one wonder about the vaunted neutrality of the wardens.”
“Wardens serve Maricol,” Soren shot back, unable to keep quiet.
“I’m sure the emperor enjoys your servicesimmensely.”
“And I’m sure the House of Kimathi will enjoy the presence of wardens when it comes to establishing new city borders,” Taisiya cut in. “I understand some have already been dispatched to your House’svasilyet. Tell me, Artyom. Have you done your House duty and allowed them entry, or are you still hiding your deception from those that keep us safe?”
Artyom drew himself up and stepped forward, face going ruddy from temper. “You insult my House, Taisiya.”
“Valide.” Taisiya smiled, thin and knifelike. “Know my place so you know yours.”
She was Imperial royalty, and he was not, and the frankness with which he’d addressed her had not gone unnoticed. Soren edged closer to Taisiya, eyes on Artyom’s hands as opposed to his face. It was always the hands that gave away the next hit.
“Valide,” Artyom ground out after a long minute of disdainful silence on his part.
“Is there a problem?” Vanya asked mildly as he approached, the crowd parting to allow him passage across the Senate floor.
Taisiya turned to face him. “No.”
Her dismissal of Artyom’s House was so thorough that several senators shifted away from Artyom. The rage in his eyes deepened, fingers flexing, and Soren absently rested his hand on his pistol.Praetorialegionnaires were nearby, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d drawn a weapon in defense of Vanya and his House.
“The Conclave will see your House diminished. Our prayers will be answered,” Artyom snapped.
“Ah, but I haven’t heard yours,” a clear, ringing voice said from the center of the Senate floor.
The entire crowd shifted as if an earthquake had jolted the Senate building, pulling back to give ground to the star god in their midst. Soren moved on instinct, putting himself between Vanya and the newly arrived threat. He’d unholstered his pistol without conscious thought, staring over the barrel at the Dawn Star shining in all her glory there on the Senate floor.
Callisto wasn’t as he’d seen her last—surrounded by starfire, in a quarry that was nothing but charred dirt and ashes once he’d finally gotten his bearings. The gown she wore had a low collar to better show off the golden Lion constellation tattoo wrapped around her throat. The white of the fabric stood out starkly against her dark skin, trimmed in matching gold. But it was her eyes that caught Soren’s attention like nothing else could—dark and deep and fathomless like a clear, endless night sky full of stars.
