He froze for all of a second before whirling on his feet, facing his guests. Taisiya looked confused, as did Amir, while Alida had stopped just short of the threshold, still out in the hallway holding the tea tray. Twopraetorialegionnaires bracketed her, having left their posts at the sound of the alarm, their pistols raised for a threat.
“What is that noise?” Taisiya asked.
Vanya’s mouth went dry as he stared at her. “A warning.”
“For what?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, Vanya strode over to his desk to pick up the telephone. He pressed the button for the palace operator, who picked up almost immediately. “Put me through to Imperial General Chu Hua’s televox.”
The operator patched him through. The line rang several times before a click indicated it had connected. Chu Hua’s calm voice filtered through to his ear. “Yes, Your Imperial Majesty?”
“Send me a magician you trust. It activated,” Vanya said, teeth clenched tight as he stared at the two people who had done so much for his House lately.
“Expect us within the hour,” Chu Hua replied before ending the call.
“Your Imperial Majesty?” Alida asked in an uncertain voice, her grip white-knuckled on the tray.
He stared at where she stood, out in the hall, and thought about the number of times his majordomo had flitted in and out of his office. The spell-detecting device had never triggered upon her appearance, but he could not take a chance with her.
“Put the tray down and remain here,” Vanya said.
Alida nodded slowly before obeying, stepping inside to set the tray on his desk. She posted herself up in the corner, out of the way, watching them with wide eyes.
“What is the meaning of this?” Amir asked.
Vanya stared at him, wondering if there was something else other thanrionetkasthey’d have to worry about now. The satisfaction of knowing he had managed to outmaneuver Joelle was bitter in the wake of this uncertainty.
“Sit down,valide. You as well,vezir. There are things we must discuss.” Vanya looked past them at thepraetorialegionnaires who had taken it upon themselves to enter the office, their pistols trained on those who were supposed to be loyal to his House. “Send Soren to me.”
“What is going on?” Taisiya demanded, hands curled tightly over the armrests of the chair she sat in.
Amir appeared just as tense, and Vanya let his attention linger on thevezirof the House of Vikandir. “A precaution.”
Vanya curled his fingers loosely, as if to cradle starfire, and had to force himself to relax. He went behind his desk and sat in order to reach several hidden buttons that opened up a secret compartment. The seam of the small door was hidden in the grain of the wood underneath. When it unlocked, it barely popped free, and he had to use his fingernails to open the small door. Inside was a hidden space where he’d stored the spell-detecting device’s control mechanism.
The square bit of metal and brass with its singular button and toggle was powered by a clarion crystal chip. The crystal in question was flickering the same purple as the ones in the device above. Vanya pressed the button to deactivate the spell-detecting device, and the alarm that had been sounding abruptly stopped.
The hallway outside his office had become quite crowded withpraetorialegionnaires. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Captain Javier Molina shoved his way through. “Your Imperial Majesty!”
“I’m fine,” Vanya said.
Javier swept his gaze around the office, hand resting on the grip of his pistol holstered to his hip, wand in his other hand. “We should move you.”
“I’m waiting for Imperial General Chu Hua’s arrival. This was a warning device we set up together. I’m in no danger.”
“A warning device?” Taisiya repeated.
Vanya smiled thinly. “Yes.”
“For what?”
“Forrionetkas.”
Taisiya recoiled, eyes going wide. Amir reacted the same, while Alida’s head jerked up, a horror in her eyes shared by the other two. Vanya wondered, distantly, just how deep the mind magic went to make someone appear as they always had been, even when they weren’t.
“Vanya,” Soren said from the doorway.
Vanya’s gaze snapped to Soren standing framed in the doorway between twopraetorialegionnaires, one hand gripping the hilt of the poison short sword protruding over his shoulder. Vanya shook his head slightly, and Soren’s arm fell down to his side as the warden came into the office. Soren’s gaze flicked from those seated to thepraetorialegionnaires before tracking upward at where he knew the spell-detecting device had been installed, the only other person outside Chu Hua and a single engineer to know where and what it was.
