“I’m sure they’ll want Lore brought back to Ashion. I’ll have my secretary handle the logistics of transportation via airship. We can’t trust the steam trains at the moment, not with the revenant horde pushing north. Mr. Clementine and Lady Lore will return to Ashion tomorrow if she is cleared to fly,” Taisiya said.
“What are you doing here in Oeiras?” Soren asked Nathaniel.
“I was sent here some weeks ago as Caris’ proxy to gain an alliance with the Tovan Isles. I sailed with them as a way to keep me out of theKlovod’s reach.” Nathaniel shook his head, his voice becoming tired. “Even the sea wasn’t far enough.Rionetkassneaked on board despite all the precautions to keep them out. The Tovanians put me on a submersible and sent me back here. They kept course to break the blockade in the Gulf of Helia and get our soldiers to shore to lay siege to New Haven.”
“What made your people change their mind on that?”
“The need to get Caris to Amari. After Daijal attacked Solaria and E’ridia, there were strategy decisions made I wasn’t privy to until I was sent to Oeiras. We’re attacking New Haven to force Daijal to pull back their forces on the eastern front.”
War was such an ugly thing, and there would be no peace until someone claimed the starfire throne. For all that Solaria was home, Soren could not ignore the ruin ripping Ashion and Daijal apart. The only way to stop it all—in a way that would keep every country separate and intact—was to put Caris on the starfire throne and give her a crown Soren had no desire to ever wear. At some point, he would need to return to Ashion, but he wouldn’t do so without seeing Vanya first.
They were interrupted yet again by another knock on the door. This time, it was Intira, the royal healer magician, who came inside, her attention landing unerringly on Soren. “Lady Lore is resting comfortably and should hopefully be roused from her stupor in an hour or so. I’ll be better able to assess her then. I understand I have a second patient?”
Soren rubbed his hand up and down Raiah’s back and kissed the top of her head before getting to his feet. “Yes.”
“Perhaps the exam should take place in the bathhouse,” Taisiya said tactfully.
“Please,” Soren said, not above begging for time spent in hot water.
Taisiya waved him off. “I’ll speak with Mr. Clementine while you are seen to.”
Soren left everything in Taisiya’s capable hands and followed the healer out of the room.
Ten
SOREN
Taisiya kept her word and had an airship ready to depart south in the morning. His departure wasn’t approved by everyone.
“But youpromisedyou wouldn’t leave!” Raiah wailed during breakfast when Soren broached the subject.
Soren pulled her into his lap to cuddle her, his breakfast forgotten for the moment as he tried to reason with a five-year-old. “Vanya needs me, and so I must go to him. You will be safe here, and we’ll return once the threat is handled.”
Raiah scowled and pressed her face into his chest. Soren had woken up that morning in Vanya’s bed with Raiah curled close to find a brand-new warden’s uniform laid out for him on the settee. He’d dressed in the adjacent washroom with quiet regret, for he knew his time wearing the uniform was limited. Then he’d escorted Raiah to the inner courtyard, knowing she wouldn’t be happy about his plans. He’d been right.
“No,” Raiah growled. “You have to stay.”
Soren smoothed his hand over her neatly braided hair and shared a commiserating look with Taisiya. Raiah had cleaved herself to his side since his arrival yesterday, doing her best impression of a barnacle. It tore at him to have to leave her again, but even though the healer would prefer he took some time to rest, Soren knew he was needed.
“Yourvalidewill need lots of help while I’m with your papa. Do you think you can help her?” Soren asked, trying a different tact to stave off more tears.
Raiah lifted her head and frowned up at him, eyes a little watery, but she wasn’t falling into full-blown sobs yet. “Of course.”
She spoke with the same sort of haughtiness Soren had heard from Vanya over the years, and he couldn’t help smiling. “Good. I’m glad. Now, let’s finish eating, okay? Everything will be all right.”
Normally, Soren wouldn’t promise such a thing, but Raiah was still so young that he hoped she could be distracted in the coming days from the realities of war and all the machinations of the Houses. She wasn’t yet at the age where she officially needed to start learning how to politick. Soren knew Vanya was adamant at giving her a childhood, despite everything that had occurred so far.
They finished breakfast without rushing, Soren eking out just a little more time with Raiah. After the servants had cleared the low table of their dishes, apraetorialegionnaire approached, holding a bundle in his arms. He bowed his head and only came closer when Taisiya nodded at him.
“What you requested,valide,” the man murmured.
He set the bundle on the table and carefully unrolled it. Soren’s eyes widened once he caught sight of his poison short sword, his pair of pistols and gun belt, his dagger, as well as a full field kit all wardens carried that consisted of poisons and antidotes. He’d never thought he’d see the weapons he’d been forced to leave back in Calhames weeks and weeks ago again, but here they were.
“We found them amidst the massacre of the Ashion diplomatic envoy after you’d been taken. We have wardens assigned to Oeiras, and I asked them to prepare your weapons when I was informed you were coming home,” Taisiya said.
Soren reached for the poison short sword first, the weight of it familiar in his hand. The clarion crystal on its hilt remained whole. When he unsheathed it to carefully check the interior of the hilt where the vials of poison were secured and hidden away amidst tiny, intricate gears, he found them filled to capacity.
He toggled the casing closed and locked it before sheathing the poison short sword again. Then he checked his pistols with motions that had been drilled into him since he was a tithe. Satisfied they were in working order, Soren slid off the bench and stood so he could more easily strap on the gun belt and dagger.
