“I don’t want you to leave,” Raiah said sulkily.
Soren turned back toward her, putting one knee on the bench so he could pick her up and hug her carefully around the wanted weight of his weapons. Raiah kept her arms and legs away from them out of long practice, cuddling close.
“I have to, but I truly promise to return once the fighting is over,” Soren murmured.
“When you come back, you have to promise to stay. Papa was sad while you were gone.”
Soren held her just a little tighter. “I know. But I apologized to him for making him sad, and I won’t again.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
It took everything in Soren to set Raiah back down on the bench to finish her breakfast. He turned to face Taisiya, who reached for him with one wrinkled hand that he took in both of his.
“May your road find its way back to us,” Taisiya said. “Our House will be waiting.”
Soren managed a smile, gently squeezing her hand before letting go. “Thank you. For everything.”
“There is no thanks needed within our House when you are part of it.” Soren closed his eyes, stomach swooping at the belief and support and sheer acceptance of her words. When he opened his eyes again, Taisiya’s gaze was warm and knowing. “Go to him.”
Soren took that as his order and left the inner courtyard, making his way through the Imperial estate. The forecourt was busy with servants andpraetorialegionnaires tending to their duties. The line of waiting motor carriages wasn’t only for Soren. He spotted Nathaniel beside one, the door open and speaking to another person in the back seat. When he stepped closer, he saw Lore’s pale face over Nathaniel’s shoulder.
She caught sight of him, and the faint smile that came to her lips was full of relief. When she spoke, it was in the trade tongue, and her voice wasn’t as smooth as it used to be. “I hear I have you to thank for my rescue.”
Nathaniel glanced back before straightening up, offering a hasty bow. “Alasandair.”
Soren didn’t protest the name and let it be for the moment. “I wish I could have saved us both earlier.”
Lore made a jerky motion with her hand, fingers shaking. Soren couldn’t be sure it was due to exhaustion or something else. “I’m alive. As any cog would say, that’s enough some days.”
“Did Intira clear you to travel?”
“Not really, but Caris wants us home, and Lore agreed,” Nathaniel said.
“I will rest on the flight over. Nathaniel won’t let me do anything else,” Lore said.
Nathaniel nodded firmly. “Thevalidewas kind enough to send another healer with us to Ashion as a precaution.”
“The drugs, while not poison, played merry havoc with my body,” Lore said at Soren’s questioning look. “I can’t walk at the moment, and I am very tired, but I’ve been told it should pass with rest and exercise. None of which I have the time for. I can still lend aid to the war effort, though, even if it’s from a bed. I gave my memories up willingly to a magician last night. My testimony should aid in the report thevalideintends to submit to the Solarian Senate.”
It didn’t sound as if the drugs that had kept her unconscious had damaged her mind the way they’d harmed her body. She might not be a military strategist, but she’d led the Clockwork Brigade with her mother. She could parse politics and information brought by their spy network better than most.
“I’m certain Caris will appreciate that, as will Vanya,” Soren said.
“What will you do?”
Soren hesitated, unwilling to commit himself to the breadth of possibilities and traps that question offered up. “Vanya requires aid in the south against the revenant horde there. Starfire is the only thing capable of decimating the numbers in the quantities needed. My understanding is he sent out a call to the Houses for those who could cast starfire to join him, but only a few answered.”
Soren understood the reason given by the Houses who’d declined—Rixham was the House of Sa’Liandel’s failure alone in many ways—but one would think the continuation of their country as a whole would be enough to bring the Houses together.
Apparently not.
“And after?” Lore asked with the persistence of a lady entitled to an answer.
“Eimarille is still a threat,” was all Soren said.
The starfire throne was still up for grabs, and Soren knew Maricol wouldn’t be as it was if Eimarille claimed it. He’d provide Vanya with support and then see what Caris needed from him. The war wasn’t over yet, and he still had his orders from Delani to obey, for as long as he could as a warden.
That seemed to satisfy Lore. She nodded slowly before closing her eyes, clearly ready to rest. Soren murmured his farewells before retreating to the motor carriage that would take him to the airfield and the airship ready to launch the moment he boarded. When next he landed, he’d be reunited with Vanya, and Soren ached with the need to hold the other man in his arms again.
