Soren was glad to converse in Solarian again, the language far less grating to his ears than Ashionen had been over the past months. “Thank you.”
He left his velocycle in capable hands and made his way to the gangplank that led to a Solarian airship. The crew got him settled, and Soren watched the launch through a port window in his tiny room, Amari growing smaller and smaller as the airship ascended. Pockets of darkness indicating bombed-out ruins were still scattered across Amari, but he knew by this time next year, they’d all be filled in with gas lamp light.
Soren wouldn’t be around to see that progress, but Caris would tell him all about it one day.
Four
VANYA
Vanya’s repurposed office in the Senate building lacked a fireplace, but the winter chill wasn’t so bad he needed one. His winter robes were designed to keep him warm, and the aide who attended him ensured his tea was never cold. Vanya looked at the clock on the wall, noting the time. Taisiya was due with Raiah shortly so that they might have their midday meal together at one of the newly redone restaurants that made his daughter’s favorite spiced lentil soup. He was looking forward to leaving the stacks of folios on his desk for later review.
The months following the end of the Infernal War had not been easy for Solaria or his House. Vanya had kept the Imperial throne only by his actions in the south and Callisto’s lingering blessing. His depth of starfire was not matched by anyone, and he’d given favor to the Houses, both major and minor, that had sent those who could cast starfire to defend against revenants.
His favor couldn’t overshadow the eradication of the House of Kimathi by Daijalan hands or the House of Aetos by his own. Blades had murdered Joelle, and Vesper had been given the choice of a firing squad or poison after being found guilty of colluding with a traitor and a foreign country. Their actions had damned their Houses to death, but Vanya felt no guilt over their court-ordered deaths, not if it meant Solaria remained whole and free of foreign subjugation.
Two cities now stood without a major House to rule theirvasilyet. Vanya was working with the House of Vikandir and the House of Balaskas to determine which minor House would be best to be uplifted into a position of generational power. He wasn’t going to carve up thosevasilyetsas his mother had done with Rixham. And unlike with Rixham, the Senate and the Houses hadn’t protested removing the Houses. The shadow of the Infernal War crossed borders, and no country had gone untouched by Eimarille’s machinations.
Part of the Legion was still lending aid to Ashion in the north, providing military support to help fill in the gaps of that army’s heavily depleted ranks. Queen Caris had been grateful for his alliance still, even knowing he hadn’t done it for her. She was young to the throne but knew what she wanted for her country, and it was nothing like what Eimarille had envisioned. Vanya had no doubt Caris would keep to the treaties their diplomats were drawing up.
He scrawled his signature across another military order and set it aside before reaching for the next. He flipped it open and paused halfway through reading the first paragraph when someone knocked on his office door. “Enter.”
His Chief Minister opened the door, an unreadable look on his face. “A warden is here to see you, Your Imperial Majesty.”
Vanya stilled, fingers tightening around his pen. He’d had an open line of communication with the wardens’ governor to coordinate the payment of tithes Solaria owed for the sanctions incurred, as well as the continued defense against the revenant horde still crawling up from the south. He’d sent Delani’s last warden off with the latest border report a week ago and didn’t expect them back until the new year.
But there was one warden he’d been aching to see for months already, having to console himself with the sound of a well-loved voice in his ears over a telephone instead. “Who?”
Caelum pushed the door open wider, moved aside, and bowed his head. “Yours.”
Soren stepped inside the office, wearing the uniform of a warden, poison short sword strapped to his back and pistols holstered to his belt. He appeared healthy and whole, and the smile that bloomed on his face wasn’t hesitant at all.
“Hello, princeling,” Soren said.
Vanya didn’t know he was moving until he was halfway across the office. Soren met him there in the middle as Caelum discreetly left and closed the door behind him. Vanya drew Soren into his arms and kissed him as if he were starving for air, the ache of months from not holding the warden washing away. Holding Soren again was like rising up from a dream, everything he’d ever wanted finally returned to him.
“You came back,” Vanya rasped once he finally broke the kiss.
Soren smiled. “Of course.”
Vanya cradled Soren’s face in his hands, stroking his thumb over the arch of his cheekbone, looking into those gray eyes he knew he’d see every morning from here on out. “I am glad you kept your vow.”
“You promised me your name and a place in your House. I’ve nowhere else to go but back to you, and I came home gladly.”
Vanya kissed him again, the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. Soren kissed him back just as fiercely, his fingers digging into Vanya’s shoulders. Vanya turned them around and walked Soren backward until they reached the desk. Soren wrenched his head aside and let out a breathless laugh as Vanya kissed down his throat, catching himself with one arm on the desktop and nearly toppling over a pile of folios.
“Caelum told me on the walk over that Taisiya and Raiah will be here shortly,” Soren said.
Vanya bit lightly over the pulse fluttering in Soren’s neck. “I am aware of that.”
If it were anyone else, Vanya would make them wait until he’d had his fill of the man he loved. Vanya reluctantly stepped back but didn’t get far by virtue of one of Soren’s legs curling around his own, keeping him close. Soren raised his gloved hand and brushed his knuckles over Vanya’s cheek.
“Caris is queen, and I’m no longer welcome back at the Warden’s Island. Delani released me from my duties as a warden. I’ve no more borders to guard.”
He didn’t sound angry or sad, not how Vanya thought he might. If anything, Soren seemed relieved. Vanya reached up to cup Soren’s face with one hand. “Guard my heart. That’s all I’ll ever ask of you as my consort.”
Soren gripped his robe and pulled Vanya in for a kiss that was gentle but no less intense than the others they’d shared. “I love you.”
“And I you, until the end of our roads.” Vanya pressed their foreheads together, reaching up to grip Soren’s wrist, listening to him breathe. “Welcome home, my beloved.”
