If Ashion fell to Daijal, only Solaria and E’ridia would remain on the continent to hold back Eimarille’s desire to rule. E’ridia had no presence in Daijal, not after Blaine’s kidnapping and the attack Honovi had led on Foxborough to rescue him. Trade had been embargoed with that country ever since Eimarille ordered the attack on the Warden’s Island. The Tovan Isles claimed Maricol’s seas, and despite Urova’s submersibles, the Tovanian navy was the strongest in the world. But Blaine had a feeling that even Maricol’s oceans wouldn’t be enough to stop Eimarille. Only Caris could, and Blaine still had a duty to her despite his ties to E’ridia.
Honovi went down the gangplank first, with Blaine right behind him. The person who greeted them on the pier was a surprise, though Blaine should have known Caris would send the one closest to her these days if she herself could not come.
“Welcome to Cosian,” Nathaniel said in Ashionen with a smile.
The last time Blaine had been in this part of the country, he’d been an orphaned boy, hidden away on an E’ridian airship while the Dusk Star carried Caris down her road. It would be nice to see the city she’d grown up in. “I wish it were under better circumstances. How have you been?”
Blaine’s gaze lingered for a few seconds on the pair of Royal Guards standing behind Nathaniel who were clearly acting as his escort rather than peacekeepers, most likely at the behest of Caris. He wondered, though, if they had underlying orders to take out the threat Nathaniel represented and if Caris knew or not. Meleri had been in charge of resurrecting that vaunted military unit, so he rather thought she would have and kept Caris in the dark for her own safety.
Nathaniel shrugged, his smile becoming thin. “Well enough, these days.”
Blaine nodded, willing his gaze not to drop lower than Nathaniel’s face. For all that he’d suffered at the hands of Daijal, Nathaniel had endured worse. The merchant would always be a risk—to the war effort, to the secrets cogs needed to keep, and to Caris—but Caris wanted Nathaniel by her side. Blaine could understand that want, and while he’d counseled against it, there was no arguing with the stubbornness of someone in love.
Honovi wrapped his arm around Blaine’s waist, giving Nathaniel a polite nod. “Shall we head into the city?”
Nathaniel gestured for them to follow him out of the hangar. “The ground crew know where to bring your travel trunks. We have motor carriages waiting past the gates. I’ll take you there.”
Blaine had traversed many airfields over the years, but he couldn’t recall one in recent memory where the majority of the anchored airships were built for the military as opposed to trade and travel. The closer they got to the city walls, the more Blaine became aware of weaponry and automatons that cities rarely deployed in the form of defense.
City walls were meant to keep revenants out, and wardens had always been enough for that threat. Now, the threat of fighting against the living meant the city gates were guarded by automatons and heavy artillery, and some number of airships were always ready to launch. He even saw a few ornithopters at some piers, and they’d seen more than a dozen aeroplanes lined up at the far runway during their approach.
They went through the security protocol at the gates and made it inside the city. Nathaniel led them to a pair of motor carriages parked in the lot by the wall, drivers already behind the steering wheels.
“You’ll be staying with us while you’re here, but the duchess insisted on a dinner at her estate tonight. We’ll head over later, but Caris wants to see you first,” Nathaniel said.
“I didn’t think the Auclair bloodline had property out this way,” Blaine said.
“They followed Caris. Many people have.”
Which was what they’d all hoped for over the months. But Ashion was a fractured country and had been ever since its civil war, whether historians liked to believe it or not. A country needed a government, and Meleri was struggling to build one around Caris. Blaine knew of their inability to gain allies and aid, and it was only a matter of time before the rebellion that had started with the Clockwork Brigade grew into something more burned out.
It wasn’t a future Blaine wanted, wasn’t a road he wanted to walk down.
The news he and Honovi were bringing out of Glencoe wasn’t going to change things, though he wished it would. Ashion had been his country once before. He didn’t want to see it wiped off the maps.
It wasn’t as long of a drive to their destination as it would have been in Glencoe. Cosian was a frontier city housing the military command for the war. The people they passed on the street weren’t dressed in the highest fashion, and he saw more people in uniform than anything else in the outer sections.
“Have there been any protests?” Honovi asked.
Nathaniel craned his head around to look at them from the front passenger seat. “No. If anything, Cosian is bursting at the walls with volunteers wishing to join the army.”
“Where are you training them?”
“Here and elsewhere. The army had to recruit and train in secret since parliament ordered it to wind down years ago. It’s why losing Haighmoor wasn’t as terrible as it could have been.”
That information had been gleaned last summer, so Blaine doubted it was something Nathaniel had learned recently. He knew from Meleri that Nathaniel was being kept out of all the high-level talks when it came to the war efforts. Caris might love the man, but no one trusted the clockwork metal heart beating in his chest. It wasn’t through any fault of his own, but some part of Blaine would always distrust the magic, alchemy, and mechanics that kept Nathaniel alive.
Eventually, they turned down a street that had a security checkpoint at either end of the block and automatons guarding metal gates that barricaded the way through. The Royal Guards on duty nodded at Nathaniel but didn’t let the motor carriage drive through until one of the Royal Guards in the other motor carriage handed over papers to the officer in charge.
“We’ve added you to the list of approved visitors to Caris’ home. They’re just confirming you have permission,” Nathaniel said.
Honovi nodded approval. “That’s good.”
“We don’t have a proper palace, so security has been an issue, but the Royal Guards have done exceptionally well in keeping her safe.”
Blaine was glad to hear that. He watched as the Royal Guards handed back the paperwork and signaled to open the metal gates. Nathaniel drove forward, and it wasn’t long before they pulled up in front of an estate Blaine knew the nobility back in Amari would describe ascharming. Caris waited on the porch, flanked by yet more Royal Guards, offering a smile that Blaine found himself returning before he’d even left the motor carriage. He barely had both feet on the cobblestones before Caris clattered down the steps and threw herself at him.
“You’re here,” she got out in a muffled, hitching voice as Blaine swept her up in a hug. “You’re okay.”
