Raiah sighed loudly, clearly believing he was in the wrong but allowing his decision. “Yes, Papa.”
Taisiya hid her smile behind her teacup. “Let us eat before the hour gets away from us.”
Oeiras was known for their spicy dishes, and the rice mixed with eggs and chunks of pork was the main part of the morning meal. Vanya served Taisiya first, then Raiah, and finally himself. The flatbread was passed around, chunks torn off to dip in the bowls of sauces that added more flavor to the rice they scooped up.
“Have you heard any update from General Chu Hua?” Taisiya asked after several bites.
“Only what you know from the last report. The House of Kimathi’s stolenvasilyetstill remains under their control, and Daijal continues to claim their designs for the war machines they deploy against Ashion are their own. I fly to Calhames tomorrow,” Vanya said, trying not to let the bitterness seep into his voice.
He would never forgive Joelle her machinations that had nearly gotten his daughter killed and risked Solaria’s sovereignty. When his spies had come back from the north with information that Daijal had built war machines far too similar to those used by Solaria’s Legion to be anything but stolen, Vanya discovered Joelle’s treachery ran deeper than anyone had thought. Aligning herself with a country determined to interfere with other sovereign nations had cleaved thevasilyether House had presided over for Ages from Solaria, and Vanya was spending resources and political capital to claw it back.
Despite their military prowess, the Legion had yet to take back thevasilyet. Joelle had provided quite a spirited defense of the land there in the northwest with Daijal’s unofficial help. The worst problem the Legion faced wasn’t war machines but the astronomical number of revenants roaming thevasilyetand the self-inflicted poison Joelle’s side had ruined the cleansed land with on a wide scale.
Passage through the poison fields was a risk the Legion had no choice but to take. The officers in command were trying to mitigate losses as best they could. Add in the fact that Vanya couldn’t commit the entirety of the Legion to that fight in the corner of Solaria when the bulk of the Legion’s ranks were needed to guard the long stretch of the northern border meant it was a slow grind to gain ground.
The revenants would be more of a problem if not for the efforts of the wardens. Vanya knew his country was lucky to still have their support after the announcement of sanctions as payment for the actions of the Houses who’d held the Imperial throne. But the wardens numbered fewer now after Daijal’s attack on the Warden’s Island, and most of their numbers were in Ashion, aiding the war effort. Their alchemists could only do so much to help cleanse the poison fields in the northwest, and it wasn’t enough yet to tilt the fight in Solaria’s favor.
Solaria’s borders still had wardens guarding them, and Vanya tried every day not to think about the only warden who had ever mattered to him. It was a losing battle, one Raiah was ignorant of.
“When is Soren coming back?” Raiah asked halfway through the meal.
Vanya had learned young not to let his pain show in the wake of questions that hurt, but hiding his reaction didn’t diminish the way his chest went tight. Even these many months on, the heavy knot of hurt and betrayal that sat behind his ribs had yet to ease.
It was just as hard—if not harder—for Raiah. His daughter had grown up with Soren coming and going in her life, a familiar presence Vanya had never thought twice about, not until that fateful night of the Conclave ending. His absences were always paired with a return, but it was far past the time when Soren should have come back to them if all was right in the world. Only it wasn’t.
For all of Vanya’s simmering anger and hurt when he thought of the warden, he couldn’t quite excise the curl of worry Soren’s absence brought him. Nor could he be angry at his daughter for asking about the warden who had once kept her safe. He could only try to mitigate the hurt she felt at an absence she had a difficult time comprehending. Eventually, one day, she might forget Soren, even if Vanya knew he never could.
“Someday,” Vanya said, hoping she would accept the vague answer that was no longer a promise.
Taisiya arched an eyebrow at him but held her tongue. Raiah frowned at her plate before raising her chin and giving Vanya a mulish look. “I want Soren. You should tell him to come back.”
Vanya reached for a teapot and refilled his daughter’s cup. “Drink your chai.”
Raiah was so like himself at that age, stubborn and demanding. “He always comes back. Why hasn’t he visited yet?”
“Raiah,” Vanya said sharply. “The warden has his duty.”
She scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s not a warden. He’sSoren, and I miss him.”
“That’s enough. Finish your meal.”
She didn’t wait to be excused, sliding off the bench with a huff and stomping away from the table. Vanya turned his head, frowning at her back. “Raiah. This tantrum isn’t becoming of a princess.”
Raiah whirled around, the hem of her robe fluttering around her skinny legs. “You could tell Soren to come back, but youhaven’t. I want to see him, and you won’t let me.”
Then she burst into tears and ran out of the courtyard, one of thepraetorialegionnaires standing guard at the entrance swift to follow her. Vanya got to his feet, torn between going after her and knowing that he didn’t have time in his schedule to try to soothe such a tantrum when they were due for their meeting with the ambassador soon.
“You let Soren into her life the same way you let him into yours. You should not be surprised at the hole he left,” Taisiya said quietly.
Vanya clenched his hands into fists and let out a slow breath before turning to face hisvalide. “The warden is not open for discussion.”
Unlike every other person in Solaria, Taisiya did not bow her head to him when faced with his anger. “Soren is the reason Raiah is not with Joelle, I am alive, and you still hold the Imperial throne.”
“The wardens called him back.”
“You never asked him to stay.”
Her words were like salt in a wound that refused to heal. Vanya still dreamed of that last night he’d spent with Soren, wanting answers, wanting more than what the warden could give him, wishing the betrayal hadn’t hurt so much. Knowing Soren could cast starfire, a skill that should have made him ineligible to be a warden if it weren’t for the interference of the Dawn Star, was a secret he still hadn’t spoken of, not even to Taisiya.
