“Keep your promise, or I will be highly displeased.”
Honovi chuckled. “I will. I’d rather not be relegated to the sofa once we are reunited.”
The words were said with so much love in Honovi’s tone that Blaine had to close his eyes. “I am sorry it came to this, though.”
“It’s not your place to apologize.”
“It feels like it, some days.”
Because of his road and the way it had led him back to Ashion, to Caris, and how Honovi had steadfastly followed despite the disapproval from the ruling body of the country they both belonged to. Blaine considered himself clan, considered himself E’ridian more than anything else these days, but he still had this duty to stand witness.
“The blame lies solely with Eimarille on all fronts. It is not your burden to carry, and it never will be.”
Blaine nodded, even though Honovi couldn’t see him. “Send your airship’s designation to me over the wire number I gave you. I’ll be waiting for you in the airfield when you land.”
“I will. I love you.”
Blaine’s lips quirked into a tired smile. “I love you as well.”
He finally ended the call, putting the receiver back on the cradle, letting the coil of wire twist itself on top of the maps. He looked across the table at where Caris stood with her arms crossed over her chest, biting her bottom lip.
“I’m glad your people are joining our fight, but I wish the reason that changed their mind had caused your country no harm,” she said.
Blaine went around the table to hug her. Caris wrapped her arms around him, tucking her head beneath his chin. She felt too thin beneath her work blouse, stress eating away at all of them. But when she pulled away, the stubborn set to her jaw was not to be discounted.
“As Honovi just reminded me, none of this is your fault. This fight is no longer just about Ashion. We’re all fighting for Maricol,” Blaine said.
“Yes,” Meleri said. “And we have a chance now.”
It was most likely the only one they would get.
Six
JOELLE
Joelle sat in her office, holding the telephone to her ear with a shaking hand, the horrified fury she’d felt since learning of Rixham’s final fall still eating through her. The line clicked over from an operator, and then Eimarille’s calm voice slid through the wire, fueling Joelle’s temper.
“I understand you wish to speak with me?” Eimarille asked, voice pleasantly cool in the way a viper might be right before they struck. Only Eimarille already had.
“Do you not understand what you havedone?” Joelle rasped out.
“I don’t believe I know what you are referring to.”
Joelle clenched her left hand into a fist, joints aching with the pressure. “Your people brought down Rixham and freed all the revenants there.”
“Daijal has made no inroads into Solaria.”
The sheer gall of the other woman to deny what had occurred this week left Joelle momentarily speechless. When she found her voice again, it came out strained with incredulity. “You’ve damned the country I was supposed to rule.”
“Did I?” Eimarille asked in a faintly lilting tone. “Were you? Everything was predicated on you using yourvasilyetas a foil to keep the Legion occupied. Instead, the Imperial emperor offered his forces to Ashion in an alliance.”
“So you thought destroying Rixham’s walls and releasing the horde of revenants there a valid response?”
“There will be no evidence showing my supposed involvement in that attack. There are other Houses who do not support the House of Sa’Liandel. Perhaps your country’s investigators should start there.”
They both knew the words Eimarille spoke were a lie. No House, no matter their stated opposition to the one that had ruled for centuries now, wouldevertarget Rixham’s walls. They all knew the danger that city presented, like the Wastelands in the south. While Bellingham was one of the most northern cities in Solaria, the revenants would claw at their city walls eventually, and her people would have nowhere to run.
“I never agreed to this.”
