Chapter 3

The airship flight east from Oeiras to Calhames was choppier than usual due to a spring storm the captain had to navigate through. Vanya landed midmorning with a headache that only grew in size by the time he disembarked, went through the physical checks for rionetkas, and was driven through the city walls all the way to the Imperial Senate. The route took his motor carriage and its escort vehicles past the walled-off construction site that was the Imperial palace grounds.

Vanya stared through the golden gates that once led to the Imperial palace as he was driven down the street. Architects, engineers, and construction crews had been hard at work since autumn of last year to design and build the next Imperial palace that would see the Houses through future Ages. But it had fallen under his rulership, and that was an ignominy he could not escape.

He got a glimpse of the ongoing work as the motor carriage sped past: construction vehicles, workers, and automatons scattered around what once used to be the massive forecourt. He'd presided over a ceremony last year when the first foundation piece had been laid. That moment had been different from the one where he'd used starfire to melt metal and stone and seal off the entrance to the royal crypt.

Despite all the ongoing work, the palace wouldn't be fully ready for years, and some small part of him wondered if he would ever even set foot in the new Imperial residence in the future. But that was something he couldn't dwell on, as the present needed all his attention these days. So Vanya faced forward and let the palace disappear behind them.

When he arrived at the Senate building, Vanya was greeted by a woman who had become an unlikely ally during the Conclave of the Houses and someone who wasn't afraid to be blunt with him. Her presence was most likely why Taisiya had opted to remain in Oeiras to watch over Raiah. Vezir Cybele Balaskas, head of the House of Balaskas, was never one to mince words these days and had made a friend of his valide after the attack on the palace.

"Your Imperial Majesty," Cybele said with a bow where she waited just past the grand Senate doors. "The House of Balaskas welcomes your return to Calhames. How was the western coast?"

Vanya managed a smile for her, tight though it was. "Invigorating."

Cybele folded her hands in front of her midsection. The gown she wore today was a deep crimson trimmed in white, the rubies on the bone hair combs a perfect match. She was a decade older than him, head of a minor House that had never held the Imperial throne for all that they'd schemed after it. But she'd learned of the secret the major Houses had kept for generations—that of the buried royal dead—and had still thrown her support behind him during the Conclave anyway. For that, her loyalty was integral to shoring up his position, and he repaid it with royal favor.

The Houses would always vie for the Imperial throne. He knew Cybele would claim it for her own if ever presented with the opportunity, but unlike some other Houses, her concern was for Solaria right now.

"The vote stands in your favor, if you care for such news," Cybele said.

Vanya gestured for her to attend him as the praetoria legionnaires fanned out around them, ever keeping watch. "I knew it would fall that way."

Any senator who voted against the bill calling up reservists to the Legion would be soundly mocked and shouted down until they changed their vote. Solaria's borders had to be guarded, and Vanya wanted the reservists to get through training before summer. What information his spies had delivered from the war in Ashion had left Vanya and the high-ranking officers of the Legion worried and wanting to be prepared.

"There are whispers of those who doubt your fortitude to rule," Cybele said, keeping her voice even as she stared straight ahead.

"The same Houses as before, I assume?" At her nod, Vanya waved off her concern. "They know if they try to stand against me, they stand against Solaria and will be considered traitors in the way of the House of Kimathi. If that is the road they wish to walk, then let them."

"I'm doubtful that is what they want."

"What they want is my crown and the Imperial throne. So long as I have the Dawn Star's blessing, they shall have neither."

He knew he wouldn't rule forever. The Dawn Star was a finicky god who ignored her children as often as she listened to their prayers. Vanya knew, too, that he'd let Soren go when the Dawn Star had warned him to keep the warden close. He hoped Callisto wouldn't hold his heartache against him while he threw himself into the fight to keep Solaria whole.

Cybele left him at the stairs that branched off and led from the hallway to the mezzanine where the Houses could watch the proceedings. Vanya continued on toward the open double doors, praetoria legionnaires lining the hallway. Maurizio, the Senate's sergeant at arms, announced his arrival in a clear, ringing voice that drew everyone's attention. "His Imperial Majesty Emperor Vanya Sa'Liandel, of the House of Sa'Liandel."

The murmur of conversation in the room was drowned out by the sound of everyone rising to their feet and bowing at his entrance. Vanya made his way down the center aisle to the throne, the only one left in Calhames. Vanya had chosen to replace it with one similar in design to the throne that had resided in the Imperial palace. An artisan had delivered the new one at the beginning of First Month. The carved wooden body and gold-gilt design was different enough that it shouldn't always dredge up the memory of Soren sitting in his lap in a throne room that no longer existed, but it always did.

For all that he'd tried to ignore the holes that Soren had left behind, time didn't ease the ache any. But Vanya had gotten good at shoving aside the memories Calhames threw at him, glad, in a way, that he didn't have to walk the hallways of the Imperial palace's private royal wings and see the warden everywhere there.

Vanya made it to the low dais where the throne was positioned and sat down on it. He nodded at the magister of the Senate, who nodded back. "Let's begin."

Time ticked away slowly on the Senate chamber clock bolted to the wall over the main entrance. Vanya focused on the procedure that ultimately brought the reservist bill before him after a final vote. Only then did Vanya leave the throne for the table positioned to the side of the dais. He bent over the table and signed his name to multiple copies of the bill.

"The reserves will be activated," Vanya said once he stamped the Imperial seal over his name.

Despite the mistakes he'd made during his rulership last year, ensuring the Legion had enough soldiers to defend Solaria's borders would not be one of them.

Senators dutifully applauded as the bill became law, with some of the spectators in the mezzanine joining in. The noise didn't help Vanya's headache any, but he smiled through it anyway, taking time afterward to mingle with a few of the senators and get a feel for the current temperament of the Imperial Senate.

"My vasilyet is wondering why we haven't brought Bellingham to heel yet. Surely our Legion is capable of putting down a traitor," the senator from Seaville said.

Vanya studied the man, wondering if he'd been fed that line from the House of Aetos. That House had only reluctantly backed his at the end of the Conclave and only because he'd proven Joelle's betrayal to Solaria. "When one has to fight through thousands of revenants to reach a city's walls, then you'll find the precautions taken worthwhile. I will not question the generals and their battlefield decisions, for they keep our people safe."

The senator smiled thinly, bowing his head before stepping back. "Of course."

Cybele's warning from earlier kept Vanya in the Senate chambers longer than he intended. Working out of Oeiras half the time meant the personal connections he'd taken for granted when he was mere streets and not vasilyets away took a little more effort. When he was finally escorted out of the Senate chamber by praetoria legionnaires, he found Caelum waiting for him in the hallway.

His Chief Minister elicited a true smile from Vanya. The formal robes of Caelum's office were matched by the elaborately patterned and brimless, round cap that marked his rank. His short, graying brown hair appeared to have recently been trimmed. Caelum always presented himself impeccably when in public. "Ah, Caelum. I was about to send an aide to find you."

Caelum bowed deeply, cradling the folios he carried to his chest through the motion, blue eyes creasing at the corners when he smiled. "Your Imperial Majesty, it is always good to see you. The Ashionen representatives are present and available whenever you are ready."

"The bill is signed, so let's see to the foreigners."

"They're in the Mosaic Room." Caelum situated himself one step behind Vanya as they walked. "How was your flight over?"

"A bit turbulent, but nothing the captain couldn't handle. How has Calhames fared in my absence?"

Caelum took the brief opening to bring Vanya up to date on the political pulse of the Senate and the Houses. While a small subset of political officials and aides had decamped to Oeiras to assist Vanya in ruling out of that city, the Senate couldn't be moved, and so Caelum was Vanya's eyes and ears in the capital when he was out west.

Not for the first time was Vanya glad that the older man had survived the attack on the Imperial palace. Too many had not, but the government persisted, as did the Houses, and Caelum was as loyal as they came these days.

The Mosaic Room was on the other side of the Senate building, where offices for the senators were located. Since they no longer had a functioning palace, rooms in the building had been repurposed for Imperial use. Vanya had refused to have his House's ancestral estate be used for governing. At some point, when he brought Raiah back, she would stay there, and he wasn't about to let unknown people near her in a place that should be her home.

Caelum had an office on the premises, close to the one given Vanya. Both were located near the Mosaic Room, which had once been a social space for senators and subsequently been turned into a formal receiving room. The wide windows allowed in the sunlight, hitting the hundreds of thousands of tiny colored pieces of broken tile and glass fit together on the walls, floor, and ceiling. When Vanya's arrival was announced, he saw the Ashionens turn toward the door, heads craning back down from where they'd been studying the sky of the grand mosaic. He couldn't fault them their admiration.

The artwork was grand, depicting the Dawn Star in all her glory as she led the sun across Solaria, with the eastern wall picked out in soft dawn colors, the middle bright like day, and the west shaded for sunset. The mosaic across three walls showcased the various major cities of Solaria from east to west on the continent. It was hundreds of years old, which meant it also depicted Rixham when it had once been a thriving city and not a prison for the dead.

The Ashionens all bowed or curtsied at his arrival, their formal attire not nearly as extravagant as their Daijalan counterparts. He could see the similarities in the tailoring of the clothes, though. Vanya wondered if that war up north had anything to do with it or if this particular group merely preferred a more subtle style. He knew the banking system in Ashion had split, resulting in disrupted capital and food shortages, and yet they persisted in their fight against Daijal.

"Your Imperial Majesty, may I introduce to you the Ashionen ambassador, Lord Dariush Zayed," Caelum said.

Vanya nodded at the ambassador as the praetoria legionnaires who'd followed them into the Mosaic Room settled themselves against the wall. Dariush was a tall man, perhaps a few years older than Vanya, with blue eyes that stood out against his tanned skin and brown hair. He held himself with a gravitas that Vanya could respect, considering the situation up north.

"Your Imperial Majesty," Dariush said in accented Solarian. "We thank you for agreeing to meet with myself and my diplomatic aides on behalf of Queen Caris Rourke and Ashion."

He spoke with an accent found in Karnak and had a fluency Vanya could appreciate. Whoever his teacher had been, they'd hailed from that city and been very good. Vanya had been prepared to conduct the meeting in Ashionen if need be, but any ambassador worth an auron would be fluent in the language of the country they'd come to do diplomatic business in. If he weren't, then their supposed queen was politically inept. "The Daijalan envoy has pressed upon the throne that you and your people do not speak for Ashion, Ambassador Zayed."

"You have been misinformed, Your Imperial Majesty. Daijal does not speak for Ashion. We speak for ourselves and always have."

"At least until the Inferno, perhaps." At the faint tightening of the other man's mouth, Vanya waved them in the direction of the formal seating arrangement that consisted of two leather sofas facing each other over a low, colorful glass table. "I speak nothing but the truth and mean no ill will by it. Your politics may not be ours, but I am aware of them for Solaria's sake."

"Then you must be aware of the threat Daijal poses to your country and others, especially after their attack on the Warden's Island."

More than they knew, though he'd never speak of such to foreigners. Vanya sat on one of the sofas, taking the folio that Caelum handed him, but didn't immediately open it. Caelum chose to stand behind the sofa and a little to Vanya's right, a clear indication that his Chief Minister didn't anticipate the meeting lasting long.

This was not the first time Vanya had been petitioned by the Ashionen envoy in Calhames to hear their entreaties, but it was the first time he'd agreed to speak with them. He knew such acceptance would give them false hope, but Vanya only meant to reiterate his country's stance.

"Solaria knows of the attack, and we sent aid once news reached us. Our engineers have been helping the wardens rebuild. Daijal has not officially targeted Solaria, and I will not send the Legion into a war that is not ours," Vanya said.

"Not officially means they haven't tried." Dariush wisely didn't reference the fighting in the northwest of Solaria, but that fact lingered between them. "What would it take for Solaria to give aid to Ashion? We could use ammunition and weapons, even if you won't order the Legion past the border."

A proxy war wasn't one Vanya thought he could push through the Senate without the Houses protesting. Too many of the Houses were against any effort to go to war or support Vanya's desires in that area. Guarding their northern border and going after Joelle had happened only in the aftermath of the Conclave when her betrayal had come to light. Eimarille's interference wasn't so easily proven, even with the rionetkas found inside their borders.

"Supporting a war outside our borders isn't something my government is willing to do. I know you have impressed your need upon senators and some minor Houses, but your situation is unfortunately not one we can commit an alliance to."

Dariush was a skilled enough ambassador to not show his disappointment, but Vanya knew the Ashionen did not like his answer. "My queen only thinks of her people, the same way you do. I cannot, in good conscience, return to her empty-handed. We ask for aid and supplies. Would you deny us a way to fight?"

"The Legion is already committed to the defense of Solaria. You are welcome to stay in Calhames and press your case to those senators who may have a sympathetic ear when it comes to supplies."

Ultimately, the final decision would be Vanya's, but he couldn't ignore the position of the Senate or the Houses, not if he wanted to keep hold of power. Even with the Dawn Star's blessing, he needed to take into consideration those opinions and positions of others who saw him as a rival. It was a balancing act that would have been far easier if he held support that was more freely given.

Dariush inclined his head, no hint of disappointment or frustration in his eyes or voice, ever the diplomat. "Thank you for your time, Your Imperial Majesty."

It wasn't the result the ambassador had hoped for, Vanya knew, but it was what was best for Solaria right now. Standing, he nodded farewell at the other man before leaving, a pair of praetoria legionnaires preceding him into the hallway.

"Has anyone answered their queen's request for aid?" Vanya asked once they were out of earshot.

"No. Urova has sided with Daijal in their war, and E'ridia has pulled back behind the Eastern Spine. They have no contact with the Tovan Isles as far as I am aware," Caelum replied.

Which placed Solaria as their one desperate hope for survival against an army of the living and the walking dead that was slowly grinding Ashion down. "If Ashion falls, Eimarille will not stop at any border."

Caelum glanced at him. "Your Imperial Majesty?"

"Summon a driver. I have a meeting with the commanding officers of the Legion."

Even if Solaria couldn't give aid, Vanya could ensure his country's borders were well guarded and the supply lines remained intact.