Chapter 11

Their arrival in Calhames was met with a fanfare that spawned whispers through the Houses Vanya knew he couldn't ignore. He had no intention of letting things get out of hand, but the Senate and the Houses were not who Vanya had to convince first of the alliance he owed through the vow. It was Imperial General Chu Hua and the rest of his commanding military officers who required persuasion.

The day after they landed in Calhames, Vanya was driven to the Legion's military headquarters in one of the inner rings of the city, between a pair of inner walls that had been built in another Age. The Imperial motorcade bypassed sentinel-class automatons that stood guard at the gate leading into the military grounds. The property held barracks for active-duty legionnaires and the administration buildings geared toward the bureaucracy of war.

In times past, the enemy had been revenants, sometimes thieves on the trade roads, sometimes Houses, and rarely another country since the Age of Separation. Vanya was there today to change the Legion's road, the vow tucked away in his robe's pocket, feeling less like a noose only because Soren accompanied him.

The Ashionen diplomatic delegation had settled into their embassy, their request to join Vanya to plead their case to the commanders of the Legion denied. Their voices would be represented by Soren, despite the wariness directed toward the warden after his clear preference for the Solarian side of politics.

"They won't be pleased with what you owe," Soren murmured as the motor carriage pulled up in front of the main building of the headquarters. Legionnaires stood at attention on the parade grounds, their tan uniforms pristine, red-and-white checkered effiyehs unmoving on their heads by the sluggish summer breeze.

"I am their emperor. They will abide," Vanya said.

The motor carriage braked to a stop, and a praetoria legionnaire moved quickly to open his door. Vanya climbed out of the motor carriage, crown firmly in place. His white robes tipped in crimson and gold were perhaps a bit too elaborate for a casual meeting, but he had a point to make.

Imperial General Chu Hua saluted him from where she stood at the bottom of the grand steps leading into the building behind her. "Your Imperial Majesty."

Chu Hua had spent her entire military career within the praetoria legionnaires, the personal guard of the Imperial throne, but that did not mean her skills at war had been left by the wayside. Of all the officers Vanya had ever known, he'd trusted her the most. Her job, and the job of the praetoria legionnaires, was to guard Solaria by guarding the Imperial throne. Their loyalty was to no House, and their decisions were tempered by what was best for the country, not a single person.

"General," Vanya said with a faint smile. "Thank you for making yourself available."

"Always," she replied, gesturing at the military brass standing on either side of her. "We are ever at your service."

"Then let us go inside."

A handful of curious glances were sent Soren's way, but no one protested the warden's inclusion. Chu Hua was well aware of Vanya's favoritism toward Soren, but he knew she wouldn't like what brought them all together today.

Once ensconced in the private meeting room that had no windows and only oil paintings of past battles won hanging on the walls, Vanya looked down the length of the long wooden table at those present. Soren was to his right, with Chu Hua to his left, and a ream of ledgers scattered over maps spread out between everyone.

"You said you wanted to meet about the Legion, Your Imperial Majesty," Chu Hua said.

Vanya nodded, the crown unmoving upon his brow. "I do."

"What concerns do you have for the Legion?"

"None, only a request to prepare for war."

Chu Hua frowned at him, gaze intent. "The Daijal army has not accosted our northern border."

"We both know the fight in the House of Kimathi's vasilyet is a proxy one at best. Joelle allowed a death-defying machine to operate within her borders, and we reap the horrors of that decision with revenants that seem never-ending in the northwest corner of our country."

"We are gaining ground."

"Yes, but slowly. I do not wish to move forward with aerial bombardment at this time, but that is something we can reassess later. For now, our focus must be on the war in Ashion."

"It is not our fight."

Vanya steeled himself as he pulled the vow from his pocket, the chain tangled around his fingers. He held it up for the table to see, the gold medallion swinging at the end, before setting it on the table before him. "Soren saved my life when I was a prince. A debt was owed, and my House paid it with a blood vow and a promise to provide whatever he asked for. He has asked for the Legion on behalf of Ashion."

The uproar was instantaneous. More than half of the officers seated at the table rose to their feet in shock and anger, their voices tripping over each other as they protested Vanya's words. Chu Hua was not one of them, sitting stone-faced and quiet amidst the shouting, her gaze flicking between Vanya and Soren. After several minutes of furious unrest, she stood, the motion enough to silence everyone in the room.

"Why now?" Chu Hua asked, looking not at Vanya but at Soren. "Do you wish the starfire throne for yourself and hope to have Solaria aid in you taking it, Prince Alasandair Rourke?"

"No," Soren said into the charged silence. "My governor asked me to claim that name to be Caris' heir and keep Ashion's will to fight alive if she somehow died. But I have not been a prince since the Dawn Star brought me to the Warden's Island and named me as a tithe."

"The broadsheets call you Rourke."

"He is a warden," Vanya said.

"And the wardens have been ever so kind to Solaria as of late."

"The fault of burial falls to every major House, and we will pay it. But what Soren asks for is about more than just Ashion or Solaria. It is about Maricol."

"Eimarille has already struck at the wardens, just as she has struck at Ashion in pursuit of a crown and a throne she doesn't deserve. You know as well as I do that she will not stop at just one country. Borders are meaningless to her. Ashion requests the Legion aid its army in pushing Daijal back and reclaiming their capital," Soren said.

"And in doing so, Solaria will aid in putting a queen on the starfire throne. Your Imperial Majesty, who is to say Caris will be better than Eimarille?" Chu Hua asked.

"No one, but it was not Caris who created the rionetkas plaguing our government and others save for Daijal's. It was not Caris who attacked the Warden's Island and decimated the next generation of the only people who can survive the poison fields so the rest of us can live. It was not Caris who started this war," Vanya said.

"Caris is an engineer. She builds things; she doesn't break them. She wants nothing beyond her borders," Soren added.

"She wants the Legion," Chu Hua said flatly.

"She wants an end to the war," Vanya said. "That is something I, as a ruler, can understand."

"The Houses will not like this."

"There will be no Houses left if Eimarille has her way." Vanya reached out and picked up the vow, offering it to Chu Hua. "The Legion can hold the line with Ashion and push Daijal back. We will have an ally and a debt owed for generations to come. Soren asked, but I am not. I will declare an alliance with Ashion in the Senate later today. I would like my generals to be in accord with me."

Vanya looked around the table, meeting the gaze of each and every officer surrounding him. In the end, it was Chu Hua who took the vow and held it rather than flinging it back in his face how Vanya was certain some of the others would like to do.

"We will face the same threat of revenants in Ashion as we do in the northwest vasilyet," Chu Hua warned.

"Yes, but we'll have more wardens to lend aid than we do now. I leave the logistics of war up to you and the other officers, but make no mistake. The Legion will march north to stand against Eimarille. I will not let her take Solaria, and I think we can all agree she will not stop at Ashion's border in her quest for power."

Chu Hua's mouth tightened before she gave a shallow nod. "Of that last point, we are in agreement, Your Imperial Majesty."

"What of Bellingham?" someone down the table asked.

"The Legion will still work to take that city. With the Legion moving north, one hopes the forces there will be split and it will provide us an easier way forward."

Vanya would not bomb that city, not yet. He would not continue his mother's legacy when it came to the ruination of a Solarian city. The progression to that city's walls was slow, but the Legion remained mostly intact because of the commanding officers' caution in the face of an overwhelming number of revenants and deadly poison fields.

Chu Hua looked down at the vow in her hand before meeting his gaze again. "If you order us to war, the Legion will fight."

The production facilities for ammunition and automatons used for war had been running continuously since last summer. They had a glut of supplies, even with giving up one facility to the Tovanians' needs. The logistics of moving a large number of people and weapons across vasilyets was something the Legion practiced on a yearly basis as part of their training.

"The debt my House owes will be paid for the sake of Solaria's future," Vanya said.

Chu Hua squared her shoulders before dipping into a deep bow. "By your will, Your Imperial Majesty."

The Houses would not like it, nor would the Senate, but Vanya alone had the power to declare war. If his road had crossed Soren's for anything, he knew it was for this—to keep Solaria a sovereign nation, no matter what Eimarille would prefer.