Chapter 10

Taisiya kept her word and had an airship ready to depart south in the morning. His departure wasn't approved by everyone.

"But you promised you wouldn't leave!" Raiah wailed during breakfast when Soren broached the subject.

Soren pulled her into his lap to cuddle her, his breakfast forgotten for the moment as he tried to reason with a five-year-old. "Vanya needs me, and so I must go to him. You will be safe here, and we'll return once the threat is handled."

Raiah scowled and pressed her face into his chest. Soren had woken up that morning in Vanya's bed with Raiah curled close to find a brand-new warden's uniform laid out for him on the settee. He'd dressed in the adjacent washroom with quiet regret, for he knew his time wearing the uniform was limited. Then he'd escorted Raiah to the inner courtyard, knowing she wouldn't be happy about his plans. He'd been right.

"No," Raiah growled. "You have to stay."

Soren smoothed his hand over her neatly braided hair and shared a commiserating look with Taisiya. Raiah had cleaved herself to his side since his arrival yesterday, doing her best impression of a barnacle. It tore at him to have to leave her again, but even though the healer would prefer he took some time to rest, Soren knew he was needed.

"Your valide will need lots of help while I'm with your papa. Do you think you can help her?" Soren asked, trying a different tact to stave off more tears.

Raiah lifted her head and frowned up at him, eyes a little watery, but she wasn't falling into full-blown sobs yet. "Of course."

She spoke with the same sort of haughtiness Soren had heard from Vanya over the years, and he couldn't help smiling. "Good. I'm glad. Now, let's finish eating, okay? Everything will be all right."

Normally, Soren wouldn't promise such a thing, but Raiah was still so young that he hoped she could be distracted in the coming days from the realities of war and all the machinations of the Houses. She wasn't yet at the age where she officially needed to start learning how to politick. Soren knew Vanya was adamant at giving her a childhood, despite everything that had occurred so far.

They finished breakfast without rushing, Soren eking out just a little more time with Raiah. After the servants had cleared the low table of their dishes, a praetoria legionnaire approached, holding a bundle in his arms. He bowed his head and only came closer when Taisiya nodded at him.

"What you requested, valide," the man murmured.

He set the bundle on the table and carefully unrolled it. Soren's eyes widened once he caught sight of his poison short sword, his pair of pistols and gun belt, his dagger, as well as a full field kit all wardens carried that consisted of poisons and antidotes. He'd never thought he'd see the weapons he'd been forced to leave back in Calhames weeks and weeks ago again, but here they were.

"We found them amidst the massacre of the Ashion diplomatic envoy after you'd been taken. We have wardens assigned to Oeiras, and I asked them to prepare your weapons when I was informed you were coming home," Taisiya said.

Soren reached for the poison short sword first, the weight of it familiar in his hand. The clarion crystal on its hilt remained whole. When he unsheathed it to carefully check the interior of the hilt where the vials of poison were secured and hidden away amidst tiny, intricate gears, he found them filled to capacity.

He toggled the casing closed and locked it before sheathing the poison short sword again. Then he checked his pistols with motions that had been drilled into him since he was a tithe. Satisfied they were in working order, Soren slid off the bench and stood so he could more easily strap on the gun belt and dagger.

"I don't want you to leave," Raiah said sulkily.

Soren turned back toward her, putting one knee on the bench so he could pick her up and hug her carefully around the wanted weight of his weapons. Raiah kept her arms and legs away from them out of long practice, cuddling close.

"I have to, but I truly promise to return once the fighting is over," Soren murmured.

"When you come back, you have to promise to stay. Papa was sad while you were gone."

Soren held her just a little tighter. "I know. But I apologized to him for making him sad, and I won't again."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

It took everything in Soren to set Raiah back down on the bench to finish her breakfast. He turned to face Taisiya, who reached for him with one wrinkled hand that he took in both of his.

"May your road find its way back to us," Taisiya said. "Our House will be waiting."

Soren managed a smile, gently squeezing her hand before letting go. "Thank you. For everything."

"There is no thanks needed within our House when you are part of it." Soren closed his eyes, stomach swooping at the belief and support and sheer acceptance of her words. When he opened his eyes again, Taisiya's gaze was warm and knowing. "Go to him."

Soren took that as his order and left the inner courtyard, making his way through the Imperial estate. The forecourt was busy with servants and praetoria legionnaires tending to their duties. The line of waiting motor carriages wasn't only for Soren. He spotted Nathaniel beside one, the door open and speaking to another person in the back seat. When he stepped closer, he saw Lore's pale face over Nathaniel's shoulder.

She caught sight of him, and the faint smile that came to her lips was full of relief. When she spoke, it was in the trade tongue, and her voice wasn't as smooth as it used to be. "I hear I have you to thank for my rescue."

Nathaniel glanced back before straightening up, offering a hasty bow. "Alasandair."

Soren didn't protest the name and let it be for the moment. "I wish I could have saved us both earlier."

Lore made a jerky motion with her hand, fingers shaking. Soren couldn't be sure it was due to exhaustion or something else. "I'm alive. As any cog would say, that's enough some days."

"Did Intira clear you to travel?"

"Not really, but Caris wants us home, and Lore agreed," Nathaniel said.

"I will rest on the flight over. Nathaniel won't let me do anything else," Lore said.

Nathaniel nodded firmly. "The valide was kind enough to send another healer with us to Ashion as a precaution."

"The drugs, while not poison, played merry havoc with my body," Lore said at Soren's questioning look. "I can't walk at the moment, and I am very tired, but I've been told it should pass with rest and exercise. None of which I have the time for. I can still lend aid to the war effort, though, even if it's from a bed. I gave my memories up willingly to a magician last night. My testimony should aid in the report the valide intends to submit to the Solarian Senate."

It didn't sound as if the drugs that had kept her unconscious had damaged her mind the way they'd harmed her body. She might not be a military strategist, but she'd led the Clockwork Brigade with her mother. She could parse politics and information brought by their spy network better than most.

"I'm certain Caris will appreciate that, as will Vanya," Soren said.

"What will you do?"

Soren hesitated, unwilling to commit himself to the breadth of possibilities and traps that question offered up. "Vanya requires aid in the south against the revenant horde there. Starfire is the only thing capable of decimating the numbers in the quantities needed. My understanding is he sent out a call to the Houses for those who could cast starfire to join him, but only a few answered."

Soren understood the reason given by the Houses who'd declined—Rixham was the House of Sa'Liandel's failure alone in many ways—but one would think the continuation of their country as a whole would be enough to bring the Houses together.

Apparently not.

"And after?" Lore asked with the persistence of a lady entitled to an answer.

"Eimarille is still a threat," was all Soren said.

The starfire throne was still up for grabs, and Soren knew Maricol wouldn't be as it was if Eimarille claimed it. He'd provide Vanya with support and then see what Caris needed from him. The war wasn't over yet, and he still had his orders from Delani to obey, for as long as he could as a warden.

That seemed to satisfy Lore. She nodded slowly before closing her eyes, clearly ready to rest. Soren murmured his farewells before retreating to the motor carriage that would take him to the airfield and the airship ready to launch the moment he boarded. When next he landed, he'd be reunited with Vanya, and Soren ached with the need to hold the other man in his arms again.