Page 168 of Scorched Earth

The boy frowned in confusion, and Marcus smiled at him. “In battle, Bait, I have found that nothing ever goes quite as one might have planned, but in those deviations, opportunities arise.” Bait’s eyes widened, and Marcus felt a stab of pleasure as the boy realized he’d erred.

As he realized that in his desire to tear Marcus’s world apart, to make him suffer, to make him weep for all that he’d lost, he’d opened up a path for Marcus to do the same to him.

Slinging an arm around Bait’s shoulders, he steered the boy toward the door. “So you say that Lydia discovered a genesis downstream from the baths in Celendrial? And that it took her to Mudamora? Safely, I presume, given she was well enough to tell the tale?”

“I…”

A sideways glance allowed him to watch Bait’s throat move as he swallowed hard, and Marcus patted him on the shoulder. “When one’s mission is conquering the world, it is always such a pleasure when the other side hands one the keys to their back door.”

Opening the door, Marcus found Felix on the other side reaching for the handle. His second’s eyes widened at the sight of Bait. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but Teriana just—”

“Make sure she boards theQuincense,” Marcus interrupted. “And make sure he does as well.”

He shoved Bait out into the corridor and closed the door.

62TERIANA

Not caring that she was barefoot, or that the wet dress was glued to her skin, Teriana raced down the stairs, barely hearing Quintus calling her name as he pursued. All that mattered was getting away, though Teriana knew that no matter how fast she ran, she’d never outrun the knowledge slowly destroying her soul.

Men of all four legions stopped what they were doing to stare as she sprinted out the gate, feet splashing in the puddles from the overnight rains as she set her sights on the harbor. On the familiar ship with blue sails.

“Teriana, stop!” Quintus shouted, but she only put on a burst of speed. She needed to go. Needed to be gone from this place.

But he was faster.

“Teriana!” His hand closed on her arm, slowing her speed, and when she tried to pull away, her friend only flipped her over his shoulder. “Tell me what happened?”

“I have to go,” she sobbed, snot running down her face. “He’s a murderer. Marcus’s a gods-damned murderer!”

“Is this about the towers?” Quintus set her on her feet but held tight to her shoulders. “They were collapsed on Grypus’s orders, not Marcus’s. But Grypus is dead. Felix told everyone he choked on an olive, but the rumors are that Marcus killed him.”

“The towers?” Her eyes went to Emrant in the distance, dust hanging in a low cloud over the city and the Seventh’s dark towerthe only one of the seven remaining. Just like in Galinha, Aracam, and all the villages they’d left in their wake. That had been what had made the ground tremble. “Marcus murdered Grypus?”

“They were alone together when Grypus choked.”

That meant the proconsul had already been dead when Marcus had come to her, and he’d said not a word. So many lies. Endlessfuckinglies.

Teriana gave her head a sharp shake. “Grypus doesn’t matter. Lydia is who matters.”

“Who is Lydia?”

“My sister.” Teriana crouched down, needing to be small as the Seventh’s tower surveyed everything within its sights.

“You never told me you had a sister!”

“My best friend.” She pressed her face to her knees, pulse roaring in her ears, the world spinning around her. “Marcus murdered her. I loved her like a sister and he drowned her because Cassius didn’t want her. And he knew! Knew what she meant to me and he still…” She screamed wordlessly, holding the letter away from her lest her tears smear the ink. “I need to go!”

“Okay, okay. Shit!” Quintus pulled her upright, wiping the corner of his cloak across her face to clean it. “Walk. Try to look steady or someone might stop you on principle.”

Teriana stifled her sobs, knowing that they were fooling no one as they walked down to the harbor. Not with her barefoot and splattered with mud, her cursed eyes betraying the misery that was her heart with their black and stormy seas.

“You need to come with me.” She tried to stifle her sobs. “Miki is here somewhere. Find him and bring him to the ship.”

“It’s not that simple.” Quintus’s fingers tightened on hers. “I’m not even supposed to see him. If I go in there and try to take him, someone will stop me. I need time to figure out how to steal him away.”

Tears poured down her cheeks, and though she hadn’t thought it possible to loathe herself more, Teriana said, “I can’t stay. I can’t be here.”

“I know.” His fingers tightened again. “You get on that ship and free your people. I’ll figure out things here and then I’ll find you.”