Page 201 of Scorched Earth

“You hunt for answers that you’ll never find in the pages of a book,” Kaira said. “Use what you have gleaned. Trust in Hegeria. And believe in yourself.”

Rounding on Sonia, Kaira said, “They are threatening to blow the dam and flood the city if we don’t surrender. But I tell you this with certainty: Revat is lost.”

“Then we flee!” Sonia caught hold of Kaira by the arms, and Lydiabit her lip, seeing that the love between them endured, no matter how long they’d been apart. “Load all who remain on the ships in the harbor. Abandon the city. Live to fight another day, and we will reclaim Revat.”

“There is only one ship.” Kaira’s voice was grim. “The ship that waits for you.” She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to Sonia’s. “I am sorry for pushing you away. For fearing nothing so much as I feared how deeply I cared for you. I regret little in life, but I will go to my grave regretting the time with you I lost.”

“This is not the end,” Sonia pleaded. “Come with us, please!”

Kaira only shook her head. “I bought Lydia the time she needed to find answers, and now I will buy you the time you need to escape. When the histories are written, let it be said that Kaira and her army died so that all of Reath could live. Now go while you still can!”

“Please,” Sonia begged.

“I’m going to force my father onto theKairense,” Kaira said. “Get him away so that he might rally our people. Keep him safe, Lieutenant.”

Then General Kaira, Princess of Gamdesh, was gone.

Tears ran down Sonia’s face, but her shoulders were square as she turned to face Lydia.

“We’re going. Now.”

75MARCUS

“The Sultan has rejected our offer to talk terms of surrender. Again.” Felix handed Marcus a folded piece of paper. One glance revealed that Kaira’s propensity for colorful language in rejections was in the blood. Something she’d inherited from her father.

“What’s it say?” Drusus asked, leaning over to read the note. “Go…” He shook his head. “I’m too old to learn new languages.”

“It says ‘Go fuck yourselves.’” Marcus tossed the paper on the table, then left the pavilion to survey both Revat and his army surrounding it. The ground was churned up and muddy, little happening on the field beyond the endless loading and deployment of the catapults. Great sections of the wall were partially collapsed, and though the ridge was not high enough to see over Revat’s walls, through thecrumbled gaps he could see the parts of the city within range were in ruins. Yet still the Gamdeshians fought on, their numbers and positions still making him reluctant to take the city by force.

“Have to admire the old man’s defiance.” Felix’s eyes were fixed not on the city, but on the seven god towers that reached out of the clouds of smoke and dust. They stood strong despite the one nearest to their position having taken several direct blows.

Yet it was not those towers that commanded Marcus’s interest, but rather the building at the center of the circle. The library, they’d learned from prisoners that they’d taken. The largest in the West, and he wondered how it compared to the Great Library in Celendrial, which contained every important work pilfered from every province Celendor had conquered. Everything found here would eventually be cataloged and brought to Celendrial as well. As Marcus watched, the black tower of the Seventh God shifted, looming over the library as though watching something within it intently.

Or someone.

The soldiers they’d captured had revealed that there were Mudamorians in the library—guests of the Sultan in Revat seeking information of enough importance that all the librarians had remained until recently. One of the Mudamorians, he’d been told, had a tattoo on her forehead in the shape of a half-moon, which meant she was a marked healer.Tall, they’d said.Pale skin. Long dark hair.

Bait’s voice rose from his memory.She’s marked by the Six. A healer, and a powerful one at that.

Lydia, he was sure of it.

Don’t let her escape.

“Signal the fleet to send ships into the harbor.” The words tore from his mouth.

Felix’s brow furrowed. “Why? We’ve intelligence that there is only one ship left in the harbor, and it’s a Maarin vessel called theKairense. Our ships are fighting what remains of the Gamdeshian navy, which are loaded with reinforcements. If our ships disengage, we risk the Gamdeshians landing and coming at us from the rear.”

“They don’t have the numbers to matter. Secure that ship!”

Panic Marcus couldn’t justify was surging through his veins, along with the absolute certainty that the Maarin ship needed to be secured lest it take her out of his reach.

But Felix didn’t move. No one did.

“Sink it!” he shouted at his second, fury mixing with his panic because they were supposed to obey.

Felix blew a breath out from beneath his teeth, but then relayed the order to the signalmen. The message rippled through the relay posts to the coast, where they’d be seen by the watchmen on ships. Within minutes, the message returned to them. “Two ships are moving to block the harbor entrance.”

That wasn’t what he’d asked for. Marcus’s head was agony, and the voice shrieked,There are other ways out! Seal them in! Catch them!