Page 243 of Scorched Earth

“Yes. And he told me about you two, so I think it’s the pot calling the kettle black to name me a Cel puppet who only wants revenge for her broken heart.”

Silvara didn’t answer. Didn’t turn around, only stood in place, finger tracing the 37 on the gladius.

“A war is being fought in the West,” Teriana said. “And the side of good is very much on the back foot. If they lose, all of Reath will fall to the Empire and its dark ally. We have one chance to stop them, but we can’t do it without help from those who war against the Senate in the East. Your help.”

“The war in the West has been a boon to us,” Silvara answered. “The Dictator’s eyes, as well as the eyes of his Senate, are fixed on those distant nations, and they have weakened their defenses in order to send more and more legions across the seas in pursuit of conquest. If it continues, we’ll have the opportunity to liberate Bardeen. As will Chersome and Sibern, who have rebellions of their own. The Dictator will come to regret his over ambition.”

“Will he, though?” Teriana asked quietly. “The West cannot win this war. The enemy is too strong. Within months, if not sooner, the Empire will take control. Will bend the nations of the West to its will, assimilating them and stealing their children to populate its war machine, and how long until the Dictator has the power of a god?”

Silvara twitched.

“You might reclaim Bardeen for a time while they are distracted, but if you allow them to grow stronger on the backs of their conquest, how long until the heel of Mother Empire comes crushing down, more punitive and crueler than before? If you really want to throw off the yoke, you need to strike not just a blow for Bardeen but a blow for all of Reath.”

Silence.

Wind moaned through the branches of the trees, the dapples of sunlight dancing across the dirt. Then Silvara said, “Walk with me, Teriana of the Maarin.”

Teriana started after the other woman, and when Bait made to follow, she said, “Wait here.”

Silvara led her deeper into the forest, the other woman moving silently as any predator, her eyes always roving the shadows, whereas Teriana tripped over roots and crunched branches beneath her boots. “Sorry.”

Silvara gave a soft laugh. “I’ve never been on a ship. I’ve heard the motion is so terrible it drives grown men to vomit.”

“You adapt.”

“When your silence means your life, you also adapt.”

They reached a clearing, and Silvara sat down on a rock, motioning for Teriana to sit on the one across from her. “It’s true then, that you were Marcus’s lover.”

Teriana brushed dirt from her sleeve. “He wasmylover, if you must know.”

Silvara laughed, the sound like silver wind chimes, beautiful and haunting. “It’s good that you can laugh. It took me a long time to be able to laugh after—” She broke off, shaking her head. “They get under your skin, Empire boys. The good ones, at any rate. So wonderfully fierce and dangerous, yet so incredibly sad and broken. Impossible to resist, though Marcus…” Silvara gave a shake of her head. “That, I can’t quite understand.”

“You ever meet him?”

“Yes. He was perfectly courteous and entirely terrifying.”

“I had the same initial impression. Though he had hidden depths.” Teriana’s chest tightened. “Or at least, that’s what I thought.”

“I think falling for them is setting yourself up for heartbreak, because you’ll always be second to their brothers. And none of them are right in the head, not really. How can they be, given the Empireturns them into killers when they are just children? They have no hope, and neither do those who love them.”

Teriana considered what Bait had told her about Agrippa, as well as her own impressions, then said, “Agrippa seems to have broken out of that cycle. Although to be honest, he made some unfortunate decisions before he got on the right track. He… He met a girl, married her, actually, and I don’t think there is anything he wouldn’t do for her, including fight the Thirty-Seventh.”

Silvara was quiet. “It shouldn’t hurt, but it does. To know that he had the capacity to choose me over the legions but didn’t.” She made a strangled noise, then pressed her hands to her face. “It’s been years, and I’ve had other lovers since, but there’s something about your first. Something aboutEmpire boysthat latches onto your soul and never lets go, no matter how much time passes.”

“Yeah,” Teriana said, because there was no other response to the truth Silvara had delivered. Her truth. And, Teriana suspected, her own truth as well. “Do you wish it had gone differently? That it had been you he’d chosen?”

“No.” Silvara smoothed her hand over her stomach, revealing that it was curved with early pregnancy. “I found the sort of love I needed. Someone who loves Bardeen just as much as I do and who will help me fight for the future of our nation. And the future of our child.”

They sat in silence for a long time, both contemplating the past, and then Silvara said, “I joined the rebellion because I thought it was the right thing to do. That the best way I could live my life was fighting against those who oppressed my people, erased our ways, and forced us to be like them, and in doing so, made us serve them. To put my head in the sand when others face the same threat, even if they are strangers without names on the far side of the seas, smacks of hypocrisy.”

Teriana blew out a long breath, then shook her head. “It’s been lifetimes since someone has taken the fight to Celendor. It’s risky beyond measure, and I can understand if that’s not something you want to involve your people in.”

Silvara looked up at the sky, then said, “Tell me your plan.”

It was so simple that the telling took only a few moments, yet when Teriana finished, Silvara smiled. “Agrippa always wanted to be famous. To have a statue in the Forum for winning a battle, and for better or worse, I dream of the same. Of being the one to strikea blow against the Empire that will be felt for generations. I think, Teriana, that this is the moment to lift my weapon.”

“So you’re in?”