Page 107 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

TERIANA

Teriana went down to the beach where she’d once abandoned Lydia to her fate what seemed like a lifetime ago.

There, she watched the two ships depart Celendrial’s harbor, remaining on the burning sand until the blue sails disappeared into the horizon before notifying Magnius that she was going to Senator Valerius’s villa.

She planned to tell him about Lydia while she waited for her mother to be brought to Celendrial.

Teriana’s legs burned as she climbed the Hill, and though the trees overhanging the pathways provided some respite from the heat, she still gave a sigh of relief as a servant admitted her into the villa.

It was short-lived, for Teriana was immediately assaulted by memories of this place.

So much had happened within these walls, good and bad, and part of her wanted to run away rather than remember.

Instead, she perched on a divan, sipping chilled lemon water while she waited for Lydia’s father to appear, wondering if her mother would be with him.

Wondering if her mother would even acknowledge her, or if Tesya’s back would remain turned on her failure of a daughter.

The soft pat of sandals filled the air, and Lydia’s father appeared.

He said nothing as he sat across from her.

Though his color was infinitely better than it had been before all of this began, shadows marred the skin beneath his eyes, his hair had grown more silver than gold, and a deep crease had formed between his brows.

“Your mother will be here by nightfall.”

Though she was desperate to be gone so that she might find Lydia, there was a part of Teriana that was relieved she didn’t need to face her mum just yet.

“Am I safe to speak freely?” she asked. “I have news to tell you.”

“I’ve sent all the servants out,” he answered. “Only the guards remain, and they are outside.”

Taking a mouthful of water to wet her dry tongue, Teriana said, “Lydia’s alive.”

Valerius straightened. “Pardon?”

“She’s in the West. In Mudamora.” Taking another drink, Teriana told him everything she knew about what had happened, including the identity of the perpetrator.

The spark of joy that filled Appius’s gaze as he realized the girl he’d raised from infancy was still alive was a light in the dark night of this day.

“He shoved her down the drain like refuse.” Appius’s hands fisted. “I visited those baths so many times searching for clues. Sat in that cursed pool myself and never once considered that possibility. Never once thought to investigate where the water went.”

Teriana prayed that Cassius hadn’t either.

Prayed that the consul remained blissfully unaware that the underground spring beneath Celendrial led to a xenthier that crossed the world to Mudaire.

The only mercy was knowing that the path was not viable by any of the Senate’s standards, for Mudaire was abandoned and overrun by blight.

“I didn’t know it was Marcus,” she said quietly. “If I’d known…”

“I have never doubted your affection or your loyalty to Lydia,” Valerius said. “She would not hold this against you, and neither will I.”

“I intend to go to her after I leave Celendor.” Teriana’s eyes flicked to the window, noting that the sun was drifting lower. “If you wish me to bring her a message, I would be glad to do so.”

“Only that I am sorry for the grief that I caused her. And for keeping the truth of her heritage a secret for as long as I did.” His throat moved as he swallowed. “I hope she knows that there is a home here for her as long as I am among the living.”

“Bait told me she’s in love.” Teriana wasn’t sure if this was her story to tell but hoped that it would ease his sorrow.

“With a young man named Killian Calorian. My family is close with his, and he’s been my friend all my life.

I don’t think there is a better man on all of Reath, and Bait says he loves Lydia with all his heart.

” And because Appius was Cel through and through, she added, “His family is one of the most wealthy and powerful in Mudamora.”

Relief flooded his eyes, and Appius gave a nod. “For her to have found a love match is what I should have always sought for her. I’m happy Lydia found it herself.”

“Dominus,” a male voice called from a distance. “A word?”

“Come.”

One of the retired legionnaires who served in the Valerius house guard came into the room, inclining his head. “The Domina Cordelia is here. She requests an audience.”

Teriana’s mood soured immediately, for though hindsight painted Cordelia in a far better light, she still wanted nothing to do with Marcus’s sister.

“Tell her I am unavailable,” Appius said.

The guard coughed slightly, then said, “An audience with Teriana, Dominus.”

Appius looked to her, and Teriana shrugged. “Might as well see what she has to say.”

The guard disappeared, and Appius said, “I will let you speak to her alone. Cordelia may be more forthcoming if I’m absent. Call if you have need of me.”

He exited the room, and a moment later, the guard appeared with Marcus’s elder sister on his heels.

Teriana eyed the blond woman, finding her resemblance to Marcus uncanny. Not in appearance, though they did look alike, but in the eyes. In the blue-grey gaze that spoke of unfathomable depths and cunning intelligence, Cordelia scrutinizing her in exactly the same way Marcus had.

“Why are you here?” Teriana finally asked. “Because if it’s to ask me to forgive him, you’re wasting your breath.”

“I don’t expect you to forgive my brother.

” Cordelia smoothed her dress over her pregnant stomach, then sat.

“In your position, I wouldn’t. I have a particular dislike for being lied to or misled by those I trust. Though for what it’s worth, he didn’t know that Lydia Valerius was anything to you until I told him.

Very little rattles Marcus, but that revelation undid him.

” Her brow furrowed. “I found strange comfort in his distress, for part of me had feared that the legions had destroyed all that was good in him. But his guilt and grief were palpable.”

“Don’t,” Teriana whispered. “I know you’re clever, Cordelia. I know how you think because you think just like him. If you try to manipulate me, this conversation is over.”

The other woman’s eyes narrowed, Cordelia watching her in silence for a long moment before she said, “There is something I want from you, and in exchange for it, I’ll give you the answer to the question you can’t stop asking yourself.”

“Which question is that?”

“ Why .” Cordelia sipped her lemon water, then set the glass aside. “That is the question you’ve been asking yourself, isn’t it? Why Marcus agreed to personally assassinate a girl on the request of a senator.”

Teriana said nothing, only waited.

“If it were a political assassination, it would have been approved by the Senate, not a single man, and Marcus certainly wouldn’t have done it himself.”

He’d have sent Quintus.

“Not for gold, because my brother cares little for material things.”

The only thing he spent coin on was books. And a gift for her.

“Not for the killing itself, because he takes no pleasure in it.”

Was repulsed by men who did.

“Cassius was obviously blackmailing him,” Teriana muttered, wanting this to be over.

Not wanting to hear anything that might temper the fury that burned in her heart for what Marcus had done.

For the lies he had told. For the shattered heart he’d left in her chest. “Just like he blackmails and manipulates everyone. He told me that Cassius threatened to send the Thirty-Seventh somewhere awful, and that’s why he agreed to push them to vote for him in the elections.

I can only assume Lydia’s murder was rolled into that agreement. ”

Cordelia shook her head. “No. But before I tell you the information that my brother was willing to murder an innocent girl to keep secret, I want you to agree to bring a message to him.”

“Not a chance,” Teriana said flatly. “Have a messenger deliver it. It’s not as though Marcus is difficult to reach.”

“Everything is read by Cassius’s spies,” Cordelia said.

“And this is something I can’t risk him discovering.

Already Cassius is at the limits of his patience with our resistance to his regime, and we do not have the power to fight back if he chooses to end us.

What I need to tell Marcus is something that wouldn’t just see me found murdered in my bed, but my entire family. ”

The thought of being face-to-face with Marcus again made Teriana feel ill, but there was no denying her curiosity was piqued. “I can arrange to have it delivered.”

Cordelia shook her head. “It must be you.”

“Why?”

“Because he’ll listen to you.”

Teriana stood, pacing back and forth across the room, every part of her sick and tired of being the tool others used to manipulate him. “And just what is it that you wish me to convince him of?”

“To come back to Celendrial and remove Cassius from power.”

Shock radiated through to her core, and Teriana rounded on Marcus’s sister. “Pardon?”

“Lucius Cassius is a monster,” Cordelia said.

“A villain of the first order who cares only for power. Total, all-encompassing power. This moment has been a lifetime in the making for him, and Cassius will stop at nothing to see it through. Those who aid him rise high while those who stand against him find themselves in a shallow grave. He’s extending service of existing legions.

Increasing child tithes, including paying the poor to give up more sons to Lescendor, all of which is paid for by increased taxes on the provinces.

Cassius needs to be stopped, and there is no one in the East who has the power to do so. ”

“But you think Marcus does? You think he has the ability to, what? Lead a coup against the Senate?”