Page 111 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

LYDIA

Lydia sipped her tea, trying and failing to focus on the text before her.

Once upon a time, studying in a library like this had been her dream. To spend every waking hour bent over books with no purpose other than expanding her mind had seemed like an ideal life. But under these circumstances, her dream now felt like a nightmare.

Every librarian and apprentice was here, flipping through every possible book that might contain more information about combating the blight, but the going was slow.

The relevant books were ancient and crumbling, requiring the readers to handle them with care, but the greater challenge was that the languages they were written in were archaic.

Only the most learned of scholars could parse the words.

Their assistants transcribed any potentially relevant information for Lydia or Malahi to read, and Lydia herself was responsible for translating the handful of books written in languages of the East.

They’d found more texts confirming what they’d learned about the tenders who’d destroyed the blight in Anukastre, but the only details given were that they succeeded.

At the cost of their own lives.

Malahi was handling that certainty with the grace Lydia had come to expect, but Agrippa was another matter. In all their travels, Lydia had never seen the ex-legionnaire truly lose his temper, but she’d learned that when he did lose it, it was with spectacular volume.

When Malahi said she’d sacrifice herself to save Mudamora, he’d refused to accept her decision and tried to bodily remove her from the library.

The Gamdeshians had tried to restrain him, but in the end, it had taken Malahi trussing him up with the roots of an overgrown potted plant to stop him.

What Malahi had said to him in that moment, Lydia didn’t know, only that Agrippa had ceased trying to change her mind and descended into sullen acceptance that eventually drove Malahi to ask him to impart what he knew about the legions to Kaira.

Given that he refused to leave Malahi unattended for more than a few minutes, those conversations had taken place in the library, so Lydia finally met the princess of Gamdesh she’d heard so much about.

It was like having a lioness enter the room, Kaira’s long strides eating up the floor. She inclined her head to Lydia. “Well met, Marked One. Please do not rise. Your work is more important than formalities.”

Lydia’s eyes flicked to Sonia, who nodded in confirmation that Kaira knew her true identity and accession to the throne but was keeping the information close. “Well met, Your Highness.”

Kaira’s attention went to Agrippa. “Sonia tells me that you are Cel and are a deserter from the Thirty-Seventh legion, and your allegiance is now to Mudamora and your new wife, Lady Malahi Rowenes. Is this correct?”

“More or less.”

Kaira stared at him.

“Yes, yes. That’s correct.” Agrippa rose. “I grew up with your adversary and used to be high up in his chain of command. I’m not of much use in the library, so Sonia thought you might like to pick my brain about how the legions do things. Marcus, specifically.”

Kaira crossed her arms. “I’m listening.”

“Before you begin,” Lydia interjected, “I was hoping you might have information about the well being of Teriana of the Maarin. She—”

“Do not speak that traitor’s name to me.” Kaira’s hands balled into fists, anger seething from her. “She betrayed us all and her name is anathema.”

“You don’t know her reasons.” Lydia rose. “Teriana is no traitor!”

“I know her reasons better than anyone.” Kaira spun away and went to the window. “She refused to accept her imprisoned people were casualties of war and instead sacrificed all of Gamdesh to free them. I do not envy those souls to know what their freedom cost.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes. “They were freed?”

“So I’m told. Teriana and the Quincense sailed from Emrant to Celendrial, and the Cel released the five hundred Maarin prisoners. A small price for the Cel to pay in exchange for all of Gamdesh.”

“Where is she?”

Kaira lifted a hand. “Who can say? She’s not been seen since, and my spies report that she had a spat with the Cel commander before she left Emrant. Lovers’ quarrel, no doubt, and I think it not long until we see her at his side again.”

It was not the first time she’d heard this rumor, but it still made Lydia feel sick. “You’re wrong about her. Teriana is loyal. She might have risked much for her people, but every action will have been to save them. Not because… because…”

“Because she’s in love with the enemy?” Kaira’s lip curled in disgust. “After he took my fortress in Imresh, he put her in the royal apartments. Dressed her in my clothes. She is no prisoner, Lydia. She is the favored mistress of the Cel legatus—treated like a fucking queen with the spoils of his war.”

Lydia rubbed her arms, Kaira’s words having turned her skin cold. “I will hear Teriana’s side of the story before I make any judgments.”

“Then let us hope that it is you she comes to, and not me, because I will slit her gods-damned throat for what she has done.”

“I’m done with this conversation.” Lydia sat down on her chair, her whole body trembling. No good would come from arguing, because it seemed everyone had condemned Teriana and that her friend’s side of the story mattered not.

“Right,” Agrippa said. “So let’s talk about Cel war machines. This is going to require some maths, so if you’d join me over here, Your Highness, I’ll show you how they engineer siege weapons.”

Lydia said nothing more, only forced herself to focus on the book before her as Agrippa spent the next hours filling Kaira’s head with relevant information. An exercise repeated the next day. And the day after that.

“Quit pacing, Kaira,” Agrippa groaned from where he was sprawled on a chair. “You’re making me dizzy.”

“He’s up to something.” Kaira continued to pace. “I can sense it.”

“Marcus is undoubtedly up to something.” Agrippa yawned. “I’d be far more shocked if he wasn’t. But unless your magical god-marked senses can be more specific, knowing that isn’t terribly helpful.”

Kaira didn’t reply, only continued to wear a path in the carpet she traversed, her brown eyes shadowed, and her cheeks hollowed. Despite the other woman’s harsh words toward Teriana, Lydia still felt sympathy for her.

Not eating , Sonia had told Lydia. Nor sleeping.

And it was no wonder, given the fate of an entire nation rested on her shoulders.

She was the princess marked by Tremon, the woman who had won every battle, who had protected her people with an obsessiveness that had cost her nearly everything.

Everyone, including her father, expected Kaira to deliver them from this.

Incredible pressure, which Kaira might have been able to with stand if not for the fact that she’d already lost to Marcus once. And that loss had rattled not only the faith everyone had in her, but the faith Kaira had in herself.

Loss of faith was exactly what the Corrupter wanted.

“He has researched you, Kaira.” Agrippa’s tired eyes sharpened as he watched the princess.

“Probably spent hours reading reports on your character and history, so he knew that you’d always put civilians first, no matter the cost. But above all, he counted on you believing that he’d slaughter a city to get what he wanted.

I understand why you’d believe that, because the Maarin have been filling your ears with tales of his villainy. ”

“He is a villain,” Kaira snapped. “And Teriana will have told him personal details about me, using the knowledge she gained from the trust between our peoples.”

Lydia stiffened, annoyed that Kaira continued to paint Teriana as the enemy.

“I’m sure he mined her for information and he’s definitely no hero, but…

” Agrippa frowned. “How do I explain this? Marcus loves to win, but he doesn’t love the violence.

There are commanders in the Empire who will quite literally massacre a city for pleasure, then eat the victims for the thrill of it.

Marcus hunts the best victory. The one with the least collateral damage that results in the Senate preening over his genius.

The moment I learned that he boxed you in, I could have told you that Emrant wasn’t his goal.

He always leaves a back door for civilians to escape.

Always.” Agrippa hesitated, then added, “But what else could you have done, not knowing anything about him? You had an army with the worst sort of reputation on the doorstep of a city filled with thousands of innocents, and to have left them undefended based on a gut feeling? Even if you’d been right, your people would never have forgiven you for it. ”

Kaira stopped in her tracks, pressing her fingers to her temples. “It feels like a thousand spiders dance across my skin. A threat is near, I know it.”

“Astara’s last report was that they are marshaling in Emrant,” Sonia said quietly, crossing the room to touch Kaira’s arm.

Lydia knew they had spent some time alone together, her friend giving a secret smile whenever Kaira’s name was mentioned but never saying a word about what had passed between them.

“Astara is overdue.”

“Perhaps so. But it’s weeks of hard marching between here and there. If they move, we’ll have warning. What you need is rest.”

Kaira leaned into Sonia for a long moment, then sighed and stepped away. “There is no time for rest. I need… I need to do something.”

“The best advice I can give you is to convince the Sultan to negotiate,” Agrippa said. “To pursue some form of agreement with the Empire even if it only buys you time.”

“Time is what we need, Kaira.” Malahi closed the book in front of her.

“More than anything else, we need time. If we can defeat the blight and find a way to draw it out of the blighters that form Rufina’s army, then Mudamora will be better positioned to aid Gamdesh when the Cel push north. I will not—”