Page 116 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

LYDIA

While Malahi had the information she needed to destroy the blight, Lydia had still not found the answers she sought.

Taking little time to sleep and eat, she carefully moved through the pages of the book, her eyes stinging with tears of frustration whenever one crumbled beneath her touch.

Many were little more than fragments, no amount of staring at the pieces with a jeweler’s lens revealing the words that had been written upon them, and she cursed the knowledge lost. Cursed those who’d had this book in their keeping for millennia and never bothered to transcribe it, because the information had value beyond measure.

“Lydia!” Sonia’s boots made heavy thuds as she strode into the room.

“We cannot afford to linger any longer. The Sultan has refused the terms offered by the Cel commander, refused to surrender the city. With the river dammed, it’s only a matter of time until Revat runs out of fresh water.

The Gamdeshians have stores to feed themselves for a long time, but no one anticipated they’d divert an entire river. ”

“I need another day,” Lydia muttered, flinching as stone flung by one of the many Cel catapults struck a building nearby. “The answers are in here, I just need to get through all the pages.”

“You have the information we need.” There was a frantic edge to Sonia’s voice. “Malahi knows how to destroy the blight, but she needs you to keep her alive. What more do you need to know that is worth this risk?”

“How to save them.”

“What?”

“Those infected by the blight. The blighters.” Lydia gave a rapid shake of her head. “Tens of thousands have fallen to the blight. I need to discover how to bring them back.”

Silence stretched, and Lydia cringed as she felt her friend’s horror press down upon her.

“That is why you are risking everything?” Sonia whispered. “In a quest to bring the dead back to life?”

Yes.

“Their deaths aren’t natural. Their lives were stolen by the Corrupter’s poison, so it’s possible—”

Sonia’s brown eyes were wide. “It’s impossible! Forbidden! Death to any who try!”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“Twice marked does not make you a god.” Sonia’s voice shook. “Do not risk our only chance on the hubris that you might achieve what even the Six dare not do.”

Lifting her head, Lydia met her friend’s eyes. “If it is not in these pages, I’ll concede. But let me at least finish reading all that I can so that I know in my heart that I did all that I could.”

Boom.

Sonia flinched as another building was struck, the deafening roar of its collapse making the entire library shake. “Bring it with you.”

Lydia shook her head. “It’s disintegrating beneath the touch of air, Sonia. It will be nothing but dust by the time we carry it to the ship. I have to do it here. And I’m close, I promise!”

“So are they!” Sonia kicked a chair, sending it toppling.

“The Cel and Katamarcan ships are moving into position to blockade the harbor, and if that happens, we are trapped. Do you understand that? Trapped by the man who once tried to murder you, and exactly how do you think it’s going to go when he finds you? ”

“Agrippa said Marcus will leave a way out for civilians.” Lydia squinted through the smears on her spectacles, assessing the illustration on a page, but the paint was flaking so badly her very breath disturbed it.

“That he doesn’t like to box the enemy in during sieges.

” She gave a sharp shake of her head, struggling to remember Agrippa’s explanation.

“Which he did, but now the civilians are all gone! Only soldiers remain. Soldiers and us ! The Kairense waits in the harbor, but they will not wait forever.”

“The words in this book have the power to save thousands, and if I try to pick it up and take it, the whole gods-damned thing is going to turn to dust in my hands. So just let me work!”

“Killian’s going to kill me if I let you die.”

At his name, Lydia’s heart stuttered, but she forced away the emotions in her chest.

Sonia sat on the stool across from her, hands gripping the table so hard her knuckles turned white. “You’re risking every living Mudamorian to save the dead. Perhaps every living person on Reath. This is not the decision of a queen, Lydia.”

“I never asked to be queen.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “I can’t sacrifice those we’ve lost to the blight without trying to win them back, Sonia. I can’t.”

The door to the room exploded inward, and Lydia spun in her chair to find Kaira striding toward her.

“What is wrong with you?” Gamdesh’s princess shouted. “I’ve sent three messages warning you to get out of the city, and you ignored all of them. Do you think I have time to be here? Do you think that standing in a library is where I best serve Gamdesh?”

“No,” Lydia muttered. “You should be with your soldiers.”

“Wrong!” Kaira’s face was a thundercloud of anger.

“Getting you out alive is the greatest priority because Malahi cannot defeat the blight without you. If I allow you to die here, it won’t matter if I defeat that Cel prick or not, for the blight will come to Gamdesh next.

So get onto that ship or I’ll have you trussed up and tossed aboard. Am I clear?”

“I’m not done reading!” Lydia shouted back, her whole body shaking because she wasn’t ready. Wouldn’t be ready until she had an answer for how to save all those who’d been lost.

Quick as lightning, Kaira reached past her and snatched up the ancient volume. Lydia gasped, “No!”

But it was too late.

Kaira flung it across the room, where it exploded into fragments and dust.

“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 Lydia bit 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 the Kairense ,” 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.”