Page 130 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

TERIANA

Killian caught hold of Teriana’s arm to hold her in place by the door, then approached the table, his hand coming to rest on the back of Lydia’s neck in a familiar way that confirmed what Bait had told her about their relationship.

Teriana bit the insides of her cheeks to contain the swell of emotion, for a better match for Lydia she couldn’t have named.

And this was possibly the last time she’d see them both, because once Lydia knew what she’d done… It was not forgivable.

Killian bent his head to murmur in Lydia’s ear. Lydia stiffened, then turned, her green eyes locking with Teriana’s. In a blur of inhuman speed, Lydia was on her feet and across the room, nearly knocking Teriana over as she flung her arms around her.

“Oh gods, you’re here. You’re all right. You’re here.”

Teriana couldn’t breathe, the band of emotion around her chest even tighter than Lydia’s grip, but she closed her arms around her friend’s slender back. Beyond, the others at the table were watching, eyes curious.

Lydia released her grip, then clasped Teriana by the sides of her face, green eyes liquid with tears. “Where have you been? We heard that you’d liberated your people from Cassius, but then nothing. Nothing. ”

“I was in Revat.”

Lydia went still. “Why?”

Teriana’s chin quivered, grief and guilt and shame deep as the sea trying to drown her.

“To try to convince Marcus to stop this war. He wouldn’t listen.

He…” She sucked in a ragged breath. “I’m sure you’ve heard what I did.

I’m so sorry, Lydia. I swear on the Six that I didn’t know he’d hurt you—not until Bait told me.

You have every right to hate me, but please know that I’d never have let him touch me if I’d known the truth. ”

The garbled words stole all the fight she had left in her, and Teriana dropped to her knees, sobs strangling her.

“I would never hurt you on purpose, Lydia, but I know this is the ultimate betrayal, and I don’t deserve your forgiveness.

I don’t deserve anyone’s forgiveness because Gamdesh has fallen to the Empire and it’s all my fault. ”

Silence stretched, so long and awful that Teriana wished the ground would swallow her whole.

Then Lydia was on her knees, holding her tight. “There is nothing to forgive.”

“I fell in the love with the man who murdered you.”

Lydia’s lips pressed against her forehead. “But I’m not dead. I ended up exactly where I needed to be, as did you. As we are now.”

“I gave him everything he needed to conquer Reath.”

“Marcus already had everything he needed to do that.” Lydia sat back, eyes thoughtful as she rubbed a hand over the shaved portion of her scalp. “We have all done things we regret. I have done things I regret.”

“Hegeria marked you. You’ve been saving lives, whereas I’ve been destroying them.”

Lydia was quiet for a long moment, then she said, “The past cannot be undone, so what matters is what we do in this moment and all the moments to come.”

Instead of making her feel better, Lydia’s words made Teriana feel worse because she didn’t deserve forgiveness. “Don’t absolve me.” It was hard to get the words out because they kept catching on tears. “Not until you’ve heard everything, because it’s far worse than you think.”

Lydia sighed. “Don’t put me on a pedestal until you’ve heard everything, because it’s far worse than you can imagine.”

Something in her friend’s voice caused Teriana to lift her head and meet Lydia’s eyes, her skin prickling as she remembered how quickly Lydia had moved. With a preternatural swiftness that was reserved only for Tremon’s marked.

And… and those marked by the Corrupter.

Sensing Teriana’s thoughts, as she always had, Lydia gave her a tight smile. “It’s complicated.”

“Are you all right, though?”

“I don’t think any of us are all right.”

Teriana realized then that everyone had left the room through another set of doors. Only Killian remained, leaning against the wall with his eyes on the floor. “You two are…”

Lydia’s gaze moved to Killian, a smile forming on her face. “Equally complicated, but Killian has my heart.”

Killian said nothing, but his cheeks colored slightly.

“I’m glad,” Teriana said. “Truly. If I could have sent you to anyone on this side of the world, it would’ve been Killian.”

Lydia leaned against the wall, then pulled Teriana against her, and she was reminded of that last night in Celendrial they’d spent together. Drunk and giggling, and though threats had loomed, neither of them had borne the weight of experience they did now.

“There is so much I need to tell you.”

“Same.”

“There isn’t any time, though.”

“No.” Lydia sighed. “The source of the blight is a place called Deadground beyond the border wall. We discovered how to destroy it while we were in Revat, but we need to get to Deadground to do it.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, it’s too dangerous.”

A laugh tore from Teriana’s lips, though nothing about the situation was funny. “Everywhere is dangerous. And one of the few good things that came from my time with the Cel was that they taught me to fight. Not fisticuffs in a tavern brawl, but actual fighting. I can hold my own.”

Thanks to Quintus.

“I…” Lydia hesitated, and Teriana’s heart shriveled because she knew what her friend was going to say. That she had no place in this journey. No role in this fight. “I don’t think you’re meant to come with us.”

Teriana looked away. Hurt, though she had no right to be.

But Lydia only tightened her arm around Teriana’s waist and gave her a gentle shake. “Not because I don’t want you there. It’s just… I think you’re needed elsewhere.”

Teriana’s skin abruptly prickled with the sensation that they were being watched, and in her periphery, Killian lifted his head.

“It’s the gods,” Lydia said softly. “They’re with us.”

Her heart was drumming in her chest. “Why?”

“Who can say?” Lydia toyed with one of Teriana’s braids, her eyes distant. “In my darkest hour, they came to aid me and I spoke to Madoria. I asked her if you were safe.”

In her darkest hour, Lydia had thought of her.

Teriana squeezed her eyes shut, the weight of that revelation making it hard to breathe. “What did she say?”

“That you were where you were supposed to be.”

Only the marked ever saw the gods, so Teriana asked, “What did Madoria look like?”

“Like you.”

Teriana caught hold of Lydia’s hand, gripping it hard, because there were no words in any language that were a response to that.

“There was a reason you were with the Cel,” Lydia said. “A reason you’ve endured all that you have.”

The moment came crashing down around Teriana, and she clenched her teeth, trying to keep herself together.

“Madoria wanted me to defeat them. Magnius told me so during our journey across the Endless Seas.” A laugh tore from her lips.

“To say that I failed is an understatement. All those months I spent with them, and I know everything about how they function. Everything. But all that’s taught me is that they can’t be beaten. ”

“He’s told you how to beat him.”

Teriana started at Killian’s words, pulling away from Lydia to look at him. “Pardon?”

“If Marcus is as good as all of you claim, he knows exactly how he can be beaten, and consciously or unconsciously, that knowledge lurks in the back of his mind,” Killian said. “Given how close you two were, there’s no chance he didn’t voice that weakness to you.”

A wild giggle escaped her. “Killian, Marcus told me a million things, but not one of them was ‘If you wish to beat the Empire, this is how to go about doing it.’”

Killian shrugged. “He told you, Teriana. You might not have recognized it for what it was, but he told you. I’d bet every coin to my name on it.”

“You’d bet every coin to your name on the roll of the dice,” she grumbled, clinging to humor because it felt like she’d lost everything else.

“The only thing Marcus feels is confidence in his certain victory. He’s got a bigger army.

A better trained army. And above all else, he doesn’t need to waste time worrying about civilians he needs to protect.

He told me that was the only reason that Kaira lost to him at Emrant—because she needed to protect people.

The only thing he needs to protect is supply lines. ”

Marcus’s voice abruptly filled her head. If it’s a good path, I’ll be able to use it as a supply line straight back to the Empire. Food. Weapons. Gold. Legions. Every resource I could possibly want, and the only way to cut the line would be at the genesis.

Understanding came to her like a bucket of cold water over her head, realization that Marcus had told her the solution slapping Teriana across one cheek and then the other. “Oh. I see.”

Killian’s mouth quirked in a small smile that said, I told you so.

The rear door to the ballroom opened, and the good-looking man who’d been standing next to Malahi came inside with her aunt Yedda.

“Well, everything’s about to get much worse.

” He paused, then inclined his head. “Good to meet you, Teriana; I’ve heard wonderful things about you.

I’m Agrippa. I’m sure you’ve heard of me given you’ve been living with my old legion, but I assure you, the stories are a pale shade compared to reality.

At any rate, we’re all about to get a big reunion. ”

Shock radiated through her. “Agrippa, as in Quintus’s friend?”

He bowed. “Glad to hear they still remember me.”

Yedda stepped forward. “Lysander went to see what the Cel were up to in Revat, only to discover the legions had fresh orders to move out. He sent word to Magnius.”

A flicker of hope that maybe what she’d said to Marcus had made a difference burned in Teriana’s chest. That maybe he was planning to return to Celendor.

Foolish hope, because no sooner had it passed through her thoughts did Yedda say, “Lysander overheard the legionnaires gossiping on the docks. Cassius is set on the gold mines of Rotahn. The Empire isn’t a distant threat.

Cassius not only has his eyes on the Northern Continent, he’s sent orders that the legions move in pursuit of its conquest.”

All the blood drained from Teriana’s skin, her pulse roaring in her ears.

Marcus was coming.

“How soon will they depart?” Lydia demanded even as Killian asked, “Where do they intend to land?”

Agrippa said, “There is no way to know where they intend to land, and I’m not sure it much matters.

Nearly every soldier we have is with Dareena at the front or hunting down blighters, and using everyone left to try to stop the legions from taking a beach would be like spitting into the eye of a hurricane.

” He shook his head. “This doesn’t make sense.

The Empire no doubt has ambitions to control all of the West and most certainly to take Rotahn’s gold, but it is always calculated and methodical in its approach.

Always ensures what it takes is firmly under its control before it takes another bite.

This… this doesn’t feel like an attempt to take control—it feels like an attempt to destroy. It feels personal.”

“It is,” Teriana answered, her voice toneless.

“With respect,” Agrippa said, “I understand that he’s angry with you, but—”

“It’s not about me. At least, not entirely. It’s about Lydia.”

The color drained from her friend’s face.

“You’re a threat. A threat to Cassius’s dictatorship. A threat to the Corrupter’s influence. That’s why Marcus intends to sail north. That’s why Rufina is marching south. The two greatest evils, whom I believe are, in many ways, one and the same, want you destroyed.”

Everyone stared at her.

Finally, Agrippa spoke. “That’s an argument I can accept for Rufina, because her army is dead, but the legions are living, breathing men. They’re not going to follow a commander whose strategies and goals don’t make any sense. They’re trained to obey, but there’s a limit to that.”

“Is there?” Teriana met his stare. “Because I think they’ll follow him into fire itself.

He never loses. Always protects them. They know he’s acting strangely and they don’t like it, but I don’t think it’s enough to cause them to turn on him.

Especially given that these orders have come directly from Cassius.

They have been trained to obey the Senate—or at least to fear the consequences of disobeying them. ”

Agrippa’s jaw tightened, and he looked away.

“Marcus often said that Kaira’s greatest weakness was that she had people that she’d sacrifice everything to protect.

That she’d make bad decisions to protect.

I always thought he meant civilians. But Killian was right when he said that Marcus told me exactly how to defeat him.

We go after his family. After the Thirty-Seventh.

The Corrupter might have his claws in deep, but the Thirty-Seventh? That’s the hill Marcus will die on.”

“I don’t disagree,” Agrippa said, “but just how do you intend to go after them?”

“Cut off their supplies. They need to eat. Need to drink. And with all the scorched earth he’s left in his wake, if the Empire isn’t supplying him, it will get lean mighty quick.”

A short laugh burst from Agrippa’s lips.

“He’ll have contingency after contingency protecting his food and water sources, Teriana.

Might as well go face-to-face with the main army than to try to cut through the myriad of supply lines he’ll have running their direction.

Supply lines are a speciality for him—you won’t beat him in this. ”

“Which is why we’re not going to cut Marcus’s lines,” Teriana said with a smile. “We’re going to destroy the source.”