Page 97 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

TERIANA

Not caring that she was barefoot, or that the wet dress was glued to her skin, Teriana raced down the stairs, barely hearing Quintus calling her name as he pursued.

All that mattered was getting away, though Teriana knew that no matter how fast she ran, she’d never outrun the knowledge slowly destroying her soul.

Men of all four legions stopped what they were doing to stare as she sprinted out the gate, feet splashing in the puddles from the overnight rains as she set her sights on the harbor. On the familiar ship with blue sails.

“Teriana, stop!” Quintus shouted, but she only put on a burst of speed. She needed to go. Needed to be gone from this place.

But he was faster.

“Teriana!” His hand closed on her arm, slowing her speed, and when she tried to pull away, her friend only flipped her over his shoulder. “Tell me what happened?”

“I have to go,” she sobbed, snot running down her face. “He’s a murderer. Marcus’s a gods-damned murderer!”

“Is this about the towers?” Quintus set her on her feet but held tight to her shoulders. “They were collapsed on Grypus’s orders, not Marcus’s. But Grypus is dead. Felix told everyone he choked on an olive, but the rumors are that Marcus killed him.”

“The towers?” Her eyes went to Emrant in the distance, dust hanging in a low cloud over the city and the Seventh’s dark tower the only one of the seven remaining.

Just like in Galinha, Aracam, and all the villages they’d left in their wake.

That had been what had made the ground tremble. “Marcus murdered Grypus?”

“They were alone together when Grypus choked.”

That meant the proconsul had already been dead when Marcus had come to her, and he’d said not a word. So many lies. Endless fucking lies.

Teriana gave her head a sharp shake. “Grypus doesn’t matter. Lydia is who matters.”

“Who is Lydia?”

“My sister.” Teriana crouched down, needing to be small as the Seventh’s tower surveyed everything within its sights.

“You never told me you had a sister!”

“My best friend.” She pressed her face to her knees, pulse roaring in her ears, the world spinning around her.

“Marcus murdered her. I loved her like a sister and he drowned her because Cassius didn’t want her.

And he knew! Knew what she meant to me and he still…

” She screamed wordlessly, holding the letter away from her lest her tears smear the ink. “I need to go!”

“Okay, okay. Shit!” Quintus pulled her upright, wiping the corner of his cloak across her face to clean it. “Walk. Try to look steady or someone might stop you on principle.”

Teriana stifled her sobs, knowing that they were fooling no one as they walked down to the harbor. Not with her barefoot and splattered with mud, her cursed eyes betraying the misery that was her heart with their black and stormy seas.

“You need to come with me.” She tried to stifle her sobs. “Miki is here somewhere. Find him and bring him to the ship.”

“It’s not that simple.” Quintus’s fingers tightened on hers. “I’m not even supposed to see him. If I go in there and try to take him, someone will stop me. I need time to figure out how to steal him away.”

Tears poured down her cheeks, and though she hadn’t thought it possible to loathe herself more, Teriana said, “I can’t stay. I can’t be here.”

“I know.” His fingers tightened again. “You get on that ship and free your people. I’ll figure out things here and then I’ll find you.”

“I don’t want to leave you.” They’d reached the tiny harbor town, her toes squishing in worse than mud as they walked through the streets. “I promised you.”

“Miki and I are safe enough here,” Quintus said. “Whereas your people are with Hostus. Get them out and then we’ll talk promises.”

“I’m sorry.” She could barely speak. Could barely breathe.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”

Teriana had everything to be sorry for. Even if she spent the rest of her life trying to atone for her mistakes, she’d still die begging for forgiveness.

Gamdeshian civilians filled the town, going about their usual business while coming to terms with their change in regime, and many of them recognized her.

Spit in the mud at the sight of her. Teriana wanted to fall to her knees before them.

Wanted to scream at them to run, to escape, because the man who now ruled them was a monster.

But she kept walking, the docks appearing ahead.

“Almost there,” Quintus said, then a Forty-First centurion appeared in front of them, his arms crossed.

“Did he approve of her being here?”

Quintus dropped Teriana’s hand, and she knew that he’d fight to get her on that ship. But then a voice from behind said, “It’s approved.”

She turned her head to find Felix striding up behind them, Bait’s wrist firmly in his grip. “Get on your ship, Teriana,” he said as the centurion stepped aside to allow them to climb the steps onto the dock.

The planks were rough beneath her feet, splinters digging into her flesh, but it was all Teriana could do not to run to the Quincense . As though being on her decks would be salvation, all her pain left behind in the ship’s wake.

“How quickly can you get to Celendrial?” Felix asked, voice toneless.

“A week.” She gripped Quintus’s arm.

“That letter you have should be all you need, but if you run into trouble, try to get word to me. I know our help is the last thing you want, but I can force the issue.” Felix shoved Bait ahead of him.

Her friend stumbled on his crippled foot, and Teriana knew that Bait had told Felix what Marcus had done.

Rounding on her, Felix caught hold of Teriana’s hands.

“Grypus’s death has bought time, but Cassius will send another governor soon enough, and then it will be war.

Get your people, and then find whatever place is left on Reath that is out of the Empire’s reach.

” Felix’s fingers tightened. “Take care of yourself, Teriana.”

Turning on his heel, Felix strode down the docks. Though Teriana hadn’t thought there was room in her heart for anything but grief, her chest tightened at this act of kindness from a man she’d once thought her enemy.

“Don’t give anyone a chance to change their mind.” Quintus nudged her up the gangplank.

Her crew waited. Her family waited, faces she’d not seen in so many long months, all of them staring at her as Teriana stepped onto the Quincense’s deck for what felt the first time in eternity.

They all knew what she’d done, and Teriana waited for them to turn their backs on her as her mother had.

Waited for the moment she was rejected by the people she’d fought so hard to save.

“Welcome home, Teriana,” her aunt Yedda said.

Teriana’s knees buckled, and she pressed her lips to the deck of the ship that had been her home all her life, hearing the voices of her family welcoming her back.

They still accept me, despite everything that happened. One good thing in a sea of darkness.

“Get up, girl,” Yedda said. “Those decks ain’t been swabbed since those boys took their injured. Might be a good first job for you since you’ve likely gone rusty on gauging the winds.”

“Gladly,” Teriana sobbed. “I will gladly clean every inch of this ship because it feels good to be home.”

Being on the decks and feeling the faint swell of the sea beneath her feet gave Teriana back her strength, and she rose. Quintus stood next to the rail, and in two steps, she flung her arms around his neck. “I wish you could come with me.”

“Only because you don’t realize that I don’t know anything about sailing a ship.”

A smile worked onto her lips. “Never in my life did I expect to call a legion boy a friend, but you have been one of the best, and truest, friends I have been privileged to have.” Holding him at arm’s length so that she could meet his blue eyes, she said, “Find Miki. Tell him you love him. And then get out of this nightmare and find me.”

Quintus pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “You’re going to regret that when you see how seasick Miki gets.” He pushed her gently away and climbed onto the gangplank. “Go to Celendrial, Teriana of the Quincense . I’ll see you on the other side.”

Then he was gone.

She hated herself for letting him go, but as she stared at the single black tower looming over Emrant in the distance, Teriana knew that she could not risk remaining. Not even for a friend.

Turning back to her crew, Teriana cleared her voice, then said, “Let’s go liberate our people.”