Page 178 of Scorched Earth
Killian’s hands turned to ice, because the Esden flowed south. Which meant all of this was happening behind the lines of the Mudamorian army holding back Rufina’s masses of blighters.
“Why did you bring this message to us?” Dareena demanded. “Fly! Warn the army of attack from the rear!”
“Because it’s not them the blighters are marching to attack.” Niotin appeared ready to be sick. “They’re coming south. They’re coming here!”
And with nearly every Mudamorian soldier at the front lines of Rufina’s army, there was no way to stop them.
65TERIANA
As her crew made ready to leave Imresh’s small harbor, Teriana climbed to the quarterdeck and gripped the rail with her free hand, the other still holding tight to her letter.
“I’d ask if you’re all right, but the answer to that is clear enough,” her aunt said, then reached over to pat her arm.
Teriana jerked away from her aunt, then cringed at her reaction. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I just need to get away. I need to be on the open sea. It feels like I can’t breathe, Auntie.”
“I see that.”
“This letter grants our people freedom.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “We need to bring it to Celendrial to give to the Senate. Get our people on ships. Retrieve Mum.”
“All right. Better put it somewhere safe, then.”
Her aunt stepped away from her, giving orders to the crew to raise sails. Within moments, theQuincensewas flying away from the coast toward the ocean path that would take the ship back east. Teriana retreated into the captain’s quarters, which smelled of cedar and orange blossoms. It smelled like home, and fresh tears poured down her face because this was not how a homecoming should feel. Going to her mother’s desk, she unlatched the top drawer, carefully putting the letter into wax wrapping before storing it away.
Teriana turned to stare out the window, watching the coast of the Southern Continent slowly fade into the distance and then out of sight.
Yet the agony in her heart remained.
There weren’t words in any language that came close to capturing the magnitude of her grief. Her rage. Her guilt. For the combination was a beast without name, consuming her and dragging her down.
The cruelty of Marcus’s deception made her want to weep, but in truth it was her own actions that made her want to drop to her knees and scream. She’d fallen in love with her best friend’s murderer. Had given him every part of herself, body and soul, and never once suspected the depths of his villainy. How had she not known? How had she not sensed that he’d been the one to hold Lydia under? To put her down a drain like refuse, lost and unrecoverable for all of time? How had she failed Lydia so badly?
“Oh gods,” she whispered, her knees failing her. The impact of striking the deck rattled her spine.
Her braids swung back and forth, gold and blue enamel flashing in her periphery as the gift Marcus had given her brushed her cheek.
A shriek exploded from her lips, and Teriana wrenched at the hair ornament, trying to tear it from her braid. Pain lanced across her scalp, but the braid was woven tight and would not give. A moan emerged from her throat as she scrambled up, digging through the desk for a knife and finding nothing.
Bolting across the room, Teriana slammed open the door. “A knife. A knife, I need a knife!” She snatched one off Polin’s belt and sliced it across her braid in a wild swipe. The tip scored her cheek, but Teriana didn’t feel the pain as she sprinted to the rail and threw the length of her braid over the edge, watching the glimmer of gold disappear beneath the sea.
Lowering herself to the deck, she pressed her shoulders to the polished wood and wept.
“Teriana?” Bait’s voice filled her ears. “Listen, I—”
“Leave me alone,” she choked out. “I’ve heard enough for one day.”
“What did you do, Bait?” her aunt demanded. “I knew you were looking for trouble when you sneaked off the ship while we unloaded the injured. What did you say?”
“I went looking for her,” Bait snapped. “I found her in thebathwith him. It’s true what everyone is saying about her. It’s worse than everyone says, because I heard Teriana tell him she loved him. So I told her that she was in love with the bastard who killed Lydia.”
“Stop.” Teriana squeezed her head between her hands, struggling to breathe. “Please, no more.”
“You idiot!” her aunt shouted. “I don’t suppose in your jealous little rampage that you bothered to tell her that Lydia survived?”
The sob exiting her throat caught, and Teriana gagged on it. “What?”
“Lydia survived.” Yedda knelt next to her, gripping her shoulders. “The hot spring flowed into a xenthier stem that brought her to Mudaire.”
Lydia was alive. A shuddering sob tore from her lips, because this couldn’t be real. Had to be a cruel trick.
