Page 316 of Scorched Earth
Whether it would be a brighter future, Teriana could not say, but at least it would be a future of their own making. For all she’d played a large part in this moment, Teriana quickened her stride, desperate to turn her back on this city forever.
They left Celendrial, walking in silence to the beach where theQuincensewas moored. It was all she could do not to run when she caught sight of its blue sails. She squeezed the hair ornament, clinging to composure as they rowed the longboat out to the ship and climbed the ladder. Though everyone should have been surprised at the sight of Killian and Lydia, no one said anything.
“Let’s get underway,” Teriana said quietly. “There’s no reason for us to remain.”
Her crew moved swiftly to follow her orders, the ship soon heading out to sea. Teriana stood silently watching the massive statue of the legionnaire that loomed over the harbor grow smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared into the horizon.
When she turned around, it was to find everyone watching her expectantly. Teriana found that she couldn’t bear it. For everyone, what they’d achieved was a victory. Todaywasa victory because a tyranthad been brought to justice, but she was hollow. “I need a minute.” Entering her quarters, she slammed the door shut behind her.
Resting her back against the wall, she slid down it to land on her ass, her eyes closed.
I miss you,she silently whispered.I miss you so much.
A breeze drifted over her face from one of the open windows, a breath of wind carrying the scent of the sea but also something else. Something that was imprinted upon her soul, and her eyes opened, gaze falling on the familiar figure outlined by the setting sun in their wake. “Marcus?”
126MARCUS
For a long moment, Marcus couldn’t answer, the weight of being back in her presence making it impossible to speak. Then he managed to get out, “It’s me.”
She was shaking. “You’re dead. I watched them hang you. I watched you die.”
“I know.” The memory of that moment was not something he’d ever forget. “You did. And I was, but…”
“Lydia.”
“Yes.” Marcus didn’t know whether to go to her or give her space, so he took a half step and then stopped. “She and Racker. It’s a blur, but…” He scrubbed a hand over his hair, remembering light filling his eyes, the voices of his friends, and his chest an agony of broken ribs from the surgeon resuscitating him. The fog that had made it hard to think. “That’s why it had to be the short rope.”
“Did you know?” She looked ready to be sick.
Marcus shook his head. “I didn’t even know Lydia was in Celendrial. She made the plan with Felix, Servius, and Racker, with aid from Valerius. If I’d known, I—” He broke off, his vision filling with Lydia’s face as she’d leaned over him, her mark vanquishing the pain in his chest and the fog that had slowed his brain from too long without air.
“The dead cannot atone,” she’d said softly. “I’m not letting you offso easily, Marcus. This is your chance to make things right. Make it count.”
He’d been angry. Angry beyond reason, because bringing him back had felt like it had undone everything that he’d hoped his death would accomplish. In cheating death, he’d cheated justice, and part of him had wanted to stumble back out into the Forum and demand Tiberius hang him a second time.
Teriana was watching him, her eyes a pale grey he’d never seen before, as though shock had drained the color from the seas of her gaze.
“Lydia didn’t tell me you were alive,” she whispered. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I asked her not to.” In truth, he’d begged Lydia not to. “I thought it would be better for you if you believed I was dead. Thought it would be better if you moved on with your life not knowing I was still alive. Lydia wasn’t happy, but she said the choice of what to do with my life was my own.”
“But you’re here.”
Marcus couldn’t tell how Teriana felt about that. Her eyes, for the first time he’d known her, were entirely unreadable. Sucking in a deep breath, he closed the distance between them, sitting on the floor before her. “I’m tired of lies. Tired of lying to you, because it’s only ever brought us both suffering. I needed you to know I was alive.”
“Why?” Anger flooded her voice. “So I could drop you off at the nearest port so that you could go back to Celendrial and have them hang you again with your conscience clear?” She slammed her palm down on the deck, revealing the hair ornament that had been his talisman so long. “Here it is, in case you need it again.”
She knew him too well.
And she wasn’t the only one.
Felix had sensed his intent, and his friend had rested a hand on his arm, holding him back. “Marcus, I know you’re angry. I know you didn’t choose this and that you have no tolerance for anything being pushed on you against your will. But please ask yourself whether you want to go back to the gallows because it’s right or because you’re afraid of the alternative.” Felix had gripped his shoulders. “I know you’re afraid. But since the day I met you, you’ve spit in the face of fear. Do not turn coward on me now.”
Every part of Marcus had wanted to lash out. To take back control of the situation and force things to be his way. But his friend’s words struck true. “I don’t know how to be anything other than legion.”
Felix shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you can’t learn.”
A thought somehow a thousand times more terrifying than putting the noose around his neck again, but he said, “Take the Thirty-Seventh’s mark off. If I’m going to do this, I can’t have a foot in both worlds.”
