Page 217 of Scourged
She padded around her Armature, her blanket falling to the sand. The two big cats broke into a jog and then a run, sprinting towards her.
To their queen.
Mariah sank to her knees as Kiira and Rylla slid to a halt before her. She threw her arms around them both, their purrs rumbling from beneath soft fur.
“You’re here,” Mariah whispered. “You made it.” She kept repeating those words, so many times, until the figures on horseback had neared. Kiira and Rylla drew back, glancingover their shoulders as the first rider halted and slid from her mount's back. She sprinted across the sands, blonde curls flying behind her.
Mariah had thought herself empty of tears, yet she still choked out a sob.
“Ciana,” she said, the sound broken and soft as her best friend slammed into her, small body hitting Mariah with the same fierceness dwelling in her heart. Behind Ciana, a second woman with long auburn hair raced across the dunes. Mariah barely had time to open her arms before Delaynie crashed into her and Ciana, the three girls collapsing as their tears fed the sands.
“We’re here, Mariah. We made it.” Delaynie’s whispers were soft and calm, but she gripped Mariah with a desperate viciousness.
Mariah pulled back, scanning them both. They wore comfortable clothes—those meant for traveling. Clothes that Delaynie in particular would never be caught dead in outside the safety of her rooms.
“What happened?” Mariah asked quietly, instincts prickling.
Her friends shared a glance.
“It is …” Ciana started.
“Quite unbelievable,” Delaynie finished.
Mariah frowned. “I think I can handle it.”
“I’m just …” Ciana swallowed. “I’m not sure it’s our place to say. So much has changed, Mariah. All the legends and stories?—”
“I know. Trust me, I know.” Mariah’s voice wavered. “Was it just you? Who got out?”
Delanie smiled softly. “No, Mariah. Not just us. We all got out.”
“We?” Mariah didn’t dare let herself be too hopeful.
“Everyone who cares about you. Me and Ciana. Kiira and Rylla. My mother, Ryenne’s ladies. Even Brie and Mikael and a few other palace staff we knew to be wholly loyal to you.”
Mariah released a heavy, broken sigh. She was still cracked, still shattered, still hungry to tear the world apart, but something loosened in her soul. A heaviness at knowing that those she cared for most had at least been bought a momentary safety.
Although a part of her wondered if they would ever know true safety again. Not with Kol returned to the world.
“I brought something else, too.” Ciana’s amber eyes crackled in the firelight. “You told me to keep it safe and hidden, and I didn’t want to leave it there. Not with us all gone, and the future uncertain.”
Mariah dropped her gaze to Ciana’s hands. Where she was reaching into a satchel on her side and pulling out a small, gray leather book.
A journal. WithGinnelevéetched on the cover in silver foiled script.
The pain, the loss, the heartache swept over Mariah, and she did not fight it.
With trembling hands, she took her mother’s journal from Ciana. Tears streaked her face and stained the sands, her magic quiet and shuttered.
“She’s gone,” she whispered into the night breeze. “I failed, and she’s gone.”
“Oh, Mariah,” Ciana whispered back, arms wrapping back around Mariah. “I am so—gods, M, I?—”
“We mourn your loss with you, Mariah,” Delaynie said, tears thick in her own voice. “And we will do so properly once we get you and everyone safe. Right now, there is someone you need to meet.”
Mariah met Delaynie’s fierce, icy stare. From anyone else, those words would have been harsh. Callous. Cold.
But from Delaynie, they were necessary. A reminder of strength when Mariah had none left.