Gilded Serpent by Danielle Jensen (top 10 novels txt) 📕

I can’t.

“You can.” He hauled her to her feet. “One step at a time. One mile at a time. Now walk.”

The sun flew across the sky even as time seemed to crawl, each step a lifetime.

The world faded in and out of focus, her vision pulsing, her head throbbing, her lip bleeding. She’d lost track of the number of times she found herself on her hands and knees in the snow with no memory of falling. Of the times Marcus had forced water down her throat and then hauled her back to her feet. She couldn’t remember when he’d pulled her arm over his shoulder, only that it was there now, him half-carrying her as they staggered up and down the rolling hills.

And behind them, the sun was setting.

Teriana’s toe caught on something hidden beneath the snow, and she staggered, dragging Marcus down with her.

“It’s only two more miles.”

His voice sounded distant, and though she knew he was tugging on her arm, it was as though she were watching it from outside her own body, not feeling it. She was upright, but her knees wouldn’t hold, wobbling and bending and buckling beneath her.

“Come on, Teriana!”

She tried to rise, but the effort made her retch, muscles twisting with spasms, her stomach forcing up bitter bile even as the fit consumed what little strength she had left.

“Get up!”

The snow was soft. Inviting. She curled in on herself, knees under her chin, vaguely aware of Marcus pleading for her to keep going, of the fear in his voice. But sleep was beckoning her. If she could just rest for a few minutes—

A howl split the air, pulling her back to consciousness.

“Teriana, they’re coming! We need to go!”

Marcus had her under the arms, was dragging her through the snow. But he only made it a few yards before he stumbled and fell, rising to his feet only to repeat the motion.

They wouldn’t make it like this. The wolves were too fast.

“Go.” She whispered the word. “Just go. Get back to Celendrial and make Cassius free my people.”

“No!” He gasped out the word. “That’s something you need to do.”

“Please.” They were both going to die out here if he stayed. And that meant her captured people were doomed. That her mother was doomed. “Please go.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Please!” she sobbed, even as the air once again filled with howls, the noise coming from all directions and none.

“No!” He was in her face, tears running down his cheeks. “It’s two miles, Teriana! Are you going to condemn your family because you couldn’t find the energy to crawl two bloody miles?”

She looked away, because it might as well have been two hundred. She had nothing left.

The howls were louder now. She didn’t know why the wolves were being so loud when before they’d always pursued in silence. Perhaps it was because they knew revenge was in sight.

“Your family needs you.” Marcus’s lips pressed against her forehead. “I need you.”

Get up.

She rolled onto her hands and knees.

Move.

She climbed to her feet.

Fight.

The soft thud of paws filled the air, and fear pushed through her exhaustion, adrenaline giving her some strength.

But it was too late.

The wolves were coming up from behind them, minutes away. Seconds.

Marcus pulled his weapon, and Teriana fumbled for her knife, clenching the hilt as she turned.

There were a dozen of them, shapes outlined by the dying rays of the sun. The front-runners bunched their legs, teeth glinting—

Then something shot past Teriana from behind. Wolves, fur black against the white of the snow, raced around her and Marcus, colliding with their pursuers with snarls and flashing teeth.

Another pack.

Teriana stared, fixated on the fight between the enormous creatures, but Marcus pulled on her arm. “This is our chance. Can you walk?”

With the battle raging behind them, Teriana did better than walk. She ran.

 53LYDIA

Being back among the Maarin was both a balm to her soul and a knife to the heart, for as they journeyed, the captain told both her and Dareena what they knew of the fate of the Maarin imprisoned in the Empire, as well as the status of the Empire’s incursion into Arinoquia. And for her part, Lydia told them her own story, Lena and Gwen listening with wide eyes as she explained her flight through the xenthier stem, her meeting Killian, and the deal they’d made.

Of Teriana, the Maarin knew little. Only that she was alive and kept under close guard at all times. But not entirely helpless.

“She managed to secrete a letter out of their camp by way of a healer,” the captain said. “Took some time, but it eventually reached the right hands in Revat.” She gave a rueful shrug. “Kaira rounded up every crew in port at the time and threatened to fill our ships with pig shit if we didn’t break Madoria’s mandate and tell her all that we knew.”

Dareena burst into laughter. “Kaira is a delight.”

“She’s a force not to be denied,” the captain agreed. “Her intent was to turn her eyes to defeating the invaders, but I fear those plans suffered catastrophic disruption with the loss of the fleet in Mudaire’s harbor.”

“That is no coincidence,” Dareena muttered, rubbing her chin. “Lydia, if the legions were to discover and control xenthier paths they could use, how many soldiers could they send to Arinoquia?”

Lydia bit her lip, considering. “They won’t be rash,” she finally said. “They are methodical and strategic in their conquest, and the Senate won’t risk losing control of the provinces for the sake of gaining new territory.”

“A number, Lydia.”

She cursed herself for not having paid more attention to her father’s discussions with his peers. “Ten legions. Somewhere between forty and fifty thousand trained soldiers.”

Dareena’s eyes went distant, then she shook her head. “Kaira could hold back that many. They only have a handful of ships, which means they would need to go by land, and the terrain is bad.” Pointing on the map in front of them, she said, “This is