Then she had to figure out what to do with the Ruined following her. She’d torn them from Sacred Rock and they couldn’t go back. It was a pitiful home, but still, she knew that they’d become to grow comfortable there. Now they resented her for making them leave.
She sensed the humans before she was able to see them. A tug on the reins brought her horse to a halt. The Ruined who’d managed to keep up stopped as well.
She jumped off the horse and held out a hand, indicating for the Ruined to stay where they were. Jacobo nodded.
The sound of horse hooves and the rustling of a flag drifted through the trees, and she carefully stepped away from her horse. She walked quickly, the trees growing thicker as she approached the road. A Lera flag flashed through the leaves.
They’d left the fortress. She’d expected them to hide much longer.
Soldiers stretched out on the road in both directions in front of her, and she stood on her toes, trying to see if she recognized anyone. There were hundreds of soldiers, maybe more than she could handle alone. Annoyance flickered through her chest.
She jumped over a log and took off in the same direction as the soldiers. She needed to see who was leading this group. And kill them, maybe.
Cas. She spotted him as soon as she reached the front of the group, riding a horse with a girl tucked up against him. He had one hand on the reins and the other on her waist.
Em looked like she was asleep. Asleep. Surrounded by the Lera army, and her sister slept. Olivia’s relief to find her sister alive was immediately swallowed by a wave of anger.
A familiar face caught her eye. Olivia gasped. Aren. He was riding not far from Cas and Em, on his own horse. No ropes bound his arms or legs. He was riding with them willingly.
Olivia darted behind a bush and sank to her knees. She clenched her fingers into fists.
Aren was helping them. Em had run straight from the warriors to Cas. Traitors, both of them.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. First Em and Aren wanted to partner with Olso. Now they partnered with Lera. A Ruina queen, riding with the Lera army. Olivia’s mother would dig herself out of her grave and die again if she knew.
Her sister would tell her to stop and think. To be logical. Fine. She could be logical.
Cas had risked his life to tell Olivia Em had been taken. He cared about Em. There was no doubt about that.
His army rode north. There was only one reason for the king of Lera to ride north right now—to retake his castle. Considering the size of his army, he had a decent shot. If Aren was truly helping them, the odds were even better.
Em claimed that Cas would end the extermination of the Ruined. That was probably true. For his reign, anyway. He could make no guarantees about the next heir to the Lera throne. She had no confidence in future Lera kings or queens.
Was that all it took to earn her sister’s loyalty? An “oops, sorry” and a promise to stop murdering people? Olivia didn’t see how that was nearly enough. Nothing would be enough, but Cas could have at least offered to help them. Had he sent supplies or workers to help rebuild Ruina? Had he offered funds? Had he done anything to help them rebuild the life his people had destroyed?
No. His regret was not enough for Olivia. Regret did not give her back her mother. It didn’t erase the year of torture she’d endured. No apology, no matter how sincere, was enough for her people. Accepting it would make her weak, and the Ruined would never bow to a weak queen.
And they certainly wouldn’t bow to her if she took them all back to Ruina. Ruina, with its pathetic miner cabins and land where nothing would grow. She didn’t want to be queen of that.
She curled her fingers around the grass beneath her. Lera was green. The elemental Ruined were so much happier here, surrounded by trees and plants and water. She hated to admit it, but Lera was much nicer than Ruina.
Calm washed over her, and she slowly got to her feet. She wasn’t going back to Ruina. The Ruined were staying right here in Lera, where they belonged. It was the humans who had taken the other three kingdoms from them and banished them to the worst one. Her people would never doubt her again if she claimed the most powerful kingdom for them.
She walked back to where the Ruined were waiting. They looked at her expectantly.
“I found Em and Aren,” she said.
“What?” Mariana blinked in surprise.
“They’re with the Lera army.”
“As prisoners?” Jacobo asked.
“I don’t think so. We’re going to follow them. I suspect they’re going to Royal City, and I’d like to see how things play out.”
Ivanna and Mariana looked at each other uneasily.
“If Em is with them, maybe it means they’ve come to an agreement,” Mariana said.
“Probably. But how well did our agreement with Olso work out?”
Mariana snapped her mouth shut.
“Em and Aren are smart,” Olivia said. “They could be riding with the Lera army for safety. I’m not concerned with them right now. I’m concerned with Casimir, and his desire to retake the castle.”
“He can’t,” Jacobo said fiercely.
“No, he can’t,” Olivia agreed. “So we stay out of sight until we get to Royal City.”
“And when we get there?” Jacobo asked.
“We keep them from reclaiming it. And we move in.”
“Let’s stop here,” Cas said, pulling on the reins of his horse. The sun had just set, and they were in a quiet spot of Lera, between the fortress and Gallego City. There was plenty of space to set up tents between the trees, and he could see a stream not far away.
Em took in a breath as she stirred against his chest. He put a hand on her head, brushing the hair out of her face.
Aren jumped off his horse and held the reins out to Iria. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” She dismounted her own horse and took the reins from Aren.
“I’m going to get some stuff together to change her bandages,” Aren said. “Go lay her down somewhere away from everyone else.”
Cas nodded. Violet appeared next to them, her arms extended to help. “Can you get down?” he asked Em.
She winced as she sat up straighter, but took Violet’s waiting hand and slowly climbed off the horse. Cas jumped down and circled an arm around Em’s waist.
“I’m all right,” she said. “I can walk now.” Her voice was still heavy but much clearer than before.
“I’m sure you can. But isn’t it more fun this way?” He tightened his arm around her waist.
She lifted her head. A sad smile crossed her face. “I found you.”
“Were you looking for me?”
“Of course.”
He stopped once they’d put a little distance between them and the rest of the group. He let go of her waist to pull a blanket from his pack, and spread it out on the ground. She slowly sat down on it as Aren appeared. He had his canteen and a small bag with him.
“Why don’t you go wait over there?” Aren said, jerking his head behind him.
Cas glanced down at the bag. “I can do it. Do you want to just give it to me?”
“Aren. Here.” Violet walked up behind them, holding out a fistful of something green. “Is this it?”
“Perfect,” Aren said, putting his bag on the ground and taking the herbs. He shook his head at Cas. “Go back and get everyone settled. Assign some people to watch tonight.”
“But—”
“Cas, trust me,” he interrupted. “You don’t want to do this.”
Cas tried not to let his fear for Em show on his face.
“He’s right.” She looked much calmer than he felt. “I used to do this for him. You’d rather not.”
“I’ll come get you when I’m done,” Aren said, kneeling down beside Em.
“Come on,” Violet said, grabbing Cas’s wrist and tugging him away. He looked over his shoulder as he left, watching as Aren carefully pulled Em’s coat off.
“She’ll
be fine,” Violet said as they walked. “At least it’s only her arm, right?”
He nodded numbly. From behind him, he heard a gasp, followed by a cry. He stopped. He wanted to run back and hold on to Em.
She cried out again. Through the trees, he could see Franco and a few other people look up at the noise.
Cas quickly walked to them, trying to keep his face neutral. “Let’s go ahead and distribute the dried meat. Only half of it. And people are free to wander in the general area if they’d like to pick some fruit, but not too far.”
Franco nodded, his eyes darting behind Cas. “Is she all right?”
“She’ll be fine,” he said, and hoped it was true. He met Franco’s gaze. “You know who that is, don’t you?”
“Emelina Flores.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Not particularly. Sounds like the warriors have officially made enemies of the Ruined. It would be best for their leader to be on our side, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.”
Franco clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Good. If you trust her, I trust her.”
Cas blinked away tears. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted someone to say those words to him until they came out of Franco’s mouth.
He cleared his throat. “Let’s set up a few people to watch. Who should we start with?”
Franco pulled a few men and women from the group, and Cas gave them their watch assignments.
“Whatever happens, you wake up Aren first,” Cas instructed them. “Not me, but Aren.”
“Definitely. I’m way more important than him.” Aren’s amused voice made Cas turn, and he found him and Em walking up behind them. Em had the blanket balled up under her good arm. Her eyes were red, and she smiled weakly at Cas.
“He’s way more important than me,” Cas said.
Aren rolled his eyes as he walked past Cas. “It’s no fun if you agree with me.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way. I’m going to agree with everything you say from now on.”
Aren made a sour face at Cas, but he was clearly trying not to grin. Cas turned to Em and carefully took the blanket from her. “Come on,” he said.
She followed him as he walked to a spot of grass and laid the blanket down. “Aren told me how you guys ended up here together, but I’m still not sure I believe it.”
“No one can resist my charms for very long.” Cas offered her his hand. She waved it off and plopped down on the blanket.
“Ow.” She winced.
“Well, I offered to help.” He sat down next to her. She had a jacket on again, and he couldn’t see her bandages. “How bad is it?”
“Not that bad. Not as bad as Aren’s burns were. And it’s only my arm and some of my shoulder and back.”
“Olivia wouldn’t heal you?”
“She tried. It was chaos.” She lay down on her good side and he stretched out next to her, propping his head on his hand. “The whole royal family is dead except for August. He’s taken the throne.”
Cas tried not to feel bitter about that. He didn’t want to wish death on even his worst enemy, but why August? Of the entire royal family, he was the only one who lived?
“He helped me out of Olso. I think he knew what a mistake he’d made.”
“Really.”
“But I’ve decided not to marry him.”
Cas laughed softly. “What a surprise.”
“Not a good match. I want to strangle him every time I see him, so that might put a damper on our marriage.”
“I don’t know. You managed to work through that with me.”
“True. I did imagine choking you to death with the curtain tie-backs more than once.”
Cas reached forward, brushing his hand down her cheek. “The curtain tie-backs, huh? Smart.”
She caught his hand, brought it closer to her face, and brushed her lips across the backs of his fingers. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“We’re past you wanting to murder me, Em.”
“Not about that. About rejecting you when you offered to stay with me.”
“Don’t be. You were right.”
She dropped his hand, keeping her gaze on it as it fell to the blanket. “I was?”
“It was irresponsible of me to just give up. All these people …” He shook his head. “They were all waiting for me. They assumed I was going to take a stand against Jovita. Imagine how disappointed they would have been if I never came back.”
Em nodded. He scooted a little closer to her, nudging her chin up. He brushed his lips against hers.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish we could have stayed together.” He barely pulled away from her when he said the words. When her lips turned up, he kissed her again.
“I thought you were mad at me,” she said. “You seemed really angry the first time we met after you left.”
“I was. I was embarrassed and confused. Being mad at you seemed like the easiest option.” He brushed her hair away from her forehead, letting his fingers linger. “Violet set me straight.”
“What do you mean?”
“She called me out for trying to torture you by being cold. And for bringing her with me to meet you.”
Em’s eyes flickered to something over his shoulder. “So, uh, you and Violet aren’t …”
“She’s no one’s second choice.”
“What?”
“That’s what she told me. She said she would never be my second choice.”
A smile twitched at Em’s lips. “Have I ever mentioned how much I like Violet?”
“Yeah?” Cas asked with a laugh. “She’s your new best friend?”
“I think so. She just seems really great.”
Cas chuckled, rolling onto his back and holding his arms open. Em scooted forward gingerly and rested her head on his chest. He ran his hand into her hair, kissing the top of her head.
“There’s never been anyone but you, Em.”
FORTY-TWO
EM WOKE UP in Cas’s arms. The sun was starting to rise, and the camp was quiet around her.
Cas’s chest rose and fell with his breath, and she closed her eyes again. She wanted to stay here, with her cheek against his chest, for as long as possible. She snuggled closer to him, letting herself drift off again.
People began stirring as the sun rose higher in the sky. Nearby, a man cleared his throat. She opened one eye, reluctant to move.
“Cas.” It was Galo’s voice.
She let out a sigh and braced her good arm against the ground. Pain shot through her side as she sat up.
Cas rubbed one hand across his eyes and reached for her with the other. He lightly closed his fingers around her wrist and looked at Galo expectantly.
“I’m sorry to wake you, but Franco and Violet need to speak with you, and we need to move soon.”
Cas nodded and sat up. “Give me a few minutes.”
Galo walked away, and Cas got to his feet, extending his hand to her. “How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad.”
“Good.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Do you need help getting ready? I can get someone for you.”
“I’m fine, thanks. I could use a canteen, though, if you have one.”
He reached into his bag and grabbed one, holding it out to her. “You can keep that one.”
She smiled as she took it. He walked past her, brushing his hand against hers as he went. She curled her fingertips around his, holding on for an extra second.
His hand fell out of her grasp and she walked to the stream to fill the canteen and splash water on her face. When she returned, Aren was leaning against a tree, watching Cas talk to Violet and Franco. Iria stood next to him.
“You look better,” Iria said to Em.
“Thanks.” Em regarded Aren curiously. “What happened to the rest of the warriors you were with? Clara? Santino?”
“Clara and Santino were killed,” Aren said. “I would have been too, if i
t weren’t for Iria.” He reached out like he was going to take her hand, but seemed to think better of it. “She’s going to stay with us.”
With us? With the Ruined? Not if Olivia had anything to say about it.
“Aren, can we talk for a minute?” Em asked.
“Sure.” He took a few steps away from Iria, and she turned and walked to her horse.
Em looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was nearby and leaned closer to Aren. “Are you planning on staying with Cas?”
Aren’s forehead creased. “What do you mean? I’m only staying with him if you are. I assumed you wanted to find Olivia.”
“I do. But … you didn’t see her, Aren. There was no reasoning with her. She was just killing everyone.”
“How is that different than usual?”
“It was.”
“Are you thinking of staying with Cas permanently?”
“Of course not. Olivia needs someone to talk her down. And I won’t desert the Ruined.”
Aren nodded.
“I want to stay with Cas until they reach Royal City. You could be a big help in retaking the castle,” she said.
“Are we sure we want to help them do that?”
“Yes, and not just for Cas. We’re officially at war with Olso now. We do not want the warriors taking over Lera.”
“Right. Enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all that.”
“So let’s stay with Cas long enough to see him back in the castle and make sure Jovita is out of the picture. I’m sure we’ll hear news of Olivia and the rest of the Ruined by the time we reach Royal City.” She glanced at Iria. “But when we find Olivia, I’m not sure she’s going to take kindly to Iria.”
“I’ll explain how she saved me,” Aren said.
“I don’t know if she’ll listen. You may want to talk to Iria about staying in Lera and helping Cas.”
“I don’t think she’ll do it. She betrayed the warriors for me and the Ruined, not for Lera.”
“I know. But it may be the safest choice, at least until things settle down.”
Aren rubbed a hand across his neck, a pained expression crossing his face.