“I didn’t, I was just being a jerk. I was scared that night, with you guys arriving and having August and the warriors and Olivia in Sacred Rock. I just wanted you all to leave before Em got more attached to Cas.”
Galo couldn’t blame him for that. He’d also wondered if seeing Em again would just make things even more painful for Cas.
“It is best that you quit, though,” Aren said. “Cas would jump in front of a sword for you, and that’s the exact opposite of what you want, as a guard.”
Galo laughed softly. “True.”
“Plus it’s really boring.”
“You were barely on the Lera guard long enough to get bored,” Galo said with an eye roll.
“But I still did. That should tell you something.” He smiled at Galo. “Em’s with the Ruined right now. Do you have anything urgent to tell her?”
“We’re pretty sure Jovita has partnered with Olso and Vallos and will be attacking the Ruined soon.”
“Wow. Even Vallos this time, huh?”
“You don’t seem upset by this news,” Galo said with a hint of amusement.
Aren shrugged. “Business as usual. They’re not attacking right this minute, are they?”
“We think they’re still in Olso. We’ve set up a pretty good system to get messages back to the castle as quickly as possible, so we should have some notice.”
“All right. I’ll let Em know. Do you need anything?”
“I’m fine. I may need some food tomorrow, though. I’m going to stay a couple of days, then return to check on everything in the castle.”
“I’ll grab something for you.” He took a step back. “If you need me, I’m in the big blue house on the north side of Market Street. It’s far from where Olivia is staying, but still, I’d only come in an emergency.”
“Thanks, Aren.” Galo watched as Aren disappeared into the trees, the quiet closing in around him again. He leaned his head back with a sigh and tried not to think about Mateo.
THIRTEEN
EM SLOWLY WALKED away from Westhaven, Aren by her side. She glanced over her shoulder several times, squinting in the late-afternoon sun, but no one followed them. She hadn’t been able to slip away to see Galo last night, but Olivia had finally gone to the courthouse with Jacobo.
“What are we going to do if Jovita and her army come for us?” Aren asked. He’d relayed his conversation with Galo from last night to her. “Can we fight off a large army ourselves?”
Em swallowed. An idea had started to form, but it was so horrible she wasn’t sure she could say it out loud. Once she said it, the betrayal of her sister would be complete. She could never go back.
“I’m surprised August is partnering with Jovita,” she said, to avoid answering. “Last time I saw him I got the impression he’d realized that attacking Olivia never goes well.”
“He probably took some time to think about it and remembered she murdered his entire family.”
“Right,” Em said quietly.
They ducked under a low branch and found Galo sitting on his pallet on the grass. He’d clearly heard them coming, and he waved as they approached. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Aren sat down and crossed his legs. “No problems during the night?”
“No problems. I didn’t see anyone.”
Em dropped the bag she’d brought to the ground and knelt down to open it. She grabbed the books first, three hardcovers she’d picked from the abundant bookshelves in her house.
“Here,” she said, holding them out to him. “I know you’re going back tomorrow, but I thought you might be bored.”
“Thank you,” he said with a hint of surprise.
She pulled out the cloth bundle tucked into the side of the bag and handed that over as well. “It’s just some bread and cheese and dried meat.”
“Thank you,” he said again. “What is your food situation like over there?”
“Good.” She sat down across from him and crossed her legs. “There aren’t many of us, and the shops were well stocked. Though it turns out we don’t have anyone who knows how to make bread. We had a few disasters in the bakery.”
Galo grabbed the roll she’d given him. “It looks fine.”
“We found some recipes and figured it out, but it’s still not quite right,” Aren said. “Edible, though.”
He tore off a chunk and chewed. “Tastes good to me.”
“Galo said Cas has been letting people come into the castle to ask him questions about the Ruined,” Em said to Aren.
Aren lifted his eyebrows. “How is that going?”
“Um, I don’t know. Everyone in Royal City knows you stopped Olivia from storming the castle the night we took it back, so they’re intrigued, at least.”
“Barely,” she said.
“Barely?” Galo repeated.
“I barely stopped Olivia from storming the castle.” She focused on a spot on the ground. “I’m not sure I can stop her again.”
“Together we can,” Aren said with a confidence Em doubted he actually felt. “It exhausts her to use her powers on me, and she can’t use them on Em at all.”
“Are you completely sure she can’t use her Ruined power on you? She healed you once, didn’t she?” Galo asked.
“I let her.”
“But has she ever really tried to use her power on you against your will?”
“I . . . I guess not.” Em glanced at Aren. “Has she?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Have you ever tried?” Galo asked.
“I haven’t.” Aren lifted his eyebrows in silent question to Em.
“Sure,” she said. “Give it a shot.”
Aren focused his gaze on her, and several quiet seconds passed. “I’m trying to move your arm. You don’t feel anything?”
“No.”
“That’s good,” Galo said.
Em and Aren exchanged a look. It was good, but they were clearly both thinking the same thing—had Olivia already tried to use her powers on Em? The thought made her feel sick to her stomach.
“Do you have any other information from Cas for us?” Em asked, to stall the conversation about Jovita and Olso a bit longer.
“We tossed around some ideas about Olivia I’m supposed to relay to you. Fair warning, some of them might be upsetting,” Galo said.
She didn’t see how anything could be more upsetting than what was already going on in her head. She reached up to rub her thumb across her necklace and found nothing around her neck. She quickly dropped her hand. “Tell me.”
Galo took a deep breath. “Right. First, she needs to see to use her power, right? What if she couldn’t see?”
“You mean blind her,” Em said.
“Yes.”
“It would only slow her down for a while,” Aren said. “I’ve known Ruined who went blind. Eventually they learn to use their other senses. Some of the Ruined who can control the mind don’t even need to be able to see the person at all, they just sense them nearby.”
“Oh.”
“And it would just enrage Olivia. Not to mention she would never forgive Em for trying to weaken her power.”
“It’s too bad, I was thinking it might be a way for her to live a normal life. If she didn’t have her powers anymore, she’d have to, I don’t know, start using her words.” One side of Galo’s mouth lifted.
Em let out a short laugh. “That’ll be the day.” She leaned back, bracing her hands on the ground behind her. “What else?”
“We could give Olivia Olso.”
“It’s not really ours to give.”
“I just meant we don’t do anything to stop her from invading Olso. You step down as queen, let her rule by herself, in exchange for her going back to Olso.”
“She would kill a lot of people. And it’s only a temporary fix. She’d eventually come back,” Em said.
“There’s always the option of warning Olso. Their technology is beyond Olivia. If they knew she was coming . . .”
They’d k
ill her. Em gripped the grass beneath her fingers. Was there a plan that didn’t end in Olivia’s death?
“What are your other options?” she asked.
“Put her back in a prison. If you’re right, and she can’t use her powers on you, you can get her inside a cell.”
“She’d have to be there indefinitely. And there’s the problem of the Ruined loyal to her. You’d have to lock them up too or risk them breaking her out.”
“Are there a lot?”
“A good number, yes. And their powers are growing. Anything else?”
He picked a piece of grass and twisted it around his finger. “I had an idea of my own. But can it just be between us?”
Em lifted her eyebrows. “Sure.”
“What if you gave her part of Lera? Like we divided it into northern and southern Lera, and Olivia gets the south to rule as she pleases. We’d let any Lerans who want to leave relocate, of course.”
“You’d displace thousands of people,” Em said.
“It’s better than Olivia killing them.”
“I don’t think it would help. She would eventually attack the north. If not now, then in ten, twenty years. We’d always be waiting for it.”
“We?” Galo repeated with a smile. “Does that mean you’d stay with Cas in the north?”
Em turned her gaze to the ground. Her immediate response was yes. She wanted to stay with Cas. She couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud, though. It seemed like a worse betrayal of the Ruined, to actually say it.
“Is Cas as king the only thing Olivia really objects to?” Galo asked. “You said the Ruined siding with you wanted Cas to give up the throne, but would that calm Olivia?”
“She’ll never let any human rule over her,” Em said. “They’re wrong to ask Cas to give up his throne. The Lerans need him.”
“Good,” Galo said, a little relieved. “I wasn’t saying he should. Cas will be a much better king than his father. The best king we’ve ever known, maybe. But I think it’s right to remove some of the power from the monarchy.” He said the last part quietly.
“You do?”
“It’s not that I don’t have faith in Cas, I do, but . . .”
“Of course,” Em said.
“But I did wonder whether it’s right to let Lera continue as they always have, considering all that’s happened. The Gallegos committed genocide. It wasn’t Cas’s decision, but sometimes we pay for the mistakes of our family. You and Cas do, anyway,” Galo said.
Em laughed hollowly. “You mean your parents have never started a war or killed a bunch of people just because they didn’t like them?”
“Um, no.”
“Wow. What must that be like?”
“Less dramatic.” He chuckled, but his eyes were sad, and worry seized her chest suddenly. Aren seemed to notice too, and his eyebrows furrowed.
“Are they . . . are they all right?” Aren asked. “Do your parents live in Royal City?”
“A bit north. They’re fine. I visited them recently.”
Em released a breath. “Good.”
“Is capturing Olivia the best option, then?” Galo asked. “It’s the only one we seem to have so far.”
“We can’t,” Em said. “We’re really going to lock up the Ruined like Cas’s father did? Death would be kinder.”
Aren looked at her expectantly. He knew she had an idea she wasn’t saying.
She ran her hands down her face, Gisela’s words ringing in her ears. Olivia has a long-term plan. Em still didn’t have anything concrete—they were preparing to partner with Cas, and the Lera soldiers were gathering Weakling, but she still didn’t have a solid plan to tell the Ruined. She knew they were waiting. She knew she had to make a decision, even if that decision would lead to more death.
“I have an idea,” she said quietly, to the ground. “But it’s horrible.”
“What?” Aren asked.
“If the army is really coming for us, like the Lera spies say it is, then we could tell Olivia. We don’t wait for the humans to attack us; we let Olivia lead us into battle. She would jump at the opportunity.”
“She would,” Aren said, his forehead crinkling in confusion. “But what would that accomplish?”
“We wouldn’t actually fight. I think I could get at least half the Ruined to abandon her right when the battle starts. We make a run for it, leaving Olivia and her supporters to fight the army on their own.”
“Could you actually make it out?” Galo asked. “Once the battle starts, it might be too intense. You may have no choice but to fight.”
“It could happen, but if we position ourselves right, we could make it out. Especially with Aren on our side. And Olivia is always at her most deadly when a battle begins. She’s at full strength, and we’ll hopefully be surprising the army. It should be possible to slip away if we plan it right.”
“But if we left them . . .” Aren let his voice trail off.
“They would all die,” Em whispered. Olivia would die.
It was quiet for a moment before Galo spoke. “It would take care of two problems at once. Olivia might kill so many Olso and Vallos soldiers that they simply give up and go home. And Olivia might not make it out alive.”
“There’s a very good chance Olivia wouldn’t make it,” Em said. Her throat was starting to close up, and it was hard to talk. “She’s powerful, but she can’t take on an entire army with only a handful of Ruined. She’d barely be able to do it with all of us.” She looked at Aren. “It’s horrible, right?”
“It’s horrible,” he said quietly. “But there’s no way this ends without Olivia’s death.”
Tears burned her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. They fell anyway. Galo looked at the ground.
“Is it a stupid idea?” she asked. “Maybe I should just kill her tonight and save us all the trouble.”
“Em, no one would ever ask you to do that,” Aren said. “I would never do that.”
“How is it different? If we do this, we’re going to lead her—and dozens of other Ruined—to their deaths. It will be our fault.”
“She’ll fight them sooner or later,” Aren said. “It’s a good plan, Em. We have to deal with the army eventually, it might as well be now, when they can help us take care of Olivia.”
Em roughly wiped the tears off her cheeks.
“You could present her with an option,” Galo said after a few moments of silence. “Tell her the army is coming, and let her decide between going back to Ruina, or fighting them. Maybe the threat of another attack this soon will finally scare her.”
She let out a long breath and shook her head. “Never. She’ll be delighted to fight them.”
“Then . . .” Aren winced. “I hate to say it, but we gave her plenty of chances. We’ve pleaded with her to go back to Ruina. It’ll be her decision, Em.”
It would be Olivia’s decision, but she’d make it thinking Em would help. Olivia would be devastated by that kind of betrayal from Em. Even if her sister somehow made it out alive, she would never speak to Em again. It would be the end of their relationship.
“This is it, then?” she asked hollowly. “Is this the plan Galo takes back to Cas?”
“I think it is,” Aren said.
“Well, there’s one more option,” Galo said. “You can come back to Royal City with me tonight, and let Olivia do whatever she wants. Jovita is definitely coming for her anyway, regardless of whether Olso decides to help. Cas won’t mind if you and some of the other Ruined just want to leave her now. I think he’d be relieved, actually.”
Em closed her eyes briefly. It was tempting. But she knew Olivia—as soon as Em was gone, she’d round up the remaining Ruined and head to the next city. And she’d kill everyone. She’d start with the nearby cities, like she said, then head up north. Galo had just said his parents lived north. He didn’t understand what he’d just suggested to Em.
Or maybe he did, but he didn’t think Em cared to save a bunch of humans she didn’t know. She
wouldn’t blame him for thinking that. It seemed unlikely that any Ruined would want to save a Leran.
“Too many people will die,” she said. Galo didn’t look surprised by her answer. Maybe he’d never expected her to take that offer at all.
“Then . . . ?” Aren prompted.
She swallowed and took a step back. She needed this conversation to be over. She needed a few minutes to scream and cry. “How are we going to say we got this information when Olivia asks?” Em asked.
“Me,” Aren said. “I’ll leave for a couple of days. I’ll go with Galo to Royal City, to talk to Cas. Olivia won’t think it’s strange if I just disappear. She already knows I hate her. I’ll come back saying I heard the plan from someone.”
“Will she buy that?” Galo asked.
“She might be suspicious, but she’s not going to turn down the chance to head off an army. Killing humans is Olivia’s favorite pastime.”
Em took in a shaky breath. “We may need help from the Lera army, to get away at the right moment once the battle starts. Will Cas provide assistance?”
“We can ask,” Aren said softly.
She nodded and turned away before her eyes filled with tears again. “Do it.”
FOURTEEN
“SO WE’D BE sending them to their deaths.”
Aren looked at Patricio, who was looking at Em with a horrified expression on his face. Em stared at the floor.
“It’s the best idea we have,” Aren said. A group of about twenty Ruined were gathered in Mariana’s sitting room, squeezed onto couches and spread out on the floor, and they all gawked at him. He sat next to Em on the floor, their backs to the wall.
“If you have any other suggestions, please speak now,” Em said quietly.
Patricio pushed two hands through his dark hair. Beside him, Gisela put a hand on his knee. “I think it’s a good plan,” she said, her tone more gentle than usual.
“There are already so few of us,” Selena protested. She was next to Ivanna on the couch. “The Ruined are going to be completely extinct if we keep dying.”
“We’re going to be extinct if we let Olivia continue,” Aren said. “The Olso and Vallos armies are coming, either way. And Cas will be forced to turn on us eventually, if we let Olivia run wild.”