“No,” Mariana said.
“No,” Gisela echoed.
“Em is the queen of Ruina,” Aren said. “You have never had a monarch marry another monarch. It’s not the same.”
“Princess Mary agreed to these terms,” Danna said.
“I don’t care what the princess of Vallos did,” Gisela said. “Even with most of the Ruined dead, we’re more powerful than Vallos ever was.”
“Emelina conspired with Olso to attack Lera,” Julieta said. “We’re stripping the Lera monarchy of power as punishment for King Salomir’s actions, but there are no consequences for Emelina.”
“We consider the extermination of almost every Ruined alive to be consequence enough,” Aren said tightly.
Em glanced at Cas, swallowing down a lump in her throat. On the one hand, she didn’t necessarily want to be merely a queen consort. On the other, perhaps they had a point. He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.
“You should have talked to me about this before,” he said, turning to the advisers. “Because I don’t agree.”
“Your Majesty—”
“Em and I will have the same powers. If that means you remove more powers from the monarchy, then that’s what you’ll have to do.” He looked at her. “If that’s all right with Em.”
She squeezed his hand in return. “That sounds fair to me.” She turned her gaze to the others at the table, narrowing her eyes. “If you don’t agree, just remember that if I don’t marry Cas, I still remain queen of the Ruined. And I could also run to be a representative of the Ruined in the Lera government. If I did both, some might say I had more power than the king.”
Aren ducked his head into his chest, obviously trying not to laugh.
“Are you threatening us?” Danna asked tightly.
“I was merely stating a fact,” Em said.
“It’s scarier than that when she threatens you,” Mariana said. “You’ll know when it happens.”
Danna looked openmouthed from Julieta to Galo, like she was trying to figure out if Mariana was serious.
“Listen,” Cas said, his tone almost amused. “We’re done comparing. We’ve all done horrible things. Em’s not threatening you; she’s simply pointing out the fact that she is a powerful queen who commands the loyalty of her people and strikes fear into the heart of her enemies. No one like that has ever married a member of the Lera royal family. The rules have to change for her. You can either accept this marriage, or you can run in fear from her like everyone else. It’s your choice.”
FORTY-ONE
OLIVIA STARED AT the spot where two Ruined had been sleeping. They’d left behind the smoking remains of a fire and nothing else—the blankets she’d seen them snuggled into last night were gone.
She blinked and got to her feet. She was still half asleep, and it took a moment for the world to take shape around her.
No horses, no supplies, no food.
No Ruined. They were all gone.
She turned in a circle, her heart pounding in her chest. She found Jovita, bound to a tree, her hair wild and her eyes unfocused.
“They left,” a voice said.
Olivia turned to see Ester ducking under a branch, Carmen and Priscila behind her, bags slung over their shoulders.
“What do you mean, they left?” Olivia barked.
“They were scared you’d hurt them if they told you,” Ester said. “We decided to do you the courtesy of saying good-bye.”
“Good-bye?” Olivia repeated.
“We’re going back to Ruina. There’s no point to . . . this.” She gestured at Jovita when she said it. Ester had done a good job cracking open Jovita’s mind. Just last night she’d spilled all the secrets of the royal family, including the various affairs of her aunt, the queen. They hadn’t gotten anything useful yet, but it was only a matter of time.
“You’re just giving up?” Olivia asked, stunned. First the Ruined followed her useless sister to the Lera castle, of all places, and now the few smart Ruined who’d remained by her side were deserting her. She pointed in the direction of the army they’d been following for days. “They’re preparing for an attack! It won’t be long now.”
“If we go back to Ruina now, we can claim it as ours,” Ester said. “If Emelina claims it, that means Lera has it as well. It should stay in Ruined hands.”
“Of course it should,” Olivia said. “But we can have Lera as well. Then Vallos and Olso after that. We’ll take all four kingdoms back. It was the humans who stole them from us.” She pointed to the east. “The Vallos and Olso armies are right there.”
Ester shook her head. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I want that too, but it won’t happen. There are too few of us to take Lera. Our best course of action is to go back to Ruina and start rebuilding. Maybe in a few generations, after we’ve built up our numbers, we can try again.”
“A few generations?” Olivia gaped at her. She’d be dead. She’d be remembered as nothing but a disgraced queen who was captured, then defeated by her useless sister. The Flores family probably wouldn’t even rule in a few generations, if Olivia failed.
“You can come with us, if you want,” Ester said, throwing a bag over her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose at Jovita. “You can’t bring her, though. Just put her out of her misery already.”
Jovita made no indication that she’d heard Ester talking about killing her. She blinked once, very slowly, then sighed.
Ester started walking, and Priscila and Carmen fell into step behind her. They hadn’t waited for Olivia’s answer.
“You’re just going to let them get away with this?” Olivia yelled at their backs. “Casimir will continue to rule and you don’t even care?”
They didn’t turn around. They kept walking until they were out of sight.
Olivia swallowed back tears. It was quiet suddenly. Too quiet. She hadn’t been alone since . . . since before she was captured. And even then, she was usually around her mother. Or Em.
Fresh anger rolled through her body. She let a scream loose. She didn’t care if the coward Ruined heard it.
She’d failed. Olivia, like her mother, had failed to conquer Lera. She had to admit that.
But she could still make Em pay for what she’d done.
Olivia turned to look at Jovita. She took in a breath to steady herself. Jovita didn’t respond well to anger. Not anymore. Not in the past few days, when Ester had really destroyed her.
Olivia walked to Jovita and sat down across from her. “Hey,” she said gently. “It’s time to wake up.”
Jovita opened one eye. “Wake up,” she repeated. She whispered it twice more.
“Yes. Time to wake up.”
Jovita thought about this for a moment. Then she looked at Olivia like she’d just noticed her sitting there. She rounded her shoulders and shrank back, like she was scared.
Olivia grabbed her canteen. “Do you want some water? Here, I’ll even untie you.”
She reached around Jovita and pulled the ropes loose until she could free her hands. Jovita greedily grabbed the canteen and drank, tipping it back until she got every last drop.
Olivia handed the last of her dried meat to Jovita, who immediately tore off a piece with her teeth.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Olivia said. “Things aren’t going so well for me right now.”
Jovita snorted. She may have lost her mind, but she hadn’t lost her hatred of Olivia.
Olivia gestured around her. “As you can see, everyone has left. I won’t be taking over Lera. But there is one thing I can do.”
Jovita gnawed on her meat and stared at a point beyond Olivia’s head.
“I can sneak into the castle and kill Em. And Cas, if you’d like.”
Jovita’s eyes snapped to hers, but she said nothing.
“How did you get out of the castle, the night the warriors attacked?”
“I’m not telling you that.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows. It seemed Jovita hadn’t completely lost he
r mind after all.
“Why not?” Olivia asked. “If I get in, I’ll kill Casimir. Isn’t that what you want?”
“They’ll kill you,” Jovita said. “There are too many guards. Even you won’t make it out alive.”
That, unfortunately, was true. With Jovita’s help, Olivia could get in, and she could probably kill a lot of people, including Em’s beloved Cas, but she’d never make it out. Even if she managed to kill everyone in the castle, she’d be so weak she’d barely be able to walk. Guards would get her before she made it over the castle walls.
But it was the only plan that didn’t make her want to rip her hair out. She wouldn’t join Em in protecting the people who had killed their mother and father. She wouldn’t sulk back to Ruina to be queen of nothing. Killing Em would make her immortal. The Ruined would always talk about it, how she fought until the very end, all alone, and defeated the greatest Ruined traitor they’d ever known.
“You know how powerful I am,” Olivia said to Jovita. “You don’t think I can kill Casimir? I can kill everyone in that castle.”
Jovita stared at her as she chewed. She blinked several times, like she was seeing something that wasn’t there. It was an aftereffect of a Ruined controlling the mind, especially when the control had gone too far. Jovita would likely see things that weren’t there for the rest of her life.
“Not everyone,” Jovita finally conceded. “I need some guards. And some soldiers.”
“Sure,” Olivia lied.
“And you have to leave when you’re done,” Jovita said seriously.
“Of course.”
Jovita studied her like she knew Olivia was lying. She shrugged. “You couldn’t stay, even if you wanted to. It’s just you now.” She swept her arms out dramatically, perhaps to display just how alone Olivia was. “Can’t run a castle all by yourself, can you?” She laughed.
Olivia swallowed down the urge to take Jovita’s head off right then. “Tell me how to get in.”
“You have to promise not to kill me after I tell you,” Jovita said.
“What’s the point? Would you really believe me if I promised?”
Jovita frowned.
“Listen. I’ll let you go, because, honestly, this state you’re in amuses me more than killing you. But even if I did kill you, wouldn’t you prefer to tell me how to get to the castle first? Either way, I’m going to go kill Em and Casimir. You’re in no shape to take your revenge now, so let me do it for you.”
Jovita chewed on her lip, considering.
“Fine, I promise,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes.
Jovita still seemed skeptical, but perhaps she had enough reasoning left to know what Olivia said was true—if anyone was going to kill Casimir, it was going to be Olivia.
“There’s a secret passageway in the kitchen,” Jovita said. “It ends in one of the lookout towers, but it’s totally hidden from view. Even the guards stationed in the tower don’t know it’s there.”
“How do I find it?”
“Pull up the floorboards.”
“Which tower?”
“Southeast.”
Olivia smiled. “Thank you, Jovita. Ester was right about working with you people.” She grabbed the ropes and stood to secure Jovita to the tree again.
“Hey! I thought you were going to let me go.”
“I will,” Olivia said, and she meant it. She turned to walk in the direction of the Olso and Vallos armies. “I just need to wait for the right moment.”
FORTY-TWO
IRIA SAT ON the edge of her bed, considering how many more days she could stay in this room without losing her mind, when a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!” she called.
The door opened to reveal Aren, holding a wad of clothing and a pair of boots. His expression was so bright and hopeful she felt a smile twitching at her lips.
He dropped the clothes on the bed. Sparring clothes. Her smile faded.
“These are for you,” he said, holding up the boots. “I worked with a few of the guards to make something that would be good for running and sword fighting. It’s just a first attempt, so don’t worry if it’s uncomfortable. We can adjust it.”
He held the boots out to her and she slowly took them. She thought she might feel relief, or hope, at the sight of the boots that were supposed to help her, but all she felt was panic. What if they didn’t make anything easier?
“Thanks,” she said, putting the boots on the floor. “But I’m not feeling great today. Maybe we can do it another—”
“No,” Aren said firmly. “Change into sparring clothes.”
Anger flared in her chest. “I can’t.”
“Of course you can. The doctor said you can start moving around.”
“No, I mean there’s no point. I’ll never need to use a sword again. I’m just going to . . .” She trailed off. She had no idea what she was going to do.
“What? Stay in this room for the rest of your life?” He pointed to the clothes. “I think those will fit you. They’re what the guards wear, and a girl about your size helped me pick some out. So put them on.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“What? Do you want to see if I’ll strip you down and put the clothes on you myself? Don’t test me.”
She eyed him for a moment. He might have been serious.
She let out an annoyed breath. “Are you just going to stand there? Wait outside while I change.”
His lips twitched. “Fine, but if you’re not out in five minutes I’m coming in again.”
She let out an exaggerated sigh just for his benefit. He laughed as he left, closing the door behind him.
She changed her clothes first, and then sat down on the bed to put on the boots. They were plain and black, but inside the right one was padding that formed to the top of her foot. She stood and took a few steps forward. It felt a bit weird, but it was easier to stay balanced with something in the place where her toes used to be.
When she walked out of the bedroom, she found Aren leaning against the back of the chair in the sitting room.
“Do you even use a sword?” she asked.
“Not well, which is why I’m a good person to start with.”
“That makes me feel great.”
“Do you want me to go get Em? Because I’m sure she’d be happy to spar with you.”
Iria made a face at him, because they both knew she didn’t want to spar with Em. With the exception of Cas, Em was probably better than anyone in the castle with a sword. That sounded like a good way to humiliate herself.
Aren opened the door, and Iria hesitated for a moment. “You have to leave this room eventually,” he said. “No one is going to bite you.”
“You sure about that?”
“I’ve been playing cards with the guards. Trust me, if they’ve forgiven me, they don’t care about you.”
She was still skeptical, but she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. If Em and Aren and the rest of the Ruined roamed the castle freely, then she could too.
They walked down the hallway and turned a corner to the sparring rooms. Aren let Iria step into the room first, then he walked in and grabbed two dull sparring swords from the rack.
“No using your powers,” she said as he handed her one of the swords.
“Of course not.” He paused. “Even if you start to fall? I can stop you before you hit the ground.”
“No.”
“No powers, then.”
She shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying to get a feel for the boots. They were rubbing against her heels, but that would be the case with all new boots.
“We’ll start slow.” He shrugged. “I’m always slow, compared to you.”
She raised her sword. He raised his as well and stepped forward.
It only took two blows for Iria to lose her balance. She stumbled backward and landed on her butt, her sword skittering across the floor.
“Well that was pathetic,” she sai
d.
“Then get up and try again.”
He said it kindly, and she was reminded of warrior training, four years ago. A trainer had screamed in her face to get up when she’d fallen once after hours of training. They would have immediately dismissed her for her current attitude.
She used her hands to push off the floor.
They went again, Iria almost poking him in the chest with the sword once, just before she stumbled forward. Aren shot his arm out, grabbing her around the waist before she fell. Her head hit his chest.
“You almost got me that time,” he said.
She looked up to see he was grinning. She extracted herself from his arms, her face warm. “You really are terrible with a sword.”
“I told you.
“Again,” he said, getting back into position.
She steadied herself for a moment, then swung her sword. She was a little slow as she tried to find her balance. The boot was better than she thought, the inserts at the toe of the right foot helping to steady her. It was a little painful, but she found herself steady on her feet much faster than expected.
She took a step back after she pointed her sword straight at Aren’s chest for a third time. “You want to start trying? You don’t have to go so slow.”
“Hey! This is me actually trying.”
She threw her head back with a genuine laugh. “Really?”
“Yes.”
She laughed again.
“I have no use for a sword,” he said with a hint of annoyance, but his lips twitched like he was trying not to smile.
“Sorry.”
“Sure you are. Do you want me to go get Em? She’s not slow.”
“Yes, actually.” She wasn’t going to get anywhere sparring with someone so slow, and the prospect of practicing with Em suddenly didn’t seem so scary.
“Really?”
He looked so happy that she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Yes. I need someone who actually challenges me.”
He darted out of the room like he was afraid she’d change her mind, and returned with Em a few minutes later.