“I prefer to think of it as optimism,” Cas said. He was smiling as if he already knew what Aren’s answer would be.
Aren let out a short laugh, hardly believing the next word out of his mouth, even as he said it. “Fine. But only until I find Em.”
“Deal. I need a day to get everything together. Can you wait?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know the creek just south of here?”
“I do.”
“Violet and a few guards will meet you there tomorrow, by sunset.” He looked at Violet for confirmation and she nodded.
Yells sounded from outside, and Aren reached for the doorknob. “Sounds like they found your guard in his underwear. I should go.”
“Thank you, Aren. Don’t kill anyone on the way out.”
“I’ll try.” He pulled the door open and darted into the hallway.
“Get the guards together now!” a voice shouted.
He jogged down the stairs, his eyes on the door. People all around him were running and shouting. Someone sucked in a gasp.
“It’s him!” a vaguely familiar guard pointed a shaky finger at Aren. “One of the bad Ruined!”
Aren would have laughed if he didn’t have to concentrate. He tossed the guard out of his path with one quick look and sprinted to the door. Several people moved out of his way, fear etched across their faces. A woman put herself in his path, sword drawn, and he simply scooted her across the floor to the other side of the fortress.
He ran out the door and across the lawn. He could still barely feel the effects of using his magic, and he grinned as he tossed a guard away from the gate.
“Let him go!” he heard Cas yell from behind him.
He ran away from the fortress and into the woods, daring a few glances over his shoulder. They weren’t following him.
He slowed when he was far enough away from the fortress to feel relatively safe, and came to a stop under the tree where he’d been earlier. He tilted his chin up to find Iria climbing down. She hit the ground lightly.
“Is everything …” She trailed off, cocking her head. “Why are you smiling like that? Was Em there?”
“No. They called me ‘the bad one.’ I thought it was funny.”
“The bad one? Rude.”
“You don’t think I’m one of the bad ones?”
“No!”
“I think by ‘bad’ they mean powerful.”
“Hmph.” She smiled. “I guess by this expression that everything went well?”
“Yes, but I did something you might not like.” He explained the plan quickly, Iria’s expression turning more and more confused as he laid it out for her.
“We’re joining the Lera army?”
“Temporarily. Just until I find Em.”
“Uh …”
“You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want. I’ll understand.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m sticking with you.”
He tried not to grin too widely. “Good.” He glanced back at the fortress. “We should put some space between us and the fortress. Cas probably will have to send some people out looking for me.”
Iria nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling out his clothes. She turned away as he changed. He left the guard’s uniform crumpled on the ground.
“You’re really not insulted when people call you bad?” Iria asked, falling into step beside him as they began walking south.
“I’m used to it.” He paused. “I, uh, would be bothered if someone I knew was scared of me. Like you.”
“You know I’m not scared of you. Remember when I visited the Ruina castle a few years ago?”
“Yes. We didn’t spend much time together then, did we?”
“No. Because I called you a cocky miscreant.”
He let out a laugh, the memory taking shape in his head. “That’s right. Wait, miscreant? You called me a miscreant?”
“I did. I don’t think it fits, does it?”
“Not really. I think I would have preferred ‘jerk.’ Or ‘cad.’” He scanned the area, but there were still no soldiers to be seen. They were probably preparing for an attack. “Why did you call me that, again?”
“I challenged you to a duel and you said sword-fighting was for peasants.”
“I did?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry. I was a cocky miscreant.”
“It’s all right. I actually kind of liked that about you.”
“CASIMIR!” Jovita’s voice rang through the fortress as she stomped across the entryway to where he stood in the doorway. “Why was there just a Ruined in here?”
“I don’t know.” He gestured to where Galo stood on the lawn with a few guards. “Organize a search. Bring him alive if you find him. I have questions.”
“How much Weakling do we have?” Jovita asked.
“Very little,” a solider replied. “We can shoot out one cannon, and it will be light.”
“We should save it,” Cas said. “We won’t be able to get into Ruina anytime soon to get more.”
“I know,” Jovita snapped. She turned back to the soldier. “No Weakling for now. Everyone keep watch. I want an update every hour.”
Cas brushed past her. “I’m sure my guards can give you an update after they give me one.”
Jovita followed him, her footsteps so heavy he thought she must be channeling her anger into her feet. “That was Aren,” she hissed.
“I heard.”
Jovita grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and face her. She jabbed a finger at his chest. “I know he talked to you.”
“He came to my room, yes, but luckily my guards discovered something was wrong before he could harm me.”
“I’m not an idiot, Cas. I know that Ruined was trying to communicate with you.” She was having a hard time not yelling, and Cas could barely keep himself from grinning. Watching his cousin lose her grasp on the situation was the most fun he’d had in days.
“Aren hates me,” he said. “He’s made it clear a number of times. I don’t know why he’d want to talk to me. I’m sure he came here to kill me.”
“Cas.” Jovita said his name like she was talking to a small child. “We have to work together. If that Ruined is planning something and you don’t tell me—”
“If Aren is planning something, don’t you think it would be wildly stupid to waltz inside the fortress and let everyone know?”
“Then why was he here?” Jovita yelled.
He lifted his shoulders. “If we catch him, we’ll ask him. But he left without killing anyone, so I think we should count ourselves lucky.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please, Cas.”
“In the meantime, we should order everyone to stick close to the fortress. No more scouts after this batch of guards gets back. I’m sending Violet and a few guards to check on the status of the southern province, but other than that, we’re all staying put.”
Jovita eyed him suspiciously. “You were just in the southern province.”
“I know, but Violet wanted to go back, and it is her territory. I didn’t feel right ordering her to stay here.”
“You’re the king. Learn how to order people, Cas.”
“I’ll work on that.” He smiled at her. “I’ll see you later, Jovita.”
He walked away, finding Mateo standing in the entryway. Cas beckoned him over, and gestured for Violet to follow him as well. He led them into the parlor and closed the door behind them.
“Violet is leaving for Franco’s tomorrow,” he said to Mateo. “Will you go with her?”
“Yes,” Mateo said immediately.
“You’ll be meeting Aren and Iria on the way. They’ll accompany you.”
“Aren and Iria,” Mateo repeated.
“Is the answer still yes?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll get you the fastest horses we can. I want everyone here and ready to march within days.” He looked at Violet. “Can you do that?”
“I can do
that.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
OLIVIA STARED AT the line of warriors in the distance, guarding the Olso border. Did they really think that was enough to stop her?
Behind the warriors were the tallest mountains she’d ever seen. It wasn’t snowing where she was, but the peaks of the mountains were white. She hoped they didn’t have to cross them to get to the Olso castle.
Jacobo stood beside her, his eyes wide with excitement as he surveyed the warriors. Behind her were about two hundred Ruined, almost everyone they’d had in Sacred Rock. Most appeared more scared than excited. They didn’t have anything to be scared of.
Olivia wasn’t happy her sister had been kidnapped, but she couldn’t help the thrill of excitement that shot up her spine. This was her opportunity to show the Ruined she deserved to lead them. She was finally the one doing the rescuing, instead of being the weak one sitting in a cell. Once she defeated the warriors, the Ruined would never doubt her again.
Ivanna fell into step beside her. “You know what Em would do in this situation, right? She would negotiate.”
“Em would negotiate because she’s useless. It’s her only option.”
“It’s not her only option, it’s the one she thinks is best.”
“I’m not Em.”
“You’re certainly not,” Ivanna muttered.
Olivia whirled around. Ivanna took a step back and the rest of the Ruined stopped. Her anger must have been splashed across her features, because several of them avoided her gaze.
“If you don’t want to be here, you can leave,” she spat. “I’m sure Ivanna would be happy to lead you back to Sacred Rock.”
“I’m here to rescue my queen,” Ivanna said quietly.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing! And I’d like to point out that I never wanted help from the warriors. Em wouldn’t be in this mess if she’d listened to me.”
Ivanna turned her eyes to the ground, but several of the Ruined nodded in agreement.
“Nothing is up for discussion anymore,” Olivia said. “I am your queen, and you will do as I say without question. If you have a problem with that, you can go back to Lera and fend for yourself.”
No one moved. She had to resist the urge to look smug. “Good. We are no longer friends with the warriors. Any of them. You will kill all of them on sight. You may take anything you like, but we’ll focus on supplies after we’ve killed the royal family.” Maybe they could even take the castle. She’d never pictured herself living in Olso, but it wasn’t the worst idea. It wasn’t that far from Ruina, and she wouldn’t have to wait years for her own castle to be built.
She looked at the Ruined seriously. “Get behind me and pick off the warriors I miss.”
She turned and strode toward the warriors. The Ruined followed her.
She glanced down the line of red-clad men and women. They didn’t even have the decency to look nervous. Most of them watched the approaching Ruined with interest, like they didn’t think they had a reason to be scared.
Olivia curled her fingers into a fist. She could fix that.
A warrior stepped forward as she approached. “Your Majesty. We have—”
He flew through the air, his screams fading as he shot away from them. One by one, Olivia lifted the warriors into the air and tossed them away. Faces twisted with horror. A few tried to run.
That would teach them not to be afraid of her.
She lifted the last few warriors off the ground and shot them through the air. In the distance, the bodies thudded as they hit the ground.
“That track leads to the castle,” Mariana said, pointing to metal in the dirt. It disappeared in the distance. “I took the rail-car the first time I was here, but it doesn’t look like it’s here.”
Olivia blew out a frustrated breath. There were a few horses tied to a post, but she couldn’t jump on one and abandon the rest of the Ruined. They needed her protection.
She started toward the tracks. “We’ll go by foot.”
A stern-faced woman showed Em to her room. It was impressively big, with a giant bed covered by a fluffy white blanket, a tall wardrobe, and a table along one wall. Fruit, bread, and tea sat on the table, and her stomach growled at the sight.
“Your clothes are in the wardrobe,” the woman said. She stood in front of the door, arms crossed over her chest. “A girl will be in shortly with water for your bath. In the meantime, yell if you need anything.” She left, pulling the door closed behind her. The click of the lock echoed across the room.
Em grabbed a piece of bread and opened the wardrobe drawer. Two pairs of pants and two red tunics hung inside. She sighed, thinking of her pretty dresses in Lera. She wondered if they were still there.
A young woman brought her bathwater and left without saying a word. The water was freezing cold, and Em bathed quickly and put on the clothes. They were soft and comfortable and had two crossed swords—the symbol of Olso—stitched onto the left side. She rolled her eyes. No doubt Lucio had thought he was hilarious.
A knock sounded at the door, and she blew out an annoyed breath.
“I’m locked in, you idiots!” she yelled.
A man chuckled, and the lock clicked. The door opened to reveal George.
“Hello. I’ve been appointed to give you a tour of the castle before dinner. We thought you might hate me slightly less than my brothers.”
“What gives you that impression?”
“Well, I haven’t kidnapped you or threatened to invade your kingdom, so I must be better than August or Lucio.”
“Barely.”
“Wonderful. Follow me.”
She considered refusing, but she really needed to get an idea of how the castle was laid out. Maybe she could even find a sword to take August’s head off.
She trudged out of the room behind George. Two warriors stood outside her door, and they stood up straighter when she appeared.
“Let’s start in the east wing,” George said as they walked down the stairs. “I think you’ll like it.”
They walked through the open room at the bottom of the stairs where Em had first come in. The castle buzzed with noise as they started down the dim hallway. Chatter and laughter followed her, and she cast a look over her shoulder to see a child dart past and disappear.
George opened a door and sunlight flooded the hallway. She stepped inside to find a large room with art hung on almost every space of wall. There was a seating area in the middle, but from the looks of the pristine red chairs, it wasn’t used often.
A tall painting immediately caught her eye. It was on the wall to her left, so big it ran floor to ceiling. The woman in the painting wore an elaborate black dress and lace gloves, her dark hair loose around her shoulders. She had one hand on her waist, and she stared out of the painting with a look that was somehow both amusement and disgust. Em knew the expression well. It was her mother.
“Why do you have a portrait of my mother?” She strode across the room to it.
“It was a gift.”
“From who?”
“From Wenda Flores.”
Em tried to hold back a laugh. “My mother sent you a painting of herself?”
“She was a special kind of woman, wasn’t she?” George asked with a grin.
That was one way to put it. She tilted her chin up to stare at her mother’s face. It was a good likeness of her, and Em expected a surge of sadness. Instead, she shifted uncomfortably and rubbed a finger across her necklace. Olivia looked very much like their mother. They were so alike, in so many ways.
“When did she send this?” she asked.
“It’s been almost ten years, I think. My father loved it. He thought it was hilarious.”
“Really.”
“He did. He had it on display in his library for a while. He showed it to everyone.”
“Nothing like an alliance with Wenda Flores to terrify guests.”
George chuckled. “Exactly. But Lucio is less fond of it. He had it moved in here. He says her ex
pression makes him uncomfortable.”
“I’m sure that was her goal,” Em murmured.
“Come on. Lots more to see. You can come back in here after dinner, if you’d like.”
She followed him out of the room, looking over her shoulder at the painting as she left. Truth be told, her mother’s expression made her a little uncomfortable as well.
George led her around the castle, to the meeting rooms and ballrooms and training rooms (there were many of those). She spotted a letter opener on a desk in one of the meeting rooms and pocketed it. She could cut open August’s neck with it, if she really put some muscle into it.
The family was already seated when George took her to the dining room. A servant led her to the chair between Lucio and his wife.
“How was the tour?” Lucio asked.
“It’s not nearly as nice as the Lera castle,” she said with a smile. Across from her, August rolled his eyes.
“That’s our castle now anyway,” he said.
A staff member put a plate of food in front of her. Em picked up her knife and stabbed the chicken with more force than was necessary.
“The chicken is already dead, Em,” August said. This elicited a round of laughter from his brothers and their spouses.
“I was pretending it was your face,” she said to August.
George threw his head back and howled. “I like her, Auggie. It’s too bad you couldn’t convince her to marry you.”
“I shouldn’t have had to convince her of anything,” August said.
Em cocked an eyebrow at him. August laid his fork down, leveling his gaze with hers.
“Uh-oh,” Dante said. The second-youngest Olso prince snickered as he looked between them.
“You should have been grateful I wanted to marry you,” August said.
“Yes, yes, I know. You were such a kind soul to agree to marry me, and I should fall at your feet and thank you for kidnapping me.”
August’s nostrils flared. “Betrayal has a price.”
“You’re all about to find out just how high that price is,” Em said.