Daughters of Ruin
Page 23
So much of what Cadis wanted was born of understanding the world as a giant theater for the gods. She wanted Iren to exclaim her feelings, to be a fountain of emotion. To rend garments and shout, “Sister!” to a sky that Iren knew for certain did not give a damn.
She wanted to know Iren loved her.
“Just go,” said Cadis. Iren made an awkward crab step over Cadis’s legs and sat down next to her. Like before, when they’d first met. Iren hoped speeches wouldn’t be necessary. She tucked her head into Cadis’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt Cadis sobbing. She wiped her own eyes.
They weren’t kidnapped little girls anymore. They didn’t need to hold each other to survive a night.
They had killed and grown and escaped.
They were queens now.
And when they left the room, they would have new allegiances: Cadis to her rebel dream of rule by the people, Iren to the academy. It had always been to the academy and her mother.
Soon Rhea would take the throne of Meridan and fight them all. She was Declan’s blood. Suki would ride to war just to win Endrit.
War was coming. Only sisters could stop it.
But they were not sisters.
Iren wished she could apologize for being the less loving one. For being so hard. “Thanks for being my friend,” she said, remembering their first night and wondering if Cadis would remember it the same.
“Just go,” said Cadis.
Iren got up. She snapped her fingers, and the shinhound ran to her side.
“Don’t let Rhea take the midlands,” she said. Hypatia and the rebels wanted bloodshed. Cadis should have been consolidating her power instead of giving it up to the vote of the uneducated, self-interested, and untrained.
Iren wanted to say all of this.
Somehow the words wouldn’t form.
“Don’t worry,” said Cadis. “I won’t look for assistance from the Corentine.”
“That’s not—”
It wasn’t what Iren meant.
Cadis groaned as she got herself up to go tend to Jesper.
“You have safe passage through Findain,” she said with her back turned.
Iren turned and left the room.
The shinhound followed.
She hoped her mother would be happy to see her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Rhea
For ten short years, Rhea had three sisters and she loved and hated them. She sat at the great round oaken table of their shared space as the sun rose and remembered it all.
Cadis, a gallant beauty, mounting the table and belting her orations, as if she stood in the Findish theater.
Iren, silent as the zephyr, cutting as the gale, sitting on three stacked books to see her glasswork on the table.
Suki, full of fuss and fear and fire, in turns vaulting across the chairs and pouting underneath the table.
It was all a ruin now.
Her father—king or usurper, guardian or prison guard, peacekeeper or villain—sat now in the dungeon awaiting trial. Would he get justice or vengeance from Endrit? The lost heir, returned from the grave—already beloved by the people, already plotted against by the nobles.
And what am I?
Just another for Endrit?
When they released Marta, she confirmed the history. The dragoons secured the castle immediately. Such transitions were bloody seasons. He would be inaccessible until magisters could verify the crest of Kendrick and Valda, until declarations could be made to all others.
Rhea sat at the table waiting to lose a throne she had never owned by rights in the first place.
Oddly, she did not mind.
Oddly, she found herself feeling certain of one thing: Endrit would need her. Whatever else he thought of her—as men think of women—she was still the only other to have lived as they had, in the gardened prison of the Protectorate. He would trust her for that reason. She was the only one sculpted to rule Meridan. And he knew it. He knew that she could be the mind of Meridan, even as he was the heart of it.
Hiram was her only rival in that knowledge—but Hiram was still missing. And if he returned, he was Declan’s pet, not hers. And his whisperings could be silenced.
In many ways, Rhea realized, she would have a stronger grip on the crown of Meridan than she ever had before.
All she needed to do was keep the stable boy entertained—a dance to which she was learning the steps.
There would be plotting, of course. Always someone plotting. And there would be war. But her sisters had barely ascended in the eyes of their people, while Endrit was already a legend. There would be rumor and slander all through her father’s trial. But Rhea smiled and watched the sun rise over the keep in newfound calm.
She was equal to it. She was stronger than Rhys, or if not stronger, at least better versed in the skills that mattered.
To meet rumor with quiet.
Treason with cunning.
And vicious with vicious.
Three little queens went riding into Meridan
Three little queens who won’t ride out
The price of war makes a strange inheritance
Dance little queens, but don’t . . . fall . . . down.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have looked forward to the opportunity to thank the many unsung and brilliant individuals who helped complete this book. They deserve far more than my thanks, but words are the writer’s best currency, so I offer it freely.
Thank you first and foremost to Annie Nybo, who is the editor, babysitter, warden, tutor, and visionary of this endeavor. Editing is as difficult a craft as any true art form, and precious few practice it as gently and firmly, as insightfully and humbly, as precisely and clearly as Annie. For instance, if she had edited this paragraph, it would not have all the adverbs you just endured. Evidence, dear reader, that this entire book owes much to the craftsmanship of a good editor.
Wherever you find merit, please also credit the hard work of the Simon & Schuster team: editorial captain at McElderry Books, Karen Wojtyla. Citizens of Olympus Justin Chanda, Anne Zafian, and Jon Anderson. Managing editor Bridget Madsen. Our amazing designer, Sonia Chaghatzbanian, who created such a lovely package, and cover artist Charlie Bowater, whose magnificent hand gave our Rhea that delightfully inscrutable grin. And thank you also to Elizabeth Blake-Linn, a miracle worker in production, who gave us those special effects on the cover to highlight Charlie’s work.
A special thanks to Zareen Jaffrey, Dani Young, Ruta Rimas, Emma Ledbetter, Amy Rosenbaum, Julia Maguire, Navah Wolfe, Kristin Ostby, and Ariel Coletti, who saw the book in its infancy—and Kirsten Dean, who kept with it throughout.
Thanks to Deane Norton, Christian Pecorale, Rio Cortez, Danielle Esposito, and Colin Shields for helping the book reach as many hands as possible, and thanks to Chrissy Noh, Michelle Leo, Candace Green, Anthony Parisi, Lucille Rettino, Katy Hershberger, Ellen Grafton, and Alex Del Negro for making sure people know of it.
Thank you all.
Much love,
KDC
K. D. Castner was once a farmer, once in love, and three times almost died in water. K. D. makes blackberry cider and dotes on a passel of grandkittens. A U.S. citizen, she makes her home in Aberystwyth, Wales. Daughters of Ruin is her first novel.
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Simon & Schuster • New York
Visit us at SimonandSchuster.com/teen
authors.simonandschuster.com/K-D-Castner
* * *
Thank you for reading this eBook.
Find out about free book giveaways, exclusive content, and amazing sweepstakes! Plus get updates on your favorite books, authors, and more when you join the Simon & Schuster Teen mailing list.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/teen
* * *
MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
&
nbsp; 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Charlie Bowater
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Book design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian and Irene Metaxatos
The text for this book is set in Adobe Jenson Pro.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Castner, K. D.
Daughters of ruin / K. D. Castner.
p. cm.
Summary: As a war begins, four princesses of enemy kingdoms who were raised as sisters must decide where their loyalties lie: to their kingdoms, or to each other.
ISBN 978-1-4814-3665-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4814-3667-0 (eBook)
[1. Princesses—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. War—Fiction. 4. Loyalty—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.1.C45Dau 2016
2015003949