by Amy Tintera
Aren stopped suddenly, turning to face the direction they’d just come from. “Why don’t you go back?”
“What?” Galo asked, surprised.
“You should stay with the soldiers. I should be able to get away again to pass along our plans.”
“Aren, that’s ridiculous. We just set up a plan where I need to know all the information about your plan of attack. I need to be there to get that information. And you don’t know for sure that you can get away.”
“I also don’t know for sure if I can protect you. I don’t think we should risk it.”
Galo stared at him for a moment. Aren seemed genuinely worried, his brow furrowed and his gaze directed east, like he could still see the town where the soldiers were waiting for Galo to return.
He was realizing that he didn’t really know Aren at all. He wasn’t cocky and rude. Or maybe he had been, but it was certainly gone now. He seemed sad, and tired, and it was hard for Galo to hold on to any of the animosity he’d felt for him before.
“I’ll be fine, Aren.”
Aren laughed hollowly. “You don’t know that.”
Galo put a hand on Aren’s arm and turned him back in the direction of Westhaven. “I made my choice. I’m sticking to it.”
Aren sighed heavily and began walking again. “Fine. But I should tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m not going to go back to Royal City after the battle.”
“You’re going to go to Olso?” Galo guessed. Aren looked at him in surprise. “Where else would you go?”
“Right,” Aren said softly. “Where else would I go?” He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “But, I just thought you should know. I won’t be around to protect you—or anyone—when you ride back to Royal City.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Is Em going to go with you?”
“Oh, no. I’m going alone.”
“Alone?” he repeated incredulously.
“There’s no one to go with me. Not that anyone would anyway.” He laughed, though it wasn’t really full of humor.
“You don’t have . . . any friends?” Galo asked slowly, unsure if it was a rude question.
“Besides Em? Not really. I know all the Ruined in Westhaven, of course. And I’m friendly with those that are loyal to Em. But I wasn’t close to any of them before, and it’s the same now.” He kicked a rock. “Damian would go with me, if he were still here.”
“The Ruined who was executed at the castle?” Galo asked.
“Yeah. He and Em were my best friends. He would go with me, even if he’d never even met Iria. Just because I asked.”
Galo stared at the ground, fully understanding for the first time how much Aren had lost. Galo remembered feeling sorry for himself at Fort Victorra and in Vallos, thinking about how much he’d lost. A large portion of the guard, gone. The castle almost destroyed. Both his king and queen dead. But his parents were alive and well, as were his best friend and his boyfriend. A lot of his really good friends on the guard had come through fine, because he’d rounded them up and taken care of them when Olso attacked.
“I’m sorry, Aren,” he said quietly. “About Damian. And everything.”
“It’s not your fault. I know you and Cas tried to stop his execution.”
They had, but Galo couldn’t think of much else he’d ever done to help the Ruined, beside his current mission. While he’d always found the king’s policies abhorrent, he hadn’t spoken out against them. He didn’t want to risk jail. He hadn’t even talked to Cas about his opinions, not until after Cas met Em and started to reconsider everything.
“It’s better I go by myself anyway,” Aren said, his tone a little lighter. “It’ll be easier to sneak around. And I’ll be surrounded by humans. It’ll give my power a boost.”
“You can’t take what they won’t willingly give,” Galo said, repeating Aren’s own words.
“Well, yes. Let’s hope I find some friendly humans. I’ll have to talk to some of them, at least. I don’t even know what prison she’s in.” He scrunched up his face. “I’ve never even been to Olso.”
“Me either.”
“Hopefully you never will,” Aren said with a smile. “I hear it’s not very nice there.”
“Yeah,” Galo said. “Hopefully.”
SIXTEEN
EM OPENED THE door to find Aren on the other side. She pulled him into a hug and squeezed him a little tighter than necessary.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, even though she wasn’t. She’d alternated between worrying about him and drowning in guilt over Olivia since he’d left.
“Did—” he began.
“Olivia is here,” she whispered before he could finish.
He pulled away, his eyes darting to the kitchen, then the sitting room.
“Do you . . .” Her words were barely a whisper, and she had to blink back tears before she could finish the sentence. “Do you want to tell her?”
Aren nodded solemnly.
Em took a deep breath. “Olivia! Aren’s back!”
Footsteps sounded in the hallway as Olivia walked over. She stopped and leaned against the wall, cocking an eyebrow.
“Had he left?” she asked.
“You know he did,” Em said. Olivia had grilled her about him yesterday, actually. Where is Aren? I know you know where he went. Is he coming back? Did he go to Olso? Em played dumb, acting like she had no idea where he’d gone.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say good-bye,” he said. “I was going to Olso, and I was worried Em wouldn’t let me.”
“Do you take orders from Em?” Olivia asked, eyes narrowed.
“Yes. Sometimes.”
“Why’d you come back? Is Iria dead?” Olivia asked, and Em flashed her a dirty look. Olivia had only asked that question to be mean—she knew there was no way Aren could have already traveled to Olso and back to check on Iria.
“I didn’t make it to Olso,” Aren said. “I heard some news and I had to come back.”
Olivia lifted her eyebrows in a silent question.
“There’s an attack coming,” he said. “An army made up of joint Olso and Vallos forces. And Jovita is with them as well. They’re coming for us.”
“So?” Olivia scoffed.
“From what I heard, it’s a sizable army.”
“Let me go to Cas,” Em said quickly, just as they’d planned. “I’ll ask him to help us. With Lera soldiers we can—”
“He knows, Em,” Aren interrupted. “I heard this from soldiers. They were told to monitor the troop movements, but not attack. Cas doesn’t want to risk his people right now.”
“He only cares about himself in the end, after all,” Olivia said smugly.
Em swallowed and tried to appear upset. It wasn’t difficult. Her stomach was churning as she and Aren lied to Olivia.
“We don’t need his help,” Olivia said again. She drew in a breath and was quiet for a moment. “By being here, we’re protecting Casimir. You see that, right? They’re not attacking him because they’re attacking us.”
“They hate us more at the moment,” Aren said.
“Maybe we should go back to Ruina and just let them fight it out,” Olivia said.
Em blinked in surprise. She felt a surge of hope for the first time in days.
She grasped Olivia’s hand. Her sister reeled back with a startled look on her face. She snatched her hand away.
“Let’s go back,” Em said, her desperation real. “I think going back to Ruina is the best choice right now.”
“We have plenty of horses and supplies,” Aren said quickly. “It would be a much easier journey than last time.”
Olivia looked between the two of them. Her lip curled. Em could tell they’d made a mistake. She and Aren had been far too eager to take her up on the suggestion of going back home.
“We’re not running,” Olivia snapped. “The Ruined don’t hide anymore. We fight.”
&n
bsp; Em and Aren were silent.
“Do you know where they are? The troops who are coming for us?” Olivia asked Aren.
“Yes. I know the general route they’re taking. An army that large shouldn’t be hard to find.”
“We’ll go to them, then,” Olivia said. “I’m not going to sit around here and wait for them to make their move.”
“Are you sure?” Em asked. “Olso has pretty powerful weapons, you might remember.”
Worry flashed across Olivia’s face for the first time. She quickly shook it off. “Some of us have been working on plans to get around their weapons. A surprise attack will help.”
Em swallowed hard. She’d done just as Galo suggested—she gave Olivia the option of going home. She’d chosen to fight. She would always choose that option, no matter how much Em wanted her to change.
“When should we leave?” Em asked. Her voice shook.
Olivia brushed past her and Aren and walked to the door. “First thing tomorrow morning. I’ll start preparing the Ruined. You two get the horses and supplies ready to go. I want as little as possible. Nothing to slow us down.”
“Fine,” Em said.
“What about the human prisoners?” Aren asked. “Maybe we should let them go before we leave.”
“No need,” Olivia said. “I killed them all yesterday. They weren’t useful anymore.” Olivia stepped outside, letting the door slam behind her.
Em closed her eyes briefly. “I’m sorry,” she said, though not really to Aren. “I didn’t know.”
“It was unavoidable,” Aren said quietly.
Em waited until she could see Olivia walking down the road through the window before she spoke again.
“That’s it, then.”
“I’m sorry, Em,” Aren said. “I thought she was going to go back to Ruina for a minute there.”
“I did too.” The moment of hope still lingered in her chest, making the reality even more painful. She cleared her throat. “What did Cas say?”
“He can send some soldiers, but only a few. They’ll follow us, but really far behind. Galo will coordinate with them and travel between us as we head there. We should only have to travel a few days to get to them. We’ll probably make it about halfway to the Olso border.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “And I plan to keep going.”
“To get Iria?” she guessed.
He nodded, worry in his eyes. “I’ll already be on my way, and if everything goes according to plan Olivia will be weakened and everyone will be going back to the Lera castle anyway so—”
“Aren, it’s fine,” she interrupted gently. “Go. You’re right, you’ll already be halfway there, and she’s imprisoned for helping us. It’s the right thing to do.”
He let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Bring her back safe.”
“I will.”
Olivia snuck out of the house before dawn. She shut the door quietly behind her and stepped onto the dark porch, shifting the bag she’d slung over her shoulder.
A tall figure leaned against a tree by the house. Jacobo.
“Is Em still asleep?” he asked quietly.
“Yes. Did you see anything last night?”
“Not much. A couple of Ruined went in and out of Mariana’s house, but there’s no way to tell what they’re talking about. I spoke to Gisela and got nothing. She just said she’s following your and Em’s orders.”
“Of course she did,” Olivia muttered. All the Ruined had readily agreed to chase down the human army.
Even the ones Olivia knew were on Em’s side.
If that’s what you think is best, Ivanna had said to Olivia. Ivanna had never trusted Olivia.
Olivia expected a fight. She thought Ivanna and a few of the others might flat-out refuse to go.
But they’d all just nodded and agreed with her plan. Mariana had said she’d help get the horses ready. Gisela hadn’t met Olivia’s eyes once during their conversation.
They were planning something. They all knew about the Olso and Vallos armies before Olivia did, and they wanted to go. She just didn’t know why.
“Stay here,” Olivia said to Jacobo. “I want you to keep an eye on Em as we travel. Never let her out of your sight.”
“Are you sure we should do this?” he asked. “If she’s planning something, maybe we should stay here.”
White-hot fury raced down Olivia’s spine. “I don’t care what she’s planning. Are you really scared of a useless Ruined?”
Jacobo looked properly shamed. “Of course not.”
“Good. We’ll play along for now, figure out what she’s doing, and stop it.” She turned on her heel and stalked down the road. She’d briefly considered the same thing—telling Em she’d changed her mind, and she was just going to stay put in Westhaven for now.
But Jacobo’s hesitation made her even more determined to go. She didn’t care what Em was planning. If Olivia backed down now she’d never win support of the Ruined.
She visited the barn first and saddled the fastest horse, attaching her small bag to his saddle so everyone would know he was hers. Aren was supposed to help get the horses ready in the morning, and he’d certainly give her the slowest one if she left it up to chance.
Aren. He’d lied about going after Iria. He wouldn’t have stayed with Em this long just to randomly take off for Olso. They’d concocted the whole plan for Olivia, like she was an idiot who would believe a word they said.
She left the horse and started down the road to Aren’s house on foot. Jacobo would keep an eye on Em, and Olivia would take Aren.
There was a flicker of light in the window as she approached his home. She hung back, stepping off the road and sitting on the steps of a deserted house where she’d be hidden from his view.
He emerged from the house as the sun began to rise. He wasn’t carrying a bag, which was odd, and he turned and began walking east, which was even more odd. There was nothing east.
She waited until he was a good distance away before she followed. He walked cautiously, occasionally looking over his shoulder, and she almost lost him twice because she was hanging so far back.
She felt the presence of a human suddenly. Maybe more than one. She had no way to tell.
Olivia stopped, fear seizing her chest as she watched Aren walk into a heavily wooded area. Had he and Em plotted something with the humans? Perhaps they were about to attack, and Olivia was stupidly following Aren around instead of preparing.
She darted forward, keeping low to the ground, and crept into the trees.
“ . . . should be close,” she heard an unfamiliar voice say.
She lowered into a crouch and peered around a tree. Aren stood with a human. Just one. They were a good distance away, but he looked a bit familiar.
Aren said something she couldn’t hear. She wanted to get closer, but wouldn’t risk him discovering her. Not when she didn’t know what he was up to with this human. She leaned forward as far as she dared.
The human shifted slightly, his face coming into view. She dug her fingers into the dirt to keep from screaming.
Galo. The guard who was always with Casimir. He’d been with Casimir in Sacred Rock, when the idiot had let his cousin poison him. Em and Aren were working with the king of Lera.
“I’m always going to be southwest,” Galo said to Aren. “Somewhere between you and Lera soldiers.”
The Lera soldiers? Olivia took a deep breath to calm the Ruined magic boiling in her veins.
“I’ll come find you every night, if I can,” Aren said. “But I’ll definitely come see you at least once, when we’re getting close to the Olso and Vallos armies.”
Galo nodded, and Aren said something too quiet for Olivia to hear. Galo smiled at him, and then Aren turned and began walking back in the direction of Westhaven. Galo headed in the opposite direction.
She waited until Galo had taken a few steps before she began trailing him. He wasn’t as cautious as Aren, only glancing over his s
houlder once and even snapping a twig with his boot. He wasn’t used to moving stealthily.
The sun was higher in the sky when he slowed and waved at someone in the distance. Olivia stopped, shielding her eyes with her hand.
The Lera troops. They weren’t in uniform, instead just wearing black and gray, but she might have known who they were even if she hadn’t just overheard that conversation. They had the clean-cut, cocky look of a Lera soldier.
There were only ten of them, all on horseback, and she waited for the rest to catch up. Galo walked to them and said something she couldn’t hear.
It became apparent a minute later that there were no more troops. Just these ten men and women. What did Aren and Em think they were going to do with ten Lera soldiers?
She frowned, and considered killing them all right now. That would certainly put a damper on Em’s plan.
But she didn’t know what that plan was. And she couldn’t prove that Em knew these Lera soldiers. It was only Aren who had talked to Galo.
She took a step back. No, it was better to let this play out. The Lera soldiers could follow them. Ten humans were no match for her, and when she killed them, it would need to be in front of the Ruined. They would need to see Em’s betrayal for themselves.
She walked back to Westhaven, occasionally breaking into a jog, and was gasping for breath when she arrived at her and Em’s house. Jacobo was still lurking. Em stepped out of the house as Olivia approached.
“I was looking for you,” Em said.
“Here I am.” She took in a breath through her nose and tried to appear calm. “I was getting my horse ready.”
“We’re still leaving this morning, then?” Em asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?” She stared Em down. Em acted like she was so much better than Olivia, but she had no problem looking her sister right in the eye and lying. Even their mother wouldn’t have done that, and she was the most vicious Ruined Olivia had ever known.
“Have you changed your mind?” Olivia asked. A tiny part of her, an ugly, weak part, hoped Em would say yes. There was still time to stop whatever plan she’d set in motion with Casimir.
