EM PULLED AT the ropes on her wrists until her skin was red and angry. They didn’t budge.
She kicked her feet. If she could get her feet free, she could at least run. What if a Lera soldier or a warrior happened by? What did her sister expect her to do then?
The belt around her ankles held firm, and she let out a frustrated yell. Olivia had left her defenseless.
A loud boom sounded from the east, and her head popped up. She’d heard that sound before, in Olso.
She pressed her lips together, fighting back tears. Her fear for Cas and Olivia overwhelmed her for a moment, and she considered curling up into a ball and sobbing.
Footsteps pounded the dirt, and Em stiffened. She tried to yank her hands apart.
Mariana and Ivanna appeared around the corner. Mariana skidded to a stop in front of her and dropped to her knees, grabbing the ropes. She tugged at the knot.
“We got away as fast as we could,” she said. “We didn’t want Olivia to know we were coming back for you.” She pulled Em’s hands free.
Em reached for the belt around her ankles. “Are they at the castle?”
“Should be by now,” Ivanna said. “But at least half the Ruined aren’t interested in fighting anymore. She can’t make us kill with her.”
Em tossed the belt aside and jumped to her feet. “I won’t tell her you helped me.”
“Tell her,” Mariana said fiercely. “We’re not ashamed of helping our queen. We only snuck away because we didn’t want to give her the opportunity to stop us.”
Em blinked back tears as she shot them a grateful smile. She broke into a run.
Mariana and Ivanna’s footsteps pounded behind her as she sprinted down the road. The castle loomed to her right, the windows bright yellow against the dark. She looked over her shoulder as she passed it, to the room she thought used to be hers. The lanterns had been lit in there too.
She faced forward. Yells could be heard as she got closer to the ocean. She pumped her arms, running as fast as she could.
She darted up a hill and found her sister immediately.
“Why are you all just standing there? Grab him!” Olivia voice shook, her finger pointing to a figure walking away from the harbor. Aren.
Olivia stood in front of a crowd of Ruined, half of them collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. She put her hands on her knees, her hair shielding her face as she lowered her head. Something had finally exhausted her.
Behind her, an Olso ship was pulling away from the dock. A second ship was still docked, but judging by the shouts and frantic running, it was about to depart shortly.
Olivia hadn’t noticed Em yet, so she ran to Aren instead. He was headed in the direction of the remaining Olso ship, and Em grabbed his arm to stop him. His shoulder slumped forward like it was almost too much effort for him to stand.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“She tried to kill Iria. I used my powers on Olivia, Em.”
“What?” The word from Em made Olivia turn.
“I figured those ropes wouldn’t hold you for long,” Olivia said, a hint of pride in her voice. “Not much keeps you down, does it?”
Em swallowed, glancing at the Ruined behind Olivia. A few still appeared strong, ready to fight, but many looked worried. Ivanna and Mariana stood at the top of the hill, staring at the dead Ruined in horror.
Olivia pointed at Aren. “Did he tell you what he did?”
“Yes,” Em said quietly.
“A Ruined has never betrayed their own before,” Olivia said. “What should we do?”
“One thing at a time,” Em said. “Let’s get out of here. Between the warriors and Cas’s army, we can’t win this. Especially not with the Ruined exhausted like this.”
“I can take them myself,” Olivia said. “And I still have a few who can fight.”
“It’s over, Olivia. Let’s go home. Let’s go rebuild the castle.”
“It is not,” Olivia said. She pointed at Aren. “And if he hadn’t betrayed us, we could take them all easily. Isn’t there a punishment written in the laws somewhere about betraying fellow Ruined? I think the punishment is death.”
Em’s chest tightened. She didn’t remember what the punishment was, but the fact that Olivia had even mentioned executing Aren was terrifying. Em couldn’t remember a Ruined ever being executed.
You just have to make a choice. And I have faith you’re going to make the right one.
“We can’t lose any more Ruined,” Em said. “Let’s go back to Ruina and—”
“We’re not going back to Ruina.” Olivia spread her arms wide. “I like it better here.” She pointed to the castle. “Our people deserve that castle. I’m going to give it to them.”
Em closed her fingers around the hilt of her sword. She hadn’t even realized she was going to do it until her hand was there, twitching to remove the blade from her waist.
Four steps to get to Olivia, one second to draw her sword, another to sink the blade into her chest. Easy.
Em swallowed down a sudden swell of horror. She would never hurt her sister.
Still, she was right. It would be easy. Her sister wasn’t good with a sword. And she could never use her magic on Em, not unless Em let her. She wasn’t like Aren, or the rest of the Ruined. She wasn’t even like the humans. Em was the only person Olivia had no power over.
Em drew in a shaky breath and slowly released her grip on her sword. Olivia hadn’t seemed to notice. She never noticed weapons. They were rarely a threat to her.
She walked slowly to her sister, turning over her words in her head. She could remind Olivia that Cas had told her about August’s betrayal, that he had had been the one to release Olivia from her prison.
Olivia met her gaze and all of Em’s words died in her throat. She’d forgotten that expression. She’d seen it so many times from her mother, but she’d buried it deep in the back of her memory because she’d always hated it. Or maybe she was just scared of it.
Olivia’s eyes were hard, her mouth set in a hard line. Her expression was challenging, like she had already prepared a response to every single thing Em was going to say. There was no reasoning with her. She’d never change Olivia’s mind. It was either join her sister or betray her.
You’ll make the right decision.
“You’ll lose if you attack the castle right now,” Em said. Her voice was too quiet, and she had to clear her throat. “Look behind you at the Ruined and tell me you really think most of them will make it through this.”
Olivia glanced behind her. She obviously tried to keep her expression neutral, but disappointment flashed across her features.
“I don’t want to attack Lera like this,” Em said. “Not when we’ll probably lose. Let’s go somewhere and get organized. Let’s attack them when we know we can win.”
Olivia opened her mouth, then closed it. She stared at Em like she wasn’t sure what was going on.
“I’m not leaving Lera,” Olivia finally said.
“Fine. We’ll go somewhere nearby.”
“You’re telling me you’re going to help me plan an attack on Lera,” Olivia said skeptically.
“I already did it once.”
“And you regret it. Don’t try to tell me you don’t.”
“I regret hurting Cas. So I have a condition.”
“A condition.”
“I get him. I will tell you everything I know about Lera and their defenses and help you with anything you want. You can have his castle and his country and everything else. But I get to have him, alive.” The lies fell out of her mouth easily. She was good at lying. Even to her sister, it seemed.
“You really think he’s going to want you after you do that to him again?”
“I think you underestimate his love for me.”
Olivia’s face changed, her head cocking to the side as she considered it. “All right, fine. He’ll be powerless and useless at that point, anyway.” Olivia let out a long sigh, glancing over at the Ruined on the ground. “I hate to admit it, but the warriors’ technology surprised me. I lost more than I thought I would. We could use some time to figure out how to defend against it.”
Em discreetly let out a relieved breath. Her brain was already racing, trying to figure out how to save Cas’s kingdom without losing Olivia forever.
Olivia’s lip curled as she looked at Aren. “What about him?”
“He didn’t just protect Iria because of his feelings,” Em said. “She made him more powerful, and he wanted to keep her close. How do you think he was able to use his power on you?”
Olivia gasped, and Em knew she’d just given her sister the most dangerous piece of information yet. They would probably have to take a few prisoners for Olivia to experiment with.
“He still shouldn’t have used his magic on me,” Olivia said.
“That’s true. Let me speak to him. I understand how feelings can get in the way. I’ll talk some sense into him. If we can’t reason with him, we’ll put him in a cell. We can’t afford to lose even one more Ruined.”
“Good. I like it. Best not to give up on him, since he’s so powerful. I’ll tell the others.” Olivia spun on her heel and Em turned away, pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob.
Aren stared at her wide-eyed. “Em, you’re not really—”
She gave him a sharp look and he immediately stopped talking. “Yell at me. Tell me you need Iria.”
Confusion flashed across Aren’s face for half a second. But he quickly obeyed. “I need her!” he yelled. “Iria is one of us!”
“I’m sorry about this,” Em muttered, then reeled back and slapped him across the face. “Pull yourself together!” she yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “She’s just a girl! She’s nothing compared to you! Compared to us!”
Aren worked his jaw around and nodded silently.
“I can’t convince her,” Em whispered. “And if we leave her I don’t know what will happen.”
Aren lifted his eyebrows in question, but his terrified expression suggested he had already caught on to her plan.
“The only way we can stop this is by sticking with her. If we bring Ruined to our side, she won’t have enough people to attack anyone. I know several who would be on our side right away.”
“Me too,” Aren said. He looked at Olivia. “If this goes bad …”
“We’re probably dead.”
“The Ruined don’t betray each other.”
“Then we’re about to be the first.” She moved closer to him and grabbed his hand. “If you want to run now, I understand. Cas would welcome you.”
Aren shook his head. “No way. I stick with you, always.” He lifted one shoulder. “Besides, it can’t be any more dangerous than infiltrating the Lera castle, right?”
Em glanced at Olivia. She was pulling a piece of metal out of her arm, wincing as blood ran down her skin.
Em took in a shaky breath. “Debatable.”
She looked over her shoulder, at the Olso ships departing the harbor. The warriors wouldn’t be back anytime soon. The Ruined were on their own, for better or worse.
Her gaze shifted to the Lera castle. Cas and the Lerans also had no other kingdom left to rely on. Em might be their only ally.
She almost laughed. Emelina Flores, Lera’s most important ally.
Her amusement faded as she turned to face her sister again. Olivia was staring at her and Aren. “Are we leaving? Will we have to drag you, Aren?”
“I’m coming,” Aren said. He looped his arm through Em’s.
“Good.” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. Em had never seen someone regard her with such intense suspicion. “Lead the way, sister. I assume you have a plan?”
Em met her sister’s gaze. “You bet I do.”