“I’m going to go check on the Olso army. They didn’t move, did they?” Olivia looked up at a tree, where a Ruined had been keeping watch, but there was no one there. She let out an annoyed sigh.
“Calm down,” Priscila said in a tone Olivia didn’t appreciate. “Someone just climbed up there an hour ago. They’re not moving.”
Olivia shot her a venomous look and stomped to the tree herself. She grunted as she climbed, her feet and back sore from the endless days of travel.
She reached a high branch, carefully balancing against the trunk. Priscila was right. The army was still there, hiding in the jungle. There were hundreds of them, and they were surrounded by horses and wagons and carts of weapons. The weapons scared Olivia the most. A human didn’t even have to be close to kill them with some of those weapons. That was terrifying, for a Ruined.
She climbed back down the tree.
“We’re still waiting?” Ester asked, without turning around to look at her.
“Yes. I think the army is plotting the best way to attack Royal City, and I want to see what they do.” They’d been following the army for days. When Olivia had first tracked them down, she’d been excited, ready to jump in and kill them all. But then she’d looked around and considered the powers of the Ruined with her. She didn’t have Aren. She didn’t have Jacobo. She had twenty-five Ruined, which was no small number, but none with enough power to help her take down an army of that size.
And to be honest, she wasn’t sure they would even obey an order from her right now.
So she was waiting. She told herself it was the smart decision. With any luck, the humans would kill each other and she could swoop in and take down the rest.
Jovita screamed, then went silent, her eyes wide. Ester turned away from her to face Olivia.
“If you really want to get into the castle to kill Em, maybe you should help them.” She pointed in the direction of the army.
Olivia recoiled and gave Ester a disgusted look.
Ester lifted her eyebrows. “What? Your mother did it. Do you think she entertained Olso warriors at the castle because she liked humans? She needed them. You’ve failed because you could never be strategic in the way your mother and Emelina are.”
The word failed hung in the air. The Ruined around them were silent, watching.
“I haven’t failed at anything,” Olivia spat out. “That army ran in fear from me.”
“I suppose,” Ester said quietly. “But working with humans keeps turning out well for Em, wouldn’t you say?”
Olivia balled her fingers into fists. She refused to admit this to Ester, but she had been wondering what would have happened if she’d gone behind Em’s back to work with Olso. August would have been happy to kill Casimir. They could have taken care of him in Sacred Rock, and then moved on to Royal City. She’d be ruler of Lera by now.
Instead, she’d attacked the Olso castle, and then run all the warriors out of Lera. She’d helped Casimir, in the end.
And now it was too late. She wasn’t dumb enough to waltz up to August and ask for a deal now, not when she’d killed every member of the Olso royal family.
“I don’t work with humans,” she said. “We don’t need them.”
Ester turned back to Jovita. “If you say so.”
Olivia bit back the urge to scream. “We just have to wait. Lera will fall after I kill Em. I just need to get to Em.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
BETHANIA OFFERED TO let Galo and Aren stay the night (begrudgingly, muttering that they were going to get caught wandering the streets of Olso), and they slept on blankets and pillows in the sitting room. Galo tossed and turned most of the night, listening to the sounds of the busy street outside and thinking of what Mateo was doing.
Bethania left in the morning, handing them two hot mugs before rushing out the door. Galo sat on the floor with his back against the couch as he lifted the cup to his lips. Bitter liquid rushed over his tongue. He grimaced as he swallowed.
“Oh, that’s disgusting. What is that?”
Aren sniffed his, then took a sip. He wrinkled his nose and put the cup back on the table. “I don’t know. Maybe she heated up some dishwater to torture us.” He cocked an eyebrow as he looked at Galo. “Maybe to torture you. I think when faced with the choice of Ruined or Leran, I win by a large margin.”
“She does glare at me a lot, doesn’t she?” Galo had gotten the distinct impression that Bethania had never met anyone from Lera, and she would have preferred to keep it that way.
“Yes, she does.”
Galo leaned his head back against the chair. “I did serve the late queen. She didn’t even have a good reason to betray Olso, unlike Iria.”
“She wasn’t in love with the Lera king?”
Galo let out a short, loud laugh. “No. They’d never met before she arrived as a traitor from Olso. If they were ever in love, I never saw it.” He lowered his eyebrows in thought. “I’m actually not sure any Gallego has ever married for love. Cas would be the first.”
“Assuming your people actually let him marry Em.”
“I’d like to see it happen,” Galo said quietly. “It feels like the only good thing that could come out of this.”
When Bethania returned, she had an envelope full of papers and a basket of food. She ignored Galo and thrust the envelope at Aren.
“Take a look at these. It’s the best I can do on short notice.”
Aren pulled the papers out and spread them on the table. Galo edged closer, peering over his shoulder. There were some old articles from a local newspaper about the prison as it was built, with a few details about the layout and security. There were also several rough sketches of what he assumed was the inside of the building.
“I’ll explain those,” Bethania said, removing bread and meat from her basket. “I went and talked to a friend who used to work in the prison.”
“Are they going to help us?” Galo asked.
“No. I wasn’t direct with my questions. I tried to just keep it a general conversation about how Iria would be housed in the prison. Like I was concerned, as her friend.”
Aren looked up from the papers. “There’s a chance they’ll figure out you were helping us. Won’t you also be tried for treason?”
“Possibly, though the case against me would be far less solid than Iria’s.” She waved her hand like she wasn’t concerned.
“You know . . .” Aren glanced at Galo. “I think if you wanted to come with us, back to Lera, that would be fine.”
Galo nodded. “King Casimir would welcome you.”
“Ugh.” Bethania screwed up her face. “No offense, but ugh.”
Galo pressed his lips together to keep in a laugh. “I just thought it might be a good alternative to prison.”
“No, thank you. Iria’s made her choice, and I’m making mine. I’ll take my chances here.”
“All right,” Aren said. “But if you change your mind . . .”
Bethania shook her head and took a seat next to him on the couch. “Let’s talk about these plans. I think your best bet is to go in on the east side, because there’s no prisoner exit near there. No one has ever tried to break into the prison before.”
“So we’d hop the fence on the east side, and go in . . . ?” Aren asked.
She pulled a sketch forward and pointed. “North. Here. There’s a door that’s usually used for bringing in kitchen deliveries. I can’t tell you exactly where you’ll end up, but let’s assume near the dining hall and kitchen. If you go at night, it will be empty.”
She grabbed another sketch. “This is a general outline of the prisoner cells, as much as I can guess. One of the articles says there’s a long hallway that leads from the dining room to the cells, so I’ve drawn that here.” She ran her finger along the hallway. “She’s probably in solitary, which is separate cells to the west. If you head this way, you should find them. The door leading to them will be guarded, and there will probably be guards inside as well. If she’s not there, then you’ll need to go search for her in the general population. You’re going to want to hope that doesn’t happen.”