“What are you doing?” he mumbled. Someone shushed him.
He squinted at the figure next to him, the one who had a tight arm around his waist. Galo. He swung his head to his other side. Mateo. Violet was in front of them, peering around the corner.
“Go,” she whispered.
The guards nudged him forward, and he attempted to walk. It didn’t work.
They were at the stairs, the fortress quiet and deserted around them. Odd. He wondered where everyone had gone.
Galo and Mateo pulled him down the stairs. Daniela waited at the bottom, holding a door open for them.
“All clear,” she whispered. She squeezed Cas’s arm as he passed.
They were in the kitchen, then outside. It was night. Wind whipped across his face, and he looked down at his clothes. Someone had put him in a thick guard’s jacket. That was thoughtful.
“Where are the horses, Mateo?” Galo asked.
“Straight ahead. We’re almost there.”
“Hey!” The yell made Galo and Mateo both tense. Footsteps ran toward them.
Violet had a sword. Cas hadn’t noticed it, but it was in her hand, and she lunged at a man in a guard uniform. Mateo disappeared from Cas’s side and Galo gripped him tighter.
Violet’s sword nicked the man’s arm and he staggered backward. Mateo punched him across the jaw.
Mateo darted back to Cas’s side. “Hurry.”
They began running, Cas’s feet dragging on the ground. He wanted to run, but he was too weak. He was barely able to stay upright.
What happened to him?
Memories of soup and a tube being shoved down his throat flooded his thoughts. Had someone poisoned him?
They stopped suddenly, and Galo and Mateo heaved him into a wagon. He knew this wagon. He didn’t like this wagon.
“It’s all right.” Violet had him under the arms, pulling him farther in. Mateo and Galo had disappeared.
In the distance, he heard yelling. He squinted, but the back of the wagon was closed. They lurched forward suddenly.
“Here.” Violet put something soft under his head. “Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine.”
His eyelids drooped against his will. “Did Jovita poison me?” he mumbled.
“We think so. We think she ordered a guard to do it.”
She hated him that much? They were the only family either of them had left, and she despised him enough to murder him?
“You’ll be safe now,” Violet said, brushing his hair back. “I promise.”
That was not a promise she could keep, but his eyes fluttered shut and he drifted off anyway.
THIRTEEN
EM ORDERED THE bodies of the Lera soldiers burned. Smoke still hung in the air as the Ruined and warriors packed their belongings and headed east to Vallos.
August asked her to wait. He sent a warrior back to Olso immediately, and he claimed warrior reinforcements would be there in less than two weeks.
She couldn’t wait two weeks. She refused to sit around and wait for Jovita to attack them again. Protecting the remaining Ruined was more important than rebuilding Ruina.
The miner cabins weren’t far from the Vallos border, but since they didn’t have enough horses for everyone, most had to go on foot. It took two days to reach the border. The journey wasn’t the same as when Em and Aren had made it months before. Back then, they were almost killed by hunters three times as they neared Vallos.
There were no hunters now. A line of rocks marked the Vallos border, and there was no one to guard it. Vallos had always been the easiest country to cross into, but it was laughable this time.
Olivia and Aren led the pack, both of them perched on top of horses. Just over the Vallos border was a small town called Sacred Rock, which Em had decided was the most logical choice to settle down and figure out their next move. It was sparsely populated, accessible by only two main roads, and close enough to the fortress to easily launch an attack.
Sacred Rock was only a few hours by horse from Fort Victorra. A few hours from Cas. She could have turned her horse north and reached him by nightfall.
The air grew a little warmer as they rode, the land around them greener. The soil in Vallos was much more fertile than in Ruina, and Em spotted long rows of crops in the distance.
“Em,” August said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
She turned to him. He hadn’t said much on the journey from Ruina, and she wondered if he was angry that she’d refused to wait for warrior reinforcements.
“I’m sorry you had to leave your home again,” he said.
She frowned, confused. “What?”
“You’d just gotten home and you had to leave again because of all of this.” He waved his hand back at the Ruined and warriors trailing behind them. “I’m sorry about that. I know you were happy to be home.”
“Oh. Uh, thanks.”
He let out an embarrassed laugh. “That wasn’t very good, was it? I’ve been trying to think up ways to strike up conversation with you.”
“It could have been worse, I guess.”
He grinned, showing off straight white teeth. “Thank you. I feel so much better.”
Her lips twitched, but she resisted smiling at him. She still hadn’t decided if she was glad for the opportunity to permanently align herself with Olso, or if she deeply resented possibly marrying this man.
“Can I say something else?” he asked.
“Why not.”
“I’m glad that you’re one of the queens.” His voice was low, only for her. “I was sent thinking Olivia had taken the throne again. And I don’t mean this as an insult to Olivia. I’m just really glad you’re here too.”
“Why? Because I don’t have powers? You don’t have to worry about me taking off your head while you sleep?”
His shoulders shook with laughter. “That is not what I meant.”
“Sure it wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t! I was being nice! We were having a moment!”
“We were not having a moment.”
He let out a exaggerated sigh. “Fine. I was having a moment, then. I was trying to say that I like you. I’m intrigued by you. I respect you. It has nothing to do with powers.”
“Would you stop? I already told you I’d think about marrying you.”
August held one hand up in surrender. “See if I tell you how much I like you again.”
“What a loss,” she said dryly. She eyed him suspiciously. “You barely know me. You don’t like me.”
“I like what I’ve seen so far.”
“What you’ve seen so far is a marriage alliance that will make you more than ‘the least-important heir,’ as my sister so delicately put it.”
He shrugged. “Of course. That doesn’t mean I can’t like you as well.”
Olivia pulled her horse to a stop, looking over her shoulder at Em. She pointed ahead of them.
The western road led straight into the heart of the town, and Em’s stomach clenched as she followed her sister’s finger to the sign announcing they were about to enter Sacred Rock. She’d never invaded a town before.