But Olivia had to know something was wrong by now. She would have figured it out when Em went missing, along with August and all the warriors. Em knew her sister. Olivia was on her way. It would not be pretty when she arrived.
“Let’s go,” August said. His horse was drinking from a stream, and he gestured for a warrior to bring him over.
“Do you understand what you’ve done?” she asked.
He settled onto his horse and gestured for a warrior to help Em up. She hated riding with him, being so close to him. She stepped away from the warrior.
“Olivia is going to kill you,” she said. “Every one of you.”
“That threat rings a bit empty, considering there’s one of you and about a hundred of us,” August said.
“You know what she can do, August. She’s going to kill all of you. She’s going to know you took me when I don’t return and you’ve all disappeared.”
“Yes, she will. And she’s welcome to join us in the Olso castle. I’m counting on my brother to talk some sense into both of you.”
Em let out a short laugh. Perhaps she’d guarded August from Olivia too well. Her sister would never let him talk any kind of sense into her. Em couldn’t blame her, actually.
“What exactly are you hoping your brother will convince me of?” Em asked.
“Either you will marry me or I will simply take Ruina and rule it myself.”
“You really think I’m going to marry you after this?” She held up her bound hands.
“Not into that, then?” He laughed loudly, and she rolled her eyes. “I’m not thrilled about marrying you either, Emelina. I’d rather just take Ruina. Let’s hope my brother chooses that option, shall we?”
“It doesn’t matter what option he chooses. Olivia will kill all of you.”
“You underestimate Olso’s defenses,” August said. “You’ll see.”
The warrior waiting to help her onto the horse waved her over impatiently. She sighed loudly as he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up.
Regret burned in her chest. Maybe meeting with Cas had been a bad idea. She’d destroyed the alliance of the Ruined with Olso. Even if she didn’t choose to marry August, she certainly didn’t want them as enemies. If they invaded Ruina, she wasn’t sure the Ruined could hold them off. Once again, she’d put the Ruined in more danger instead of protecting them.
Unease built in her chest as they rode through the day. They stopped to rest after the sun set, and Em barely slept, instead keeping an eye out for Olivia. She kept hoping her sister would appear. If she reached them before they made it to Olso, perhaps she’d just kill these warriors instead of burning the entire kingdom to the ground.
But deep down, Em knew Olivia couldn’t possibly catch up to them that quickly. Even if she’d left Sacred Rock the moment she discovered Em was gone, the warriors were at least a half day ahead of her.
She resigned herself to her fate the next morning, as she rode on the horse with August again. She was going to the Olso castle. Olivia would most likely be close behind. Em should probably get a look at the castle quickly, because it wouldn’t be long before her sister destroyed it.
The Olso border came into view late that afternoon. Under normal circumstances, the Lera side of the Olso/Lera border would have been heavily guarded by Lera soldiers. But now, there was nothing but warriors.
She leaned to the side, looking past August at the sea of red-and-white coats guarding the border. There were so many. Was the entire border this well guarded?
Something that looked like a large metal tube sat on the ground not far over the border, and she squinted at it.
“What is that?” she asked.
August chuckled. “You’ll see.”
She rolled her eyes. They rode past the warriors, until they reached several carriages sitting on top of two metal poles. The metal poles ran across the ground as far as she could see.
August slid off his horse and offered her his hand. She ignored it as she jumped down, her bound hands almost causing her to lose balance.
The carriages were rectangular and open-air, with one strange carriage in front. Smoke was coming out of a long tube on top, puffing up into the sky.
“You’ll like this,” August said, bounding ahead excitedly. “Come on!”
As if she had a choice. She trudged behind him, trying not to let her curiosity show on her face.
The carriages had wooden benches, and the warriors began to file in and sit. August plopped down in the first carriage behind the strange one and patted the seat next to him.
She sat, blowing her hair out of her face. The rest of the warriors filed in and she waited, not sure what they were all doing sitting around in a carriage with no horses.
Then, they began to move. August bounced up and down as it happened. She looked around as they began to pick up speed, baffled.
“It’s a railway,” he said, pointing to the smoke puffing into the sky. “It runs on steam. We’ve had some smaller ones near the castle for years, but this is our first intercity carriage.” He clearly thought she would be impressed.
She was impressed, but she just turned away. The Ruined had mentioned something about steam engines and fast ships. No wonder the warriors always seemed to move quickly. She’d been surprised Iria was able to get to the Olso castle and back to Ruina in such a short amount of time.
“Lera’s mistake,” August began, his chest practically puffed out, “was thinking that eliminating the Ruined was the only way to fight them. We spent our time figuring out ways to be better than the Ruined.”
She didn’t see how riding along on a rail made him stronger than Olivia, but she just stared out at the mountains in the distance. She had a feeling there was a lot she didn’t know about Olso.
For the first time since she’d been taken, she was worried about Olivia.
THIRTY-FOUR
“THE RUINED ARE moving! The Ruined are moving!”
Cas’s head popped up at the sound of the scream echoing through the fortress. He dropped the potato in his hand and it rolled across the counter. Blanca grabbed it. “Go,” she said. He ran out of the kitchen.
In the foyer, a breathless soldier stood in front of Jovita. “The Ruined. We spotted them moving north.”
“Are they coming this way?” she demanded.
“It doesn’t look like it. It appears as if they’re passing us by.”
Cas drew in a shaky breath. What did that mean? Was Olivia amassing an army to rescue Em?
It seemed more likely that Olivia hadn’t found her sister, had returned for reinforcements, and they were all now headed for Olso.
“But there are no warriors with them, as far as we can see,” the soldier said.
“Interesting,” Jovita murmured, looking pointedly at Cas.
Cas turned to find General Amaro standing a few paces away, watching them. According to Violet, the general wasn’t on Jovita’s side, but she wasn’t really on Cas’s, either. She jerked her head, indicating he should follow her, then turned and began walking.
He trailed behind her, through the fortress and into the empty parlor. He closed the door behind them.
“Where are the Ruined going?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.