“Not at all.” She dismounted her own horse and took the reins from Aren.
“I’m going to get some stuff together to change her bandages,” Aren said. “Go lay her down somewhere away from everyone else.”
Cas nodded. Violet appeared next to them, her arms extended to help. “Can you get down?” he asked Em.
She winced as she sat up straighter, but took Violet’s waiting hand and slowly climbed off the horse. Cas jumped down and circled an arm around Em’s waist.
“I’m all right,” she said. “I can walk now.” Her voice was still heavy but much clearer than before.
“I’m sure you can. But isn’t it more fun this way?” He tightened his arm around her waist.
She lifted her head. A sad smile crossed her face. “I found you.”
“Were you looking for me?”
“Of course.”
He stopped once they’d put a little distance between them and the rest of the group. He let go of her waist to pull a blanket from his pack, and spread it out on the ground. She slowly sat down on it as Aren appeared. He had his canteen and a small bag with him.
“Why don’t you go wait over there?” Aren said, jerking his head behind him.
Cas glanced down at the bag. “I can do it. Do you want to just give it to me?”
“Aren. Here.” Violet walked up behind them, holding out a fistful of something green. “Is this it?”
“Perfect,” Aren said, putting his bag on the ground and taking the herbs. He shook his head at Cas. “Go back and get everyone settled. Assign some people to watch tonight.”
“But—”
“Cas, trust me,” he interrupted. “You don’t want to do this.”
Cas tried not to let his fear for Em show on his face.
“He’s right.” She looked much calmer than he felt. “I used to do this for him. You’d rather not.”
“I’ll come get you when I’m done,” Aren said, kneeling down beside Em.
“Come on,” Violet said, grabbing Cas’s wrist and tugging him away. He looked over his shoulder as he left, watching as Aren carefully pulled Em’s coat off.
“She’ll be fine,” Violet said as they walked. “At least it’s only her arm, right?”
He nodded numbly. From behind him, he heard a gasp, followed by a cry. He stopped. He wanted to run back and hold on to Em.
She cried out again. Through the trees, he could see Franco and a few other people look up at the noise.
Cas quickly walked to them, trying to keep his face neutral. “Let’s go ahead and distribute the dried meat. Only half of it. And people are free to wander in the general area if they’d like to pick some fruit, but not too far.”
Franco nodded, his eyes darting behind Cas. “Is she all right?”
“She’ll be fine,” he said, and hoped it was true. He met Franco’s gaze. “You know who that is, don’t you?”
“Emelina Flores.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Not particularly. Sounds like the warriors have officially made enemies of the Ruined. It would be best for their leader to be on our side, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.”
Franco clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Good. If you trust her, I trust her.”
Cas blinked away tears. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted someone to say those words to him until they came out of Franco’s mouth.
He cleared his throat. “Let’s set up a few people to watch. Who should we start with?”
Franco pulled a few men and women from the group, and Cas gave them their watch assignments.
“Whatever happens, you wake up Aren first,” Cas instructed them. “Not me, but Aren.”
“Definitely. I’m way more important than him.” Aren’s amused voice made Cas turn, and he found him and Em walking up behind them. Em had the blanket balled up under her good arm. Her eyes were red, and she smiled weakly at Cas.
“He’s way more important than me,” Cas said.
Aren rolled his eyes as he walked past Cas. “It’s no fun if you agree with me.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way. I’m going to agree with everything you say from now on.”
Aren made a sour face at Cas, but he was clearly trying not to grin. Cas turned to Em and carefully took the blanket from her. “Come on,” he said.
She followed him as he walked to a spot of grass and laid the blanket down. “Aren told me how you guys ended up here together, but I’m still not sure I believe it.”
“No one can resist my charms for very long.” Cas offered her his hand. She waved it off and plopped down on the blanket.
“Ow.” She winced.
“Well, I offered to help.” He sat down next to her. She had a jacket on again, and he couldn’t see her bandages. “How bad is it?”
“Not that bad. Not as bad as Aren’s burns were. And it’s only my arm and some of my shoulder and back.”
“Olivia wouldn’t heal you?”
“She tried. It was chaos.” She lay down on her good side and he stretched out next to her, propping his head on his hand. “The whole royal family is dead except for August. He’s taken the throne.”
Cas tried not to feel bitter about that. He didn’t want to wish death on even his worst enemy, but why August? Of the entire royal family, he was the only one who lived?
“He helped me out of Olso. I think he knew what a mistake he’d made.”
“Really.”
“But I’ve decided not to marry him.”
Cas laughed softly. “What a surprise.”
“Not a good match. I want to strangle him every time I see him, so that might put a damper on our marriage.”
“I don’t know. You managed to work through that with me.”
“True. I did imagine choking you to death with the curtain tie-backs more than once.”
Cas reached forward, brushing his hand down her cheek. “The curtain tie-backs, huh? Smart.”
She caught his hand, brought it closer to her face, and brushed her lips across the backs of his fingers. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“We’re past you wanting to murder me, Em.”
“Not about that. About rejecting you when you offered to stay with me.”
“Don’t be. You were right.”
She dropped his hand, keeping her gaze on it as it fell to the blanket. “I was?”
“It was irresponsible of me to just give up. All these people …” He shook his head. “They were all waiting for me. They assumed I was going to take a stand against Jovita. Imagine how disappointed they would have been if I never came back.”
Em nodded. He scooted a little closer to her, nudging her chin up. He brushed his lips against hers.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish we could have stayed together.” He barely pulled away from her when he said the words. When her lips turned up, he kissed her again.
“I thought you were mad at me,” she said. “You seemed really angry the first time we met after you left.”
“I was. I was embarrassed and confused. Being mad at you seemed like the easiest option.” He brushed her hair away from her forehead, letting his fingers linger. “Violet set me straight.”
“What do you mean?”