Allied (Ruined #3)(2)

“Are you all right?” she practically screamed to the boy. He coughed and nodded. She clutched him close to her chest and turned back to Em. “Thank you. Thank you . . . so . . . much.” Her sobs made it hard to talk.

Em rubbed her thumb across her O necklace, her sister’s necklace, but quickly dropped it when she realized her sister would not approve of what she was doing.

“You need to leave,” she said. “Now.”

The woman stood on shaky legs and scooped her son off the ground. Her cheeks were smudged with soot, and she blinked at Em through watery eyes. She was clearly trying to figure out who Em was.

“Emelina Flores,” Em said.

The woman sucked in a breath. All of Lera knew who Em was. The girl who had killed the princess of Vallos and impersonated her in order to marry the prince. The girl who had partnered with the kingdom of Olso to launch an attack on Royal City and invade Lera.

“You rode with King Casimir to take back Royal City,” the woman said.

Em’s eyebrows shot up. She’d done that as well, just two days ago. News traveled fast.

“Go to Royal City,” Em said. “Ask for an audience with the king. They’ll give it to you if you tell them you have a message about me.”

The woman nodded, wiping the tears from her face. She squared her shoulders, as if happy to have been given a task.

“Tell Cas—King Casimir—that we’re here.”

The woman nodded with more enthusiasm than was necessary. “I’ll tell him you saved me.”

Em wasn’t going to ask for that, and she felt both embarrassed and proud as she imagined the woman relaying that to Cas.

You’ll make the right decision.

He’d said those words to her just a day ago, the last time she saw him. He’d been so confident she would choose him that she wouldn’t let her sister destroy everything. She almost wished she could see his face when he discovered he was right.

He would probably be smug. And unsurprised.

“Tell him I will find a way to get a message to him, eventually,” Em said.

“I can take it,” the woman said eagerly.

“I don’t have a plan. Maybe don’t tell him that part. Or, do. I don’t know.”

The woman squinted, some of the confidence slipping from her expression. Em knew the feeling. She’d lied to Olivia—and to Aren, and to everyone—when she said she had a plan of what to do next. In reality, she had had no idea.

“Just tell him he’s safe for now. But I need time to figure out the next step.”

The woman appeared reassured. “I will.”

Em pointed east. “Go.”

The woman stepped forward, tears filling her eyes again as she closed her fingers around Em’s arm. “Thank you so much. I’ll tell everyone you saved me.”

The woman turned and ran. A disbelieving laugh escaped Em’s lips.

Emelina Flores, the girl who killed the princess, the girl who destroyed Lera, the girl who rode with the king to put it back together.

Emelina Flores, the hero.

No one would believe it.





TWO


“THE RUINED DO not have horns.” Cas tried to keep the exasperation from his voice, but it crept in anyway.

The man in front of him gave him a deeply suspicious look. “I’ve seen paintings.”

“The artist took some liberties.” Cas shifted on his throne. The Great Hall was full of Lera citizens lined up to talk to him. The room was sometimes filled with tables for dining, or featured musicians at the back wall so people could dance. But today the hall was empty, tables cleared out, only a blue rug running up the center of the room that stopped at Cas’s feet. His guards stood on either side of him and mingled with the people, checking baskets for weapons.

He’d insisted they take a few days for the people of Lera to bring their questions about the Ruined to him, and the guards were doing their best to keep him safe in the process. Cas thought the number of guards in the room was excessive, but just recently he’d been stabbed, shot by an arrow, and poisoned, so what did he know?

Two hours in, and he was starting to doubt this plan. Most of the people of Lera had never even seen a Ruined, and the rumors had not been kind to them. An alliance with the Ruined felt unrealistic at best.

“Are you sure?” the man asked, still skeptical about the horns. His wrinkled face was scrunched up like he’d have to rethink every idea he’d ever had. Or he thought Cas was insane. The latter was more likely, actually.

“Positive. I have met many Ruined.”

The man must have known this—everyone knew Cas had married Emelina Flores, that Olivia had killed his mother, and that he’d spent time with the Ruined in Vallos after being poisoned by his own cousin—but he still didn’t seem convinced.

“Thank you for coming,” Cas said. The man opened his mouth to say more, but two guards swooped in to show him to the door. The guards around him were much more stiff and serious than Galo, Cas’s best friend and captain of his guard. Galo had asked for a few days off to travel north and check on his family, and Cas had agreed.

“Would you like to take a break?” Violet asked. She stood next to him, greeting people as they came in and introducing herself as the governor of the southern province. Violet put people at ease, with her pretty face and calm smile.