Ruined (Ruined, #1)(18)

“Guards posted on the other side of the wall?” she whispered.

“Yes. Not a popular position. Very boring, apparently. And you have to stand the whole time.”

“Find out how many and where.”

“Already on it.”

“A Ruined could take this wall down, right?” she asked. “At least a piece of it?”

“Damian could take down a large chunk of it at full strength.”

“Good.”

They continued walking, Em making a note of how long it took to walk the entire perimeter. If a hasty escape was necessary, the wall would pose a significant problem.

“How was the prince last night? You saw him, didn’t you?” Aren asked.

“Fine. It’s just a shoulder injury.” She blew out a breath of air. “He wants to talk to me about the Ruined.”

“What? How did that come up?”

“It’s my fault. I can’t keep my mouth shut. I may have said they were murdering us.”

“Mary would have hated the Ruined, Em. They murdered her parents.”

“So? No one here ever met her. They don’t know that for sure.”

“Was he mad? Was it like, ‘We’ll discuss this later, peasant. Now leave me to my murdering’?” He lowered his voice in an impression of Cas and grinned.

“No. It was more like he was intrigued. Like he was willing to talk about it,” she said, and Aren gave her a baffled look. “I know! I never considered the possibility that I could actually talk sense into him.”

“It’s not a possibility,” Aren said. “Even if Cas is willing to listen to you and the king died tomorrow, it wouldn’t change anything. The king’s advisers support the Ruined policies. Besides, he’s what . . . seventeen?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s been able to take the throne for two years. He was in those meetings when they decided. If he had something to say, he would have done it already.”

“True. Sympathy doesn’t mean much if you don’t take action.” She shuddered as the image of a shirtless Cas ran through her head. She didn’t like him in her head.

“Have you heard anything about Olivia yet?” Aren asked.

“No. I’m waiting for a natural way to slide it into conversation. I don’t want them getting suspicious. So far all anyone will talk to me about is dresses and the wedding. They haven’t even bothered to tell me the Olso warriors are coming. I’ve been practicing my surprised face.” She lifted her eyebrows, parting her lips dramatically. “How is that?”

“Terrible. Don’t do that.”

“Maybe Cas will remember to tell me today, since they’re supposed to arrive very soon. He’d barely spoken to me before yesterday, so I guess there wasn’t much opportunity.” She scrunched up her face. “Now I think he likes me.”

“That was the point, wasn’t it?”

“I guess.”

He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “We never talked about . . . uh . . . the sex part.”

“And we will continue to not talk about it.”

“Are you going to ask him to wait? I don’t think that’s unreasonable. You just met, after all.”

“Aren, we’re not talking about it.”

“Right. Sorry.” He slid his hands in his pockets, taking a few steps away from her. “I have to get back. I told them I was just checking in with you, so they’ll expect me back soon.” He grinned. “Plus, we shouldn’t be seen together too often. People will think we’re having sex.”

Em wrinkled her nose, trying to keep a smile off her face. “Gross.”

“The feeling is mutual.”





EIGHT


PEOPLE IN THE castle had started addressing Em as “Your Royal Highness” or “Princess of Lera.” She cringed inwardly every time.

The queen said she was going to start training Em in her “royal duties,” though for the last two days Em had been mostly alone, memorizing the castle grounds and searching for weaknesses. She ate meals by herself, since the king and queen had mostly disappeared after Cas’s stabbing. They were probably dealing with that hunter who had decided to kill the royal family instead of the Ruined.

Cas never sent for her, so she didn’t visit him. The guards reported that he was healing well. Em was glad for the break from him. Since he didn’t expect her to join him in his bed, she was free to wander the castle at night, slipping into rooms and sifting through drawers to search for information about Olivia’s location.

Jovita finally remembered to let Em in on the fact that the Olso warriors were coming to Lera for the summer, and Em put on her best surprised face when she heard the news. She was given a stunning light-pink dress to wear for the welcome dinner.

She’d already amassed a good selection of dresses, and Davina informed her she’d have many opportunities to wear them. It seemed the only thing the people of Lera liked more than fighting was partying.

Tonight’s dress had a whole parade of buttons in back, but dipped down very low in front, showing a generous amount of cleavage. Most of the dresses that had been sent didn’t exactly cover a lot of flesh, and she couldn’t help but think the queen had done it on purpose, to make a conservative girl from Vallos uncomfortable.