Ruined (Ruined, #1)(68)

“I’ll ride with you,” he said, and almost added the words “thank you,” but they died in his throat.

Em nodded, and it was the last time she looked at him that night. They rode in silence, her and Aren in front, and he found himself drowning in the frenzied sounds of the jungle, wishing one of them would speak. Now that he was temporarily out of danger the weight of the last few days felt like it might crush him. The images from his final moments in the castle played over and over in his head, until his chest was so tight he thought he might never take an easy breath again.

When the sun finally started to rise, he almost cried with happiness. His body was stiff and sore from a night on the back of a horse, but he sat up straighter, taking in the bright-green leaves around him, the colorful bird perched on a tree not far away.

Aren had apparently regained his strength, because he slid off the horse and walked alongside Em. She glanced over her shoulder at Cas.

“We’re close,” she said.

He craned his neck. “How can you tell?” he asked, his curiosity overruling his desire not to appear stupid.

“The area is well traveled.”

He glanced around, baffled. It was exactly the same jungle he’d been in the past three days. “What makes you think that?”

“Footprints, broken branches, crushed leaves, trash. When you’re being hunted every day of your life, you learn how to look for signs of other people.”

He stared right back at her, refusing to show an ounce of sympathy. Because of her, he was the one being hunted now. She didn’t deserve any sympathy.

She turned back around, and Cas ignored Aren’s withering stare. After seeing what he could do last night, Cas thought it best to leave Aren alone.

They rode for several more minutes, until Em stopped and slid off her horse. Cas did the same, shaking out his aching legs as soon as his feet hit the ground.

“There’s a chance the warriors have taken the city,” she said. “It’s best to go by foot, to make sure. We won’t want to be spotted.”

“We?” Aren exclaimed. “No. He can go by himself.”

“I’d like to know if the city is still under Lera control,” she replied. “Will you stay here with the horses?”

Aren looked from Cas to Em and back again. He pointed a finger at Cas’s face. “If you hurt her, I will break every bone in your body.”

Cas’s fingers itched for his sword, even though he knew it would be useless against a Ruined as powerful as Aren. He crossed his arms over his chest instead. “She’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Come on,” she said, jerking her head for Cas to follow her.

They walked until the signs of people became so obvious even Cas could spot them. The trees were thinner, a distinct dirt path free of leaves and debris winding out of the jungle. He’d only been to the city named after his ancestors once, a few years ago, and he was embarrassed to admit that he didn’t even remember what route he and his parents had taken to get there. They had gone by carriage instead of taking a boat down the shore, but he hadn’t paid attention to the path the guards carved out for them.

Em’s hand hovered over her sword, though she didn’t seem aware she was doing it. It stayed there as they walked, poised to pull the blade out at a moment’s notice. He tried doing the same, but found that his mind wandered and he’d push a hand through his hair or cross his arms over his chest. If anyone snuck up on them, Em would have her sword immediately and he’d be stuck fumbling around for his.

She moved smoothly through the jungle, even in her dress. Her boots barely made a sound against the ground, and he noticed her stepping around twigs and leaves he wouldn’t have thought twice about stepping on. He followed her example, putting his boots in her smaller footprints.

“Was this all for Olivia?” he asked suddenly. The words shot out of his mouth as if they refused to be contained a moment longer.

“Yes,” she said, without turning around. “And a little bit of vengeance, if I’m being honest.”

“What if you had died in the castle?” he asked. “What if you hadn’t escaped in time? You must have known that was a possibility.”

Her eyebrows knitted together as she glanced back at him. “It was more than a possibility. That’s why Aren was there. The hope was that one of us would make it out. Given how strong his Ruined magic is, my money was on him.” She shrugged. “And if that failed, at the very least I had the warriors and a promise from the Olso king that he would do his best to stop Lera from executing all the Ruined.”

The word executing vibrated through his body, pricking emotions he didn’t want to feel. If his father were here, he would say that Em’s actions only proved his point—the Ruined deserved to die. They were too dangerous to live.

And Cas would have told him that Em was only one person, like her mother was only one person. He hadn’t met Olivia, but perhaps the whole family was a black mark on the Ruined.

Or maybe we did this to them. He beat down the words as soon as they bubbled up, but the sick feeling they brought remained. What kind of life must Em have lived, to be perfectly willing to walk into that kind of danger? To marry him, knowing full well that it might lead directly to her death?

He wondered suddenly what Em had been like before—when she still had her parents and sister and before she knew how to walk without making a sound. Had she been angry and bitter about her lack of Ruined power? Or had she thrown herself into other things, like learning to wield a sword? Her skill with a blade certainly hadn’t developed over the past year. She’d spent a lifetime honing that skill.