Ruined - Amy Tintera Page 0,68

eyes widened in recognition.

He took a step inside, swallowing as he realized any of them could give him up, if they wanted.

But everyone was silent as he stepped into the wagon. Felipe followed behind him. Cas felt gentle tugs on his left arm, and he turned to see the staff making a hole in back for him to sit. He slumped down, pulling his knees to his chest, and the staff immediately filled in the space around him, hiding him from view.

“Are you hurt?” an older woman he vaguely recognized whispered. Daniela. She’d worked in the castle gardens for as long as he could remember. She grabbed his bloody hands.

He shook his head. “No. It’s—it’s not mine.” He tried wiping his hands on his pants again, but the blood had started to dry and it didn’t budge. He noticed he was shaking, as were most of the people sitting around him. They were staring at him with tight, scared faces, and he quickly stuffed his hands beneath him.

“It will be all right,” he said quietly. His voice shook, betraying the fact that he knew that was an outrageous lie. “They have taken the castle, but they have not taken Lera.” That one wasn’t so much a lie as a hopeful declaration, since he had no way of knowing. What if Olso was already in the Southern Mountains? What if they’d defeated all the troops headed there? His mother and Jovita would head straight for the mountains as soon as they escaped.

If they escaped.

TWENTY-FIVE

AT NIGHT, EM thought of Cas.

And also in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. But especially at night.

Two days had passed since their escape. Em watched as the sun disappeared completely behind the trees and the world fell into darkness. They’d been walking since early that morning, and her feet ached as she slid down a tree trunk.

The jungle was noisy around her, even though everyone in their party was quiet and on constant alert. The jungle was an absolute gift—loud and crowded, with chirping bugs and squawking birds competing for space with vines, trees, and leaves as big as her face. The forests of Vallos and Ruina were different. Quiet, sparse, harder to hide in.

Iria passed her a small piece of dried meat, and she took it with a soft “Thank you.”

She tore off a piece of meat with her teeth, looking down at the mess that used to be her dress. The blue fabric was now completely brown at the hem, and smudges of dirt dotted the skirt. There was even a smear of blood, from where she’d caught the sharp edge of a tree branch on her arm and wiped it on her skirt.

She’d fashioned a belt out of a vine and stuck her sword through it, and she found herself always watching the warriors’ movements, waiting to see if they were still partners now that they were safely away from the Lera castle. Two warriors against one tired, useless Ruined. Not her best odds.

“Who’s taking first watch?” Koldo asked, planting his hands on his hips as he surveyed the jungle.

“I will,” Em said, even though she was exhausted. She didn’t want to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Cas’s face. When she drifted off for even a few minutes, the guilty ache in her chest would jerk her awake, and everything she’d done would come rushing back.

“You barely slept at all last night,” Iria said.

Em shrugged, dropping her gaze to the ground.

“Koldo, you want to refill the canteens?” Iria asked.

“Sure,” Koldo said, taking the hint and disappearing in the direction of a nearby stream.

Iria watched him go, the sound of his footsteps fading into the distance. “I know that you developed feelings for Cas and it’s eating you up that he’s going to die, but don’t lose sight of why you did this,” she said quietly. “Your people were headed for extinction, and you’re the only one who stepped in to do something about it. You did what you had to do.”

“I did what I chose to do.”

“You chose right.”

“Yes, you did,” a voice said.

Iria scrambled to her feet, pulling out her sword. Aren stepped out from behind a tree, hands raised in surrender. Em jumped up and threw her arms around him.

Iria let out a relieved sigh. “I didn’t hear you coming.”

Em grasped both his arms. “Are you injured? Did the Lera soldiers hunt you down?”

He smirked. “They tried.” He glanced around. “No horses? Are we traveling all the way to