Cas closed his fingers around the back of the chair next to him. Outside the door, guards yelled, followed by a heavy thud. The wall rattled. They were breaking down the door.
Jovita held the sword steady, but she was breathing heavily, and she kept glancing to her left, like she saw something there. He was worried that her panic might actually make her more dangerous.
She lunged, blade aimed at his chest. He grabbed the chair, holding it up in front of his chest like a shield, and darted out of the way.
“They will never let you be queen,” Cas said. Jovita lunged again, aiming for his arm this time. She nicked him, blood seeping from the scratch. He tried to dodge her, but his back hit the wall.
He threw the chair at her head. She ducked, and it sailed over her and crashed into the wall, breaking into several pieces. A chair leg rolled across the floor.
Cas took advantage of the momentary distraction to dart around Jovita. He ran across the sofa, on to the table in the center of the room, and jumped down to grab the chair legs.
He spun around just in time to see her blade swinging at his face. He blocked it with the chair leg, the wood cracking as the sword hit it. He swung the leg as hard as he could, connecting with Jovita’s face.
She stumbled backward, blood dripping down her forehead. Cas hurled himself at her, knocking them both to the ground. The sword skittered across the floor.
She twisted beneath him, reaching an arm out to try and grab the sword. He yanked her arm back, holding it tight to the ground.
“They will never let you be queen,” he said again, slower. She kicked her legs and let out an annoyed scream. She blew a piece of hair out of her face and glowered at him.
“I wasn’t going to ask permission,” she said. “That’s your problem. You’re always asking permission.”
A crashing noise came from behind him. “Again!” Jorge yelled.
Jovita squirmed, managing to free one of her arms from his grasp. She wriggled away, making a beeline for the sword.
Cas grabbed the edge of her shirt, pulling her back and diving for the blade. His hand closed around the handle.
She grabbed for his ankle, but he barely managed to avoid her fingers. He jumped to his feet, the sword stretched out in front of him. He took several steps back, still breathing heavily. Jovita sat up but didn’t bother getting to her feet. There was no point in fighting anymore, now that he had the only sword in the room.
She leaned against the couch, tilting her head back as she let out a humorless laugh. “It was much more theatrical this way, right?”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“We joked once, after that man tried to kill you at your wedding. I said I wouldn’t have used poison. I preferred something more theatrical.”
“But you did poison me.”
“Well, desperate times called for desperate measures. And that stupid Olivia failed to kill you again, it seems.” She waved her hand in disgust.
Cas walked to the door, reaching for the lock. The door shook as something heavy hit it. “I’m fine!” he called. He turned the lock, then looked at Jovita, hand on the doorknob. “You didn’t send that man to kill me at my wedding, did you?”
“No.” She lowered her head with a frown. “Not that I remember.” She blinked twice, pulling her knees to her chest and muttering something he couldn’t understand.
Cas opened the door to find the hallway packed with guards. Jorge held an ax, and he quickly lowered it.
“I got it!” a guard yelled, rounding a corner with a key held up in the air. He skidded to a stop when he spotted Cas. “Oh.”
“Are you all right, Your Majesty?” Jorge asked.
“I’m fine.” He pointed at Jovita. “You’ll want to keep several guards on her. She’s still plenty capable of wielding a sword.”
Jorge ordered a few guards into the room, and Jovita grumbled as they pulled her to her feet.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Jorge said. “I shouldn’t have let that happen.” His eyes flicked to the sword in Cas’s hand. “I was sure you didn’t even have a sword.”
Cas barked out a laugh. “I didn’t. I took this one from her.”
Jorge looked from the sword to the pieces of the chair on the floor. “I think perhaps you really are immortal, Your Majesty.”
FORTY-SIX
EVEN IF EM hadn’t known where Olivia was, she could have just followed the trail of dead bodies.
She spotted them almost as soon as she ventured beyond the outer castle wall, and she could see several in the distance, crumpled and still. Olivia had snapped their necks, a killing style that was much neater and quieter than her usual method. She was trying to be stealthy.
Em carefully stepped around one of the fallen men. From their uniforms, they were part of the watchmen, the humans who policed Royal City. One of them must have recognized Olivia.
She broke into a jog, even though she wanted to stall. The southeast tower loomed in front of her, the door ajar, and she had to force her feet to move forward. She wished the tower was farther away, she wished her sister wasn’t in it, she wished they were back in Ruina, cuddled up in bed with their mother.
Em slowed to a stop as she reached the door and tried to shake the thought away. It would do her no good to think about the past. If she’d learned anything from Olivia, it was that obsessing about the past, and trying to get back to some mythical great time, would only lead to more pain and suffering.
She pushed the door open. It caught on something, and Em had to push a little harder. It was a dead body, scooting across the floor as she shoved the door open. The guard who’d been on duty in the tower, from the look of his uniform.
The floorboards right in front of Em had been ripped up, revealing a hole in the ground. She knelt down, craning her neck to get a glimpse inside. She couldn’t see Olivia, but the passageway was pretty long. It would take her a while to crawl all the way to the castle and back.
A boom sounded behind her, and Em whirled around, heart pounding. The Olso and Vallos armies had arrived.
Em swallowed as she pressed her back to the door. She couldn’t let Olivia run loose, even if it meant leaving the fighting to the Lera army and the Ruined. Olivia would cause more damage if she got out of the tower.
She waited several minutes, the sounds of the attack growing louder behind her. She could hear horses running, people yelling, and cannons firing.
A rustling noise came from the hole, and Em straightened, gripping Cas’s sword a little tighter. A dirty hand appeared out of the hole first, gripping the edge of the dirt to pull her body up.
Olivia was a mess. She was covered in dirt, wearing the same clothes she’d had on the last time Em had seen her, her face drawn and pale. She spotted Em when she was halfway out of the hole and paused for a moment, surprise skipping across her features before she rearranged her face into an angry mask.
“Sounds like the army made it,” Olivia said, obviously trying to keep her voice casual. Em could hear the edge in it, the disappointment and anger at her failure.
“Aren felt them coming long before the lookouts spotted them,” Em said. “Lera has the advantage.”
Olivia let out a hollow laugh. “You can always count on Aren.”
“Yes, you can,” Em said softly.
Olivia’s eyes dropped to the sword in Em’s hand. “Are you planning on stabbing me with that thing?”
“No.”
“Then, what?”
“We’re going to wait in here until this is over. Then you’re going to leave, and take Ester and Carmen and whoever else came with you.”
“They’re not here,” Olivia said. “I don’t need help.”
Em raised her eyebrows. “Where’d they go?”
“Back to Ruina, like a bunch of cowards.”
“Oh.” She felt a flash of sympathy for Olivia. She had no one left. “I think it’s best if you join them.”
“I don’t take orders from you,” Olivia spat. She made a waving motion with her hand.
“What does that mean?”
“It means move away from the door.”