“Second, that a human can never attempt to harness or force a Ruined to use their power.”
Franco nodded. “We would also have something to add. A Ruined can never use their power on a human without their consent.”
“Yes,” Aren said. “But I’d want to see what the punishments for that should be. A Ruined who kills someone shouldn’t be punished in the same way as one who, say, made a man slap himself in the face.”
“Agreed,” Franco said, taking note of something.
They ran through several more points—Ruined service in the royal guard and military, future housing and reparations for lost land and property, and Ruined access to jobs and education. They came back around to elected representatives, and what powers the monarch could still hold.
“And we’d need to determine what power the queen of Lera would hold,” Franco said. “If that’s going to be Emelina, we can’t allow her to hold the same powers as the king.”
Beside her, Cas stiffened. “Why not?”
“We can’t tell the people that Emelina Flores has the power to command the Lera army,” Franco said. His tone was almost apologetic as he looked at Em. “She would be able to veto laws. Dismiss representatives if she saw fit. None of that will sit well with the people. We fear they may riot. Or abolish the monarchy. We’d be giving them the power to do that.”
“What power would she have?” Mariana asked, leaning forward, eyebrows drawn together.
“The queen or king consort of Lera has many ceremonial duties, and you’d be free to take up any projects you like here in Royal City. The previous queen ran a program to feed hungry children and worked with the Royal City Watch, which is our local law enforcement in the city. You would be free to attend most meetings with Cas, if you wanted, but you wouldn’t be there in any official capacity.”
“No,” Mariana said.
“No,” Gisela echoed.
“Em is the queen of Ruina,” Aren said. “You have never had a monarch marry another monarch. It’s not the same.”
“Princess Mary agreed to these terms,” Danna said.
“I don’t care what the princess of Vallos did,” Gisela said. “Even with most of the Ruined dead, we’re more powerful than Vallos ever was.”
“Emelina conspired with Olso to attack Lera,” Julieta said. “We’re stripping the Lera monarchy of power as punishment for King Salomir’s actions, but there are no consequences for Emelina.”
“We consider the extermination of almost every Ruined alive to be consequence enough,” Aren said tightly.
Em glanced at Cas, swallowing down a lump in her throat. On the one hand, she didn’t necessarily want to be merely a queen consort. On the other, perhaps they had a point. He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.
“You should have talked to me about this before,” he said, turning to the advisers. “Because I don’t agree.”
“Your Majesty—”
“Em and I will have the same powers. If that means you remove more powers from the monarchy, then that’s what you’ll have to do.” He looked at her. “If that’s all right with Em.”
She squeezed his hand in return. “That sounds fair to me.” She turned her gaze to the others at the table, narrowing her eyes. “If you don’t agree, just remember that if I don’t marry Cas, I still remain queen of the Ruined. And I could also run to be a representative of the Ruined in the Lera government. If I did both, some might say I had more power than the king.”
Aren ducked his head into his chest, obviously trying not to laugh.
“Are you threatening us?” Danna asked tightly.
“I was merely stating a fact,” Em said.
“It’s scarier than that when she threatens you,” Mariana said. “You’ll know when it happens.”
Danna looked openmouthed from Julieta to Galo, like she was trying to figure out if Mariana was serious.
“Listen,” Cas said, his tone almost amused. “We’re done comparing. We’ve all done horrible things. Em’s not threatening you; she’s simply pointing out the fact that she is a powerful queen who commands the loyalty of her people and strikes fear into the heart of her enemies. No one like that has ever married a member of the Lera royal family. The rules have to change for her. You can either accept this marriage, or you can run in fear from her like everyone else. It’s your choice.”
FORTY-ONE
OLIVIA STARED AT the spot where two Ruined had been sleeping. They’d left behind the smoking remains of a fire and nothing else—the blankets she’d seen them snuggled into last night were gone.
She blinked and got to her feet. She was still half asleep, and it took a moment for the world to take shape around her.
No horses, no supplies, no food.
No Ruined. They were all gone.
She turned in a circle, her heart pounding in her chest. She found Jovita, bound to a tree, her hair wild and her eyes unfocused.
“They left,” a voice said.
Olivia turned to see Ester ducking under a branch, Carmen and Priscila behind her, bags slung over their shoulders.
“What do you mean, they left?” Olivia barked.
“They were scared you’d hurt them if they told you,” Ester said. “We decided to do you the courtesy of saying good-bye.”
“Good-bye?” Olivia repeated.
“We’re going back to Ruina. There’s no point to . . . this.” She gestured at Jovita when she said it. Ester had done a good job cracking open Jovita’s mind. Just last night she’d spilled all the secrets of the royal family, including the various affairs of her aunt, the queen. They hadn’t gotten anything useful yet, but it was only a matter of time.
“You’re just giving up?” Olivia asked, stunned. First the Ruined followed her useless sister to the Lera castle, of all places, and now the few smart Ruined who’d remained by her side were deserting her. She pointed in the direction of the army they’d been following for days. “They’re preparing for an attack! It won’t be long now.”
“If we go back to Ruina now, we can claim it as ours,” Ester said. “If Emelina claims it, that means Lera has it as well. It should stay in Ruined hands.”
“Of course it should,” Olivia said. “But we can have Lera as well. Then Vallos and Olso after that. We’ll take all four kingdoms back. It was the humans who stole them from us.” She pointed to the east. “The Vallos and Olso armies are right there.”
Ester shook her head. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I want that too, but it won’t happen. There are too few of us to take Lera. Our best course of action is to go back to Ruina and start rebuilding. Maybe in a few generations, after we’ve built up our numbers, we can try again.”
“A few generations?” Olivia gaped at her. She’d be dead. She’d be remembered as nothing but a disgraced queen who was captured, then defeated by her useless sister. The Flores family probably wouldn’t even rule in a few generations, if Olivia failed.
“You can come with us, if you want,” Ester said, throwing a bag over her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose at Jovita. “You can’t bring her, though. Just put her out of her misery already.”