Ruined (ruined, #1)

The first book in a fantasy series, Ruined is set in a world of four kingdoms: Lera, Vallos, Olso, and Ruina. The Ruined are a people born with magical powers. When Lera's King Salomir invaded Ruina, he killed Queen Wenda Flores and kidnapped her younger daughter Olivia, a Ruined of extraordinary power. Wenda's elder daughter, Emelina (Em), lacks Ruined magic entirely, making her "useless" in her people's eyes. The surviving Ruined refused Em the throne and chose her friend Damian as their leader instead.

Em ambushes Princess Mary of Vallos as Mary travels to Lera for an arranged marriage to Crown Prince Casimir (Cas). With help from Damian and Aren, a Ruined whose fire-scarred skin hides his magical marks, Em kills the guards and defeats Mary in single combat. Because they share similar dark hair and olive skin, Em takes Mary's place to infiltrate the Lera castle, rescue Olivia, and destroy the royal family. Aren poses as a Vallos guard while Damian departs with the bodies.

At the castle, Cas dreads the marriage and barely speaks to Em. Queen Fabiana, originally an Olso warrior who defected to Lera, is gracious but condescending. Before the wedding, Em participates in the Union Battle, a Lera tradition where the royal's intended fights an opponent of her choice, with the winner being the first to land three fatal strikes. Em chooses Jovita, the king's formidable niece and second in line to the throne, and wins, earning grudging respect.

The wedding ceremony is lengthy and terrifying for Em. At the reception, a man stabs Cas in the shoulder during their first dance. Em's first reaction is relief, since his death would spare her the wedding night, but she realizes it would ruin her plan and disarms the attacker. The royal family is grateful. Afterward, Cas senses Em's fear and offers to delay consummation, saying he would never force her. The attacker turns out to be a hunter, a criminal Lera conscripts from prison to kill Ruined.

Three Olso warriors arrive under the pretense of treaty negotiations. One of them, Iria, knows Em from childhood visits to Ruina. The warriors are co-conspirators coordinating a naval attack to bring ships carrying Ruined fighters to Lera's shores. Iria reports that Damian has been helping surviving Ruined cross into Olso, though Em suspects the Olso king has his own motives for welcoming them. Em and Aren scout the castle's defenses while Cas, growing fond of Em, sneaks her out to visit the nearby city, unwittingly revealing the locations of coastal watchtowers and how the warning system works.

Cas begins questioning his father's policies, challenging the king's refusal to honor expired treaty terms and Lera's practice of killing all Ruined. Em and Cas argue about morality, and Em blurts that the king "marched into Ruina and murdered their queen" (140). Cas admits his father may have been wrong.

The king captures a Ruined who turns out to be Damian. Hunters torture him to weaken his powers, but Cas intervenes, has Damian's wounds cleaned, and orders him treated humanely. He asks Galo, his closest guard, whether perhaps they, not the Ruined, are the dangerous ones. Galo answers: "All the time" (160). When a veteran hunter at a dinner casually describes advising guards to cut off a prisoner's hand, Em publicly denounces the cruelty. The hunter recognizes Aren from a past encounter, so Em and Aren kill him and stage the death to look accidental.

Em sneaks into the dungeon and urges Damian to feed Cas small pieces of information to stay alive. She also learns from Cas that Olivia is held at Fort Victorra in the Southern Mountains. Cas persuades his father to stop the torture, but the king executes Damian at dawn without warning. Before the blade falls, Damian gives Em the Ruina queen's salute, pressing his fist to his chest.

Haunted by grief, Em goes to Cas that night and confesses: "I don't think this is who I want to be" (190). Cas tells her, "Then choose better next time" (190). She stays the night. They hold each other but do not have sex. Em knows the memory of his warmth will become her greatest pain.

Em tells Iria she wants to leave immediately and asks the warriors to spare Cas; they refuse. Meanwhile, the queen has commissioned a portrait of the real Princess Mary. When it arrives, the woman in the painting looks nothing like Em. The royal family deduces she is Emelina Flores. Cas screams in fury. Em flees with Iria, climbing the castle wall. Cas appears and demands her name. She calls back: "Emelina Flores!" (203).

Cas is devastated. That same night, the warriors attack the castle before Lera can muster its defenses. Cas fights alongside his father, but a warrior drives a knife into the king's chest, and King Salomir dies. Staff members hide Cas in a prisoner wagon, and he later escapes through a loosened wall panel.

Em, Iria, and Aren travel south through the jungle toward Fort Victorra. Em encounters Cas on his knees with a blade to his throat and saves his life, declaring him her prisoner to be traded for Olivia. When the warriors try to kill Cas, Aren's magic and Iria's support force them to back down. After the warriors attempt a nighttime ambush, Em, Cas, and Aren fight free, with Iria secretly letting them escape.

Separated from Aren when he is captured by a warrior patrol, Em and Cas continue south alone. She confesses she never intended to fall for him: "I fully intended to ignore you, but it turns out you're very hard to ignore" (299). He kisses her. They strike a deal: He will release Olivia, and Em will never attack Lera again; in exchange, he will stop executing Ruined for their magic.

At the fort, Cas reunites with Galo, his mother, and Jovita. He rescues 30 staff members from a warrior wagon, earning fierce loyalty. When he tries to free Olivia, who has been chained, blindfolded, and weakened by Weakling flower (a plant toxic to Ruined), his mother and Jovita have guards lock him in a cell, declaring him too compromised to lead.

The combined warrior-Ruined assault begins. Em fights her way to the dungeon and frees both Olivia and Cas. Lera forces launch Weakling particles into the air, killing several Ruined. Em, immune due to her lack of magic, shields Olivia and Aren until they escape. She calls for retreat. The battle is a catastrophic loss.

Lera soldiers capture Em. The queen orders her execution and Olivia's immediate death. Cas demands Em's release, declaring he refuses to be a king who orders executions. The queen drives her sword into Em's stomach. Olivia arrives, kills the surrounding soldiers, and rips the queen's heart from her chest with her Ruined magic. She then heals Em's wound. Cas, in tears, watches Em nod that she will survive, and runs. Olivia smooths Em's hair and promises: "They will fear us soon enough" (355).