“I’m so happy, Mama!”
“So am I, angel.” I kissed her. “We are all together again.” She nodded before I sat up, hugging her tightly.
“How did I get here in your room?” She asked, confusion clear on her cute little face as she looked around my bedroom.
“I brought you here. I thought it would be a nice surprise when you woke up and saw that I’m awake, too.” I smiled, brushing her hair back. She nodded happily.
“I am very happy, Mama,” she agreed, turning to her father.
“Morning.”
“Morning, Daddy.” Suddenly her smile vanished, and she began to look around the bed frantically. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what, baby?” I asked, concerned.
“My cloth!” I frowned, seeing her jump away as she frantically searched the bed. I glanced at Alejandro, concerned, and noticed he was frowning deep in thought.
“It’s in your bedroom. Come on, we’ll go get it,” Alejandro said quietly. She didn’t wait, sliding off the bed and rushing to the door. What on earth was going on?
Alejandro ran his hand through his hair, getting out of bed.
“What is she looking for?” I asked standing up.
“A piece of torn fabric…” he said quietly, despite the look of seriousness on his face. He left the room, leaving me concerned and confused as I followed them out.
Two hours hadpassed since then. After Kataleya had found her little torn fabric, she had calmed down. Alejandro quickly told me about the cloth before we all got dressed for the day and had breakfast. The kids decided to play in the mansion garden whilst Alejandro and I had returned to our bedroom to talk. Despite the protection spells and guards, we were still being very careful.
Alejandro had filled me in on everything properly; Enrique, how he had helped Kat, what happened when he came after me… and ended with Kat’s medical report. I stared down at the file, biting into my bottom lip as I tried to control my emotions. Whilst I was sitting at home, she had been subjected to so much…
I closed the file, dropped it onto the bed, and placed my head in my hands. My hair curtained my face before Alejandro wrapped his arms around me tightly. We remained silent, simply holding each other in silent comfort.
We needed to question Kataleya. I really didn’t want to upset her, but it was something we were going tohave to do. Even if we got someone to do a spell to probe her mind, it wouldn’t work. She was completely immune to magic.
“Shall I go get her?” Alejandro asked.
“No, let’s get some ice cream and some treats out in the garden. We’ll ask her when the time feels right. She’s been through a lot, and Enrique, he’s a child, for Goddess’s sake. Kat isn’t wrong, we need to get him away from that monster.” Alejandro nodded, despite the frown on his face.
“Yeah, although I wouldn’t trust him to be completely innocent. If he’s been drilled with bile since childhood, then he may not be someone we can trust.”
“Alejandro, he’s a child.”
“Who may also be a killing machine, one who may be a risk.”
“But we can’t leave him to suffer!”
“We also can’t just remove him. He may have other family.”
“Who clearly don’t seem to care about him! Kat said he was beaten for helping her.” I shook my head; I didn’t know how people could be so twisted and treat children like this.
“I know, but he’s the child of the enemy. We will need to tread carefully,” he replied with finality. I stood up, letting out a breath of frustration. I understood his point, but I also couldn’t allow a child to be treated like that and do nothing.
“I wish I remembered something, something that could give us some answers.”
“I wonder if the only reason Kataleya remembers stuff is either because they wanted her dead or they didn’t realise magic doesn’t work on her. That’s assuming that they did use magic or whatever shit that the Djinn uses,” he added coldly, frustration and anger clear in his voice.
“I’m assuming it could have been the second, but who knows,” I sighed, standing up and fixing the strap of my sage green dress. I could feel his intense gaze on me.
I walked to the door, but before I could open it, he was behind me in a flash, his arm shooting out and bracing his hand on the door as he looked down at me. I made the mistake of looking up, only for my blue-rimmed green eyes to meet his piercing dark ones. My heart skipped a beat, and I knew that the conversation from last night was not over…
