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My gaze fixed straight ahead, taking in the formidable woman who had just scolded her adult son like a child. She had been polite when we’d met earlier, but all practiced pleasantries had vanished.
She assessed me in the same way my tournament team did. Scratch that, she assessed me like a piece of furniture she was considering for her library.
I waited for her to speak, but she made no move. Such a stormy anger was brewing in her eyes.
I swallowed. “I think I should go down.”
Martina shook her head once. It had enough force that her carefully pinned curls bounced. “No, you will not.”
My heart stopped beating, and sweat collected in my palms. On the tip of my tongue were a thousand things to say to prove my innocence in this, but Ana’s annoying voice rang in my head. This was strategy. I needed to minimize the damage.
“Please forgive me for this. Isaac and I haven’t seen each other for a few days, and I’m afraid both of us were quite reckless.” I dipped my head for a moment, breaking her gaze to look at the floor with a penitent frown.
Martina took a few steps toward me. She was quite short compared to Isaac… and me. She smelled like lavender and milk-soap, and her high heels clacked quietly against the stone of the roof.
I had had little time before to take in the sights, but it was beautiful up here.
“This balcony was only intended for special guests to visit. It is kept private to ensure the highest confidences. Isaac probably had been up here before because of Santiago. They were friends growing up,” she said almost conversationally while she finished the circle inspecting my person.
I tried to imagine Isaac as a child and found it wasn’t very hard. As I thought of him and Santiago playing, I nearly smiled. The sweetness of imagining the two young boys was overshadowed by this woman’s deceptively calm voice.
When I didn’t respond, she continued. “I’ve known about you and Isaac for weeks. You two started conversing at the training center, and, if I am correct, shared your first kiss not too long ago.”
I blanched. It felt like a blow to my chest. How had she known? Antonio didn’t even know… Did he? I’d told no one.
The delicate red gift resurfaced in my mind, the one that started all of this by bestowing with both hope and a plan.
“From the look on your face, you appear to be less clever than I originally thought. It is prudent for me to have my son followed, to check up on him, if you will.” She stopped right in front of me, looking right into my eyes as she said, “It is my job to make sure that he doesn’t make any mistakes.”
It wasn’t hard to infer that the mistake she was referring to was me. My mouth was dry at the thought of her picking and prodding into my life. What would she find? Would she dig far enough to discover the truth?
“Señora de León, I assure you that what I feel for Isaac isn’t malicious,” I blurted.
Her eyes narrowed. “Isaac is a Monroy. We are the Canciller’s cousins. He is heir to one of the most powerful families in the commonwealth. Isaac doesn’t have trysts with unremarkable girls. Especially ones that have such tastes for powerful men.”
The innuendo felt like a slap to my face. Maybe it was due to the revelation of how much influence Isaac really had, or maybe it was because some part of me knew she was also referring to Antonio, but my eyes watered. There was still so much about this world I didn’t understand. One thing was certain: standing under the weight of this woman’s judgment was crushing me. I needed to get away.
She wasn’t ready to let up. “Honestly, Renata. You were undressing on a public balcony. Were you hoping to get pregnant? Do you think he would bend under such a sloppy trap? Isaac is meant to marry someone else, and has been promised since birth. What makes you special?” Her eyes told me she would kill me herself before I bore her grandchild.
Isaac… promised to another? I needed to open my mouth. Say something else.
“Señor Castillas is my trainer. I am forced to be with him. He doesn’t even like me,” I said.
She wasn’t convinced. “You are young, but it can be shocking just how closely love and hatred reside in the neighborhood of feelings. Even if he doesn’t bite, I have no doubt you still cast the bait.” She crossed her arms.
I took a deep breath. “¡Amo a Isaac!”
The world tilted sideways as soon as I said it, distorting at the falsity of my confession of love. Of course, I didn’t love Isaac, but I loved the security he could bring me. I could love him for letting me be near Magda again.
A few seconds passed, and then Martina de León’s face relaxed. I had said the exact right thing. Apparently, she would forgive all the horrendous accusations as long as I was… in love.
“If you love him,”—she spoke slowly and carefully,—“then you must win the tournament to have him. His father and I can be persuaded away from other plans if you become the better option.”
My gut wrenched once more. Yet another person expected me to do that. This wasn’t a weekend camping trip. This was survival in the frozen land before climbing up a volcano. The more I trained, the more I worried about being one of the people poisoned. I worried over the wolves and the repelling. And of course, I agonized over murder. How could I kill someone, even in self defense? I didn’t have what it took to make it to the finish line first. My head was swirling with fear and despair when she spoke again.
“And you will make my son finish soon after. When the two of you are crowned, then I will be all right with you loving him,” she said with a dangerous twist of her mouth. “Did you know it was some Trabajador that sold your story to the Canciller after the audition? You are quickly becoming one of the most anticipated competitors to watch, and it can all be attributed to dumb luck. If you wish to marry into the Monroy family, you must prove yourself.”
Her face twisted into a sadistic sort of smile that had me sweating harder.
