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She’d always known how much he meant to her. But this was the first time it dawned on her that even self-preservation was moot if he wasn’t there—at the end of the tunnel.
All her life, she’d done nothing but fight against fate so she could free herself of the shackles of her own destiny and her wretched last name. All her life, she’d thought that as long as she chose herself, she would be fine—she would live without regrets, in spite of the world that sought to put her down for who she was. Yet now…not even that was enough to give her hope, because there was none.
Blue was her very own haven. She loved him, not only as a man, but as a twin soul—one that mirrored hers exactly; one that sang in tune with hers.
And if he was gone… If he was truly gone… What was she fighting for?
What was happiness, if he was not there to imbue it with meaning?
“Noelle, you need to calm down,” Lucero whispered as she stroked her hair tenderly. “You’re going to open your wounds and bleed again if you keep straining yourself.”
She started hiccuping, her sobs turning into incoherent sounds.
She felt silly.
She felt despair.
She felt…anger.
It was bubbling deep inside her, taking its strength from her pain and the earth-shattering cries of her soul.
“He won’t win,” she said between broken sobs. “I won’t let Sergio win, Lucero. I promise you that.” Turning to the other girl, she gave her an intense look. “I’m going to leave here. And I’m taking you with me,” she declared.
“Noelle…” Lucero blinked.
Determination washed over Noelle just as her pain increased from too much movement.
Her Blue couldn’t be dead. She refused to believe it. And she would scour the entire earth to find him if that’s what it took.
She couldn’t give up.
Until she saw the evidence, with her own two eyes, that he was gone from this world, she would not even entertain the thought.
She would claw her way out if need be. She would hit Sergio where it hurt the most. But she would not—ever again—lose herself to her self-doubts.
“I’m fine,” she strained a smile. “I’m ok.”
“Let’s get you back to bed. I’ll apply more poultice to your back.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, turning on her belly on the bed for Lucero to work her magic on her back.
With Lucero’s help, Noelle started to heal slowly. Her wounds were tender for a few days but soon she regained her full mobility and could exit her room. Yet something even stranger occurred.
As she went about the house in an attempt to get more familiar with her surroundings, she realized that none of the other servants acknowledged her, and the few times she ran into Sergio’s man, Fernando, he gave her a harsh stare, a sneer pulling at his lip.
She imagined Sergio must have told him what had transpired on the wedding night. But despite this, she saw no sign of herhusband.
Lucero, being more resourceful, told her that Sergio was still confined to his suite and he had yet to make an appearance outside of it. From what she’d overheard among the servants, everyone was worried about him.
Noelle was glad of it, though. If he was still absent, then maybe she’d injured him more than she remembered—maybe even mortally, and everyone was keeping it quiet. That gave her hope that she could somehow survive her until she found a way to go back home—back to her Blue.
With no one minding her business, Noelle started to gain more courage venturing outside and exploring the hacienda. Lucero introduced her to the main wings of the house and showed her to the stables and the surrounding areas.
One of the things she was curious about were the temples Lucero had told her about—the pyramid-like constructions that surrounded the hacienda.
A couple of them were completed, and the constructions were extraordinary in their level of detail and magnificence. But there were also a few that were under construction, with tens if not hundreds of workers toiling daily to build them.
“There are so many people working there,” Noelle noted one day.
