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I could hardly remember a time without Magdalena Magaña, but we were past the point of no return. She had Santiago, whatever that meant for the Marriage Council, and I couldn’t keep her close to me if she was moving on. Both of us were squeezed into impossible situations, which weren’t new for us, but the likelihood of us leaning on each other in the same way decreased every minute.
Except… Isaac lived near Santiago.
I stepped back first, only to find her crying as well. She was at least a head shorter than me, and I reached down to wipe away her tears while she smiled.
They burned against my skin.
"Sit, join us for breakfast," Antonio said from his table near the window. I had forgotten all about his silent brooding for a few moments. He was direct, powerful even, when he spoke to others, and I noted the charm he only put on for special occasions.
"Thank you," she said, settling in beside me. She glanced at Antonio, who gave her a warm smile. "I don’t know what to call you."
"Likewise," he replied, taking a sip of his coffee.
The conversation died out almost immediately
I didn’t know how to do this. Antonio and Magda both meant so much to me, but I wasn’t sure how to piece together the incongruent parts of my broken world.
I needed to try.
"How was your trip?" I asked, smiling at her. She didn’t know about the pain. She would be furious if she did.
Frustration painted across her features. "It wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it was okay," she said. "Are you used to living in houses with heated floors?"
I sat up straighter and looked at Santiago. I was uncomfortable with exaggerated wealth, but the way that Magda said it made me curious. “You have heated floors?”
“You had them in your bathroom,” Antonio piped up. I looked at him, who met my gaze with a soft smile.
I shook my head. “I don’t even want to think about how much that cost.” Then, turning back to Magda, I said, “He has silk wallpaper.”
Antonio sat up straighter. “I didn’t grow up in Hacienda Rosa de Oro.”
Magda laughed. “Relax. Carmen is a contrarian when she’s uncomfortable.”
That made me frown. She wasn’t wrong, but I had spent so much time viewing Élites as the enemy, for good reason, that it was hard to separate my emotions.
“I don’t think it’s fair that the Élites are the only ones that have access to these kinds of houses. It would be one thing if the money was earned, but they live this way simply because of blood. The blood and sweat hewed from laborious craftsmanship, and the Blood Magic they just happen to have.”
Santiago froze in his seat next to Magda, and Antonio said, “We.”
I turned around to look at him.
He held my gaze and repeated himself. “The Blood Magicwehappen to have.”
I chewed on my lip. “But I didn’t want this life.”
He raised an eyebrow, challenging me just enough to get under my skin. “And you think I did?”
“Of course you did! You’ve known nothing else.” I was locked into this conflict with him, and it was infuriating, but oddly familiar.
He scoffed. “My family was not always as powerful as it is now. I’m not a Monroy.”
I stiffened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Magda’s hand rested on my arm. “Carmen.”
My rigid posture relaxed almost instantly. Even though I had been spending so much time trying to think of others, to expand my vision, I still fell short. I was angry because I was uncomfortable. I refused to allow myself to enjoy things, and I was taking it out on everyone else.
My system wasn’t working.
