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“Oh, all right,” she said and sighed in feigned petulance, her heart racing with nerves. “But if I am going to tell you, we need a place more private, and it must be fast. I don’t want to lose sight of the duchess.” Aurora rolled her eyes, while Luz Alana shook her head. “Come on,” she urged her friends. “There’s an alcove I saw earlier where we can talk.”
“In here,” Luz Alana said, ushering them behind a curtain.
“Oh goodness, I’m utterly terrified of what is going to come out of your mouth,” Aurora whimpered. Luz Alana straightened her back as if bracing for impact.
“You both look like you expect me to slap you across the face,” Manuela protested. They were right to be worried, of course, but they could at least pretend to not consider her an absolute lost cause.
“I am growing roots, Manuela,” Aurora pushed.
“So here is the thing,” she began and was surprised to hear a quake in her voice. “Remember the night at Le Bureau?” she asked and was promptly lambasted with an exasperatedYesfrom Aurora andYou mean last night?from Luz Alana.
“I told you I met a woman.”
“The woman of your dreams, who you vowed to search all of Paris for.” This was delivered deadpan by Aurora.
“Well...” She stretched out the word long enough to make Aurora turn a bright shade of red. Was she holding her breath? “It turns out I didn’t have to look for very long.” Manuela’s laugh was a bit shrill, but at this point it was pointless to pretend this conversation was anything other than unhinged.
“Which means?” Luz Alana asked, whirling a hand in the air.
“Which means,” Manuela echoed, feeling every muscle in her face tighten.
“Por el amor de Dios, Manuela!”
“She’s the duchess,” she finally blurted out, the words ricocheting around the small space like gunshots. Aurora actually reeled back from the revelation, while Luz Alana stared at her slack-jawed. “The Duchess of Sundridge wants to buy Baluarte. And I’m going to sell it to her.” Into the resounding silence that followed, she added quietly, “I’m still marrying Felix. That’s not changing.”
“Is that woman trying to blackmail you?” Aurora, who was merely a couple of inches taller than Manuela, demanded with violence in her voice as she raised herself to her full height. “Because I don’t care if she’s a duchess. I will not allow it.”
Across from her Luz Alana remained quiet, but Manuela knew she would echo the sentiment. Her two Leonas would have absolutely no issue confronting one of the richest, most powerful people in Europe if it meant protecting Manuela.
“No, boba,” Manu laughed, bopping Aurora on the nose with her finger. “She’s not blackmailing me.” In truth, if anyone could be considered a blackmailer it was Manuela, but Aurora was too volatile for Manu to risk going into too much detail on how exactly things had transpired during their lunch. “The duchess made me a very good offer...” How could she say this without it resulting in one of her friends collapsing or worse? “And I countered with my own.” Neither of her friends blinked. “I’ve asked that she sponsor me as I explore some social circles and venues in the city that cater to women with our same interests,” she finally said.
Luz Alana pressed a palm to her forehead, a distressed noise escaping her lips.
“Are you truly giving up your only asset—your inheritance from your abuela—in exchange for a month and a half of parties?” She expected Aurora to say this, and Manuela couldn’t exactly refute it.
She could tell her friends that she couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d tried. That she’d walked into that room today, taken one look at Cora’s hard mouth and those wounded violet eyes and had fallen a little in love, but they would probably find her reasoning lacking.
“I’m not giving it away. She will pay me for the land. The other part is what I consider a bonus. She offered to put the money in an account that Felix can’t access.” Her friends seemed slightly relieved by that, but Aurora’s frown remained firmly in place.
“I want to be glad that you will have some money of your own, but I know what usually happens when you have very sudden, very radical changes of heart.”
Aurora was that rare breed of woman who managed to break the rules while still observing as many of them as possible. She carried herself with a righteous zeal. Unflinching. Manuela, on the other hand, merely wanted to live loudly for a few weeks before she was silenced by a marriage and life she was not strong enough to escape.
“I know this is outrageous,” she admitted, which only deepened the matching frowns directed at her. “I have my own reservations regarding it. But I am running out of time, and for this summer at least, I want to be happy much more than I want to be good.” She hoped that they, of all people, would understand.
Manuela was accustomed to being the so-called wild friend, but it hurt when no one in her life seemed to be able to see past it. When no one could recognize her impetuousness for the desperation it was. How did she explain that today, sparring with the duchess, felt like the first time anyone had ever seen her as more than decoration? That seeing a glint of admiration in the duchess’s eyes at Manuela’s boldness—even when she looked ready to throttle her—had set free something in her she didn’t know was captive?
“And you will be able to walk away once it’s time to go home?” Luz Alana inquired after a long moment.
“I have it all sorted out. Don’t worry about me,” she insisted.
“What is it that you really want with this woman, Manu? Are you truly going to give away your last piece of security for a few nights of fun?”
Had the question come from Aurora, Manuela would’ve said something scathing just to start an argument. But Luz Alana rarely spoke out against Manuela’s more impulsive antics. She suspected it was because deep down Luz Alana sometimes wished she had the freedom to be a bit foolish. That though she loved her younger sister and was deeply committed to her taking the family’s rum to other markets, her obligations were too many.
Manuela wished she could tell her friend that sometimes being the person who no one trusted with anything beyond a modiste’s recommendation could also be a curse. That when your only value to your family amounted to your marriage, you could be in a wretched place indeed.
“All I ask is that you support me like I have supported both of you.” This was important to her and she needed them to see that. “I am aware of what this looks like, I am even aware I’ll more than likely come to regret it at some point in the future, but right now this is what I want.Sheis what I want.” Aurora pushed two fingers into her eye sockets so deeply Manuela worried her eyeballs might pop out. “I am not you, Aurora, I am not strong enough to stick to my principles even when I’m threatened with disownment.”
