There was no bench or seating on the balcony, but the wine lessened their inhibitions. Celeste crumpled to the floor like a waterfall of silks, pressing her back against the balcony railing. The ring of faraway laughter came from the level below. Reina joined her, but without the silks. She’d been lucky Don Samón’s tailor was a sensible man who didn’t mind her requesting an outfit of pants and a fitted liqui liqui jacket for the dinner party.
“It’s so hot in here,” Celeste said as she pulled the folds of her dress, revealing two slender legs. “It’s like… there’s nowhere to run from the heat.”
A bead of salty sweat rolled down Reina’s temple. “We’re too used to the Páramo.”
Celeste let out a little sigh, humming to the tune of the music they’d left behind. Her lips were plump and stained darker by the endlessly refilled wine. With the darkness, her eyes were two deep sapphires, and Reina took them in, even when she needn’t, for she had every flicker and variation in color firmly committed to memory.
“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Reina said without fear.
Celeste paused her humming to giggle.
Reina’s hand slithered over to Celeste’s lap, curling around hers, hoping for a grip in return.
Reina waited, but Celeste’s fingers remained limp. Reina worried her lower lip, and her gaze fell to the space between them. She had permission to cross the bridge, she’d taken that step earlier at the foot of Rahmagut’s tomb, but there was a stiffness to the air. A tension, perhaps of her own making—for the truth she was still too cowardly to give.
Reina took a deep inhale through the nose and decided it was due time she did it. “Celeste, I have something I must tell you.”
Celeste’s gaze was fixed on the rising moon, unflinching. Reina waited to meet those sapphires, for the acknowledgment, but the tension only coagulated.
Celeste withdrew her hand from her lap. “Don’t tell me you want to talk about Rahmagut.”
Reina’s breathing hitched.
Finally Celeste faced her completely, and her face was hard, like her father’s.
“Don Enrique banished me. He said I couldn’t return unless I found you.”
“Because he knows I’m a Dama del Vacío,” Celeste said slowly. “And you did.”
“I’m supposed to take you to my grandmother.”
Celeste’s brows descended farther in disappointment. Perhaps this whole time she had been betting Reina would have the courage to act against the darkness tearing her family to pieces. Reina saw it and knew she deserved every ounce of scorn.
Celeste’s spine straightened, her eyes narrowing, the gloss of wine gone. “Well, you can’t. Or are you going to force me against my will?” Then she snorted. “Like you could.”
Reina tried grasping for her hand again, but the gesture was evaded. “I don’t want to force you.”
Celeste rose to her feet. “Then what’s your plan?”
Reina followed. “Celeste.”
“Reina.”
A shudder shook Reina’s shoulders. There was a mountain between them, one she had hiked merely hours ago but that now felt impossible to climb. “My grandmother took the iridio ore from my heart.”
“Father owns all the iridio in the world. I can find you a new one.”
This time Reina took a bold step to her and grasped her hands with her own sweaty palms. Celeste didn’t fight her. She didn’t need to say anything when her entire body recoiled with betrayal.
“It’s not about getting more iridio. Do?a Ursulina said Rahmagut has the power to give me a brand-new heart. You saw the blade and the claw. We know the legend is real.”
A scowl was her reply.
“He can bring your mom back.”
Celeste wrenched free. She snarled, “And you think I care about that?”
“You haven’t been the same since she died.” Reina didn’t get on two knees, but she might as well have. “Think of how happy our lives will be afterward.”
Acid laughter exploded from Celeste’s lips. “You came all the way to the Plume to find me just so you can force the ghost of my mother into Maior—and for what? So my father can pretend he’s not a vile monster when he’s having his way with that human?”
Reina flinched as if she had been whipped across the face.
“How can you even believe that she would be back? We buried her a year ago!” Her words were a lash in the wind, a loud crack disrupting the peace of the adjacent gardens. “She is bones and worms now, if anything.” Celeste whirled, burying her face in her hands and giving Reina her back. “I already mourn her every day, and I’ve accepted she’s gone. Why would I want to tarnish her memory like that?”
“It won’t be like you’re thinking. Rahmagut has the power to change anything! I have seen the signs—in my dreams he showed me the way. She will be normal and alive and real. And it’s not up to me.” Reina knew she was just a pawn in the caudillo’s plots. Without the purpose Do?a Ursulina gave her, she had little else. When the Benevolent Lady had been alive, all was well. She had been their home and their beacon. Reina ached to taste that happiness again. “Please, Celeste. Your father’s going to get his way whether we like it or not. The least you can do is think about me.”
Celeste whipped around again, shoving Reina hard by the shoulders as tears sprinkled the air around her face. “Think about you?” she roared.
“Yes! Ever since I came to ?guila Manor, I have bent over backward for the desires of your family—to be the person you needed. I never asked for anything. And all I’ve ever wanted has been some acknowledgment. Yes, you are the heir of the house. You are smart and strong and beautiful, and you deserve everything. But for once, I would like to have something.” Reina didn’t know there were tears in her eyes until the wetness pooled near her collarbone. “I have two droplets of iridio in my chest, and once that runs out, my life will also end.” Celeste hadn’t seen her collapsing to the ground when no breath was ever enough. “But if there’s a possibility that all this will be behind us, why wouldn’t we want to try? So what if he’s the god of the Void? He can give us a brand-new life.” Reina paused as her heart thrummed in a race to consume the last of its fuel. “It would make all those deaths mean something,” she added, her voice breaking.
Celeste shook her head, her eyes wide and glossy. “You’re a monster like your grandmother.”
Reina stepped closer, and her heart shattered when Celeste stepped back. “No—I love you.”
Celeste’s lips trembled as she sharpened her reply. “In another world, maybe I would have loved you, too. But you’re warped by your desperation, scraping for the worst because you know you don’t deserve better. It’s true what they say about your kind. I lost every ounce of respect for you when I watched you drag innocent women into that witch’s laboratory.”
A pressure built in Reina’s temples. She swiped her sweaty palms on her pants. “But… we kissed, at the tomb. You let me hold your hand all night.”
Celeste grimaced.