Don Enrique humored her for a moment before saying, “I will hear what Do?a Ursulina has to say.”
Do?a Laurel flared her nostrils, but there were no objections from her husband when she swept out of the room. “Get to the point. Why are you bothering me with tales and legends?” Don Enrique said.
Do?a Ursulina was unfazed. She pointed at a passage on her star map. “The invocation must be performed in Rahmagut’s ancient tomb, in Tierra’e Sol, right where the Liberator erected his home.”
All the confidence drained from Don Enrique’s visage. His jaw clenched, and his gaze flickered to Reina, noticing her there for the first time. He sized her up while she held her breath, stopping her tail from twitching. A million thoughts rushed through her mind. Primarily: He probably imagined this was a great opportunity to disembowel the pesky fly on the wall.
“Samón is going to invoke Rahmagut?”
The smile softening Do?a Ursulina’s features told Reina she was getting exactly what she wanted. “Even if he isn’t, we can’t be sure that he won’t. He is already positioned to block anyone else from fulfilling the legend. If he ever wielded that kind of power, you would never be able to measure up to him.”
His eyes hardened even more as he spat out, “And he could force my hand with his idiotic ideas of how Venazia should be ruled.”
Do?a Ursulina’s smile widened. “Precisely. We don’t need to change how we live for his whims. The governors oversee the city-states, and the caudillos protect them. It is as it has always been—now instead of a king across the ocean, we have a king in Puerto Carcosa.”
Reina thought back to the people she had known in Segolita and whether they cared who ruled in the capitol building. Maybe the humans had cared, back when nozariels were still enslaved and earning them fortunes in free labor. Personally, Reina had been too concerned about securing her next meal to care who was in power. Why wasn’t Samón Bravo the Liberator the one in power? If he wanted to rule, he certainly deserved it.
“But he hates this,” Do?a Ursulina added. “He’s always been vocal about that.”
Don Enrique scoffed. “Him and his senate of Segolita. They think they can let the people choose how they want to be ruled. It is utter nonsense. If the common folk are to thrive from the protection my wealth and army provides them, then they should bend the knee to my family and let me decide how they shall be ruled.”
“You have the strongest army of all the caudillos, but for how long? Until Rahmagut’s Claw comes and goes? Everyone in the world will be able to look up to the skies and see the opportunity.”
Don Enrique drew a step closer to Do?a Ursulina, raising his index finger between them.
“Samón succeeded in leading one revolution,” he bit out. “He isn’t incapable of leading another one, especially if he finds the strength.” He nodded, as if reassuring himself. “Find out who the reincarnated brides are. Gather what you need. Even if we don’t pursue it, we will be a step ahead and take it away from his hands.”
He whirled to leave with his cloak surfing the air behind him. Do?a Ursulina gave her arms one final wave, dispersing the projection of the skies. The whispering ceased, and a hush blanketed the laboratory. Do?a Ursulina grimaced as she backed away to her chair and collapsed over it with a sigh. Reina thought she could hear the creak of her knees.
She wasn’t sure if it was her place to witness her grandmother like this. She was, however, surprised to hear there was someone even Don Enrique feared.
“Would the Liberator really invoke Rahmagut?” she asked, softly and unsure.
“It doesn’t matter. We have Don Enrique’s blessing.”
Reina chewed her lips at the implication. And now she was involved.
Still, Do?a Ursulina regarded Reina coldly and said, “I asked you to bring only Don Enrique.”
Reina fisted her hands by her sides. “I—I didn’t think it would be a problem.”
How would she have even begun to peel them apart? The don y do?a of the house were inseparable.
“Here, iridio is everywhere.” Do?a Ursulina gestured to the tall ceilings of her underground study. “Copious amounts of it. And even more came from that ore after I extracted it. Though our eyes cannot see it, iridio is shooting out in every direction, impaling the matter that makes us, us. Going through our skin, our bones. Tiny indiscriminate knives. Except it does discriminate, with a preference for the most vulnerable, such as an unborn babe. Don’t you know Laurel’s greatest desire is to conceive another ?guila valco?”
Reina stuttered a yes. Do?a Laurel had stated it plainly, already entrusting Reina with her dreams.
“Babes do not have the same sturdy skin and bones we do. And the unborn can be harmed, and even killed, if enough iridio shoots through them.”
“Could she be with child now?” Her question came out high-pitched. If Do?a Laurel’s babe was harmed, it would all be her fault.
Do?a Ursulina chuckled. “I’m merely saying this so you understand that magic cannot be taken lightly.” She yanked off her gloves and tossed them over the star map. “Do not worry so much about Laurel. That woman acts so innocent, but don’t believe her for an instant. She knows what exists down here. She’s quite the capable geomancer.”
“Do?a Laurel?”
“She plays her role well.”
“Why does she need you to make her fertility drafts, then?” Reina approached the star map. Within her, the voices stirred.
Do?a Ursulina shot her a satisfied look. “Well done, fly on the wall. Laurel swore off geomancia after the revolution was over. All those crowing highborn ladies in her circle are slowly turning to Pentimiento. The doctrine is sweeping the city and the country. Penitents paint geomancia as an unsavory evil and iridio geomancia, with its largely undiscovered applications, as the equivalent of communing with their devil, whoever that is. Nowadays, geomancers are on the verge of becoming social pariahs. Laurel can’t have that. She needs everyone to see her as the Benevolent Lady, after all.”
Reina struggled to believe her grandmother. Nothing about Do?a Laurel seemed fake. “Why? She can be anyone she wants. She’s the caudillo’s wife.”
“Enrique is too much of a narcissist to bed anyone capable of besting him, and Laurel knows this. She is merely being the wife he wants.” For a moment Do?a Ursulina was lost to a faraway memory. “Him and his mother, both narcissists who can’t stomach the idea of an equal for a partner.”
Do?a Ursulina noticed Reina’s curious gaze, and the faraway look was promptly replaced by annoyance. “Do you see all we have to gain, if you do exactly as I say?”
Reina nodded to avoid appearing daft.
“Many pieces will be moving out of balance in two years with Rahmagut’s Claw, both magical and in the natural world. If we invoke Rahmagut, we will also be making ripples in people’s lives. It will not matter that the greatest sorceress to ever live has a nozariel for a successor, not here or anywhere in Venazia.”
Reina sucked in a breath. The ore’s chanting ignited. It punched Reina’s blood with the thrumming beat of her heart. Her lips trembled as she stopped a smile, her tail switching like a metronome.