“Yes.”
Eva had initiated the correspondence by asking him if it was normal to live a life of visions. She offered to enter his service, as an apprentice or calligrapher or anything else he could find of value, as long as he freed her from this prison. When she wrote she hoped her proposition would be viable. But she never expected to see it unfold so easily. Javier reciprocated the exchange with earnestness, never missing a reply and always escalating their friendship. In his letters he had talked about what it had been like to grow up in the shadow of the strongest valco in Venazia as his brother and guardian. In turn, she’d shared lines of how it had hurt to lose her mom, the only true protector she’d had in Galeno, and her resentment for the father who’d bewitched her mother.
“What price would you pay?” he said.
“I would… not join a convent.” It sounded so silly that they chuckled.
“Humor me here.”
“All right.”
“Wouldn’t it be grand if Eva Kesaré de Galeno married a future caudillo? What if you became a caudilla?”
The humid air of the Llanos closed around her. Clouds rumbled somewhere in the distance, the breeze carrying the slightest scent of rainwater, but the night remained clear.
The question bristled her skin. She sought to flee exactly that. “You speak so lowly of my future husband, and here you are proposing to buy me just the same?”
“It is not purchasing if you do it willingly. If nothing else is exchanged. I would be a partner you already know and trust, unlike the Silva.”
Eva’s chest grew tight in the painful confines of her sweaty dress. She was so afraid to turn him away with the wrong answer. Javier was her only escape. “I want a new life, away from here. I want to freely be myself, the valco that I am.”
“Free to practice geomancia?” he said, quoting one of her letters.
She looked down at her hands, her cheeks warming. “Yes.”
“Well, Eva Kesaré, if what I propose is the price of freedom…” He shrugged. “And you are willing to pay it, aren’t you? What are the alternatives? If the ascended god Rahmagut himself offered you this exit, in exchange for your hand, wouldn’t you take it?”
She stood up, her heart hammering. He followed. “Please don’t mock me. My whole family already does that enough.” A wild thought wormed its way into her, and the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “How do I know you’re truly Javier the valco and not some demon trying to steal me away? How do I know you’re even real?” Her voice broke at the notion.
His face hardened. “So what if I’m a demon? Isn’t that how the world sees us?”
The melody of a harp filled the pause between them. It was a rueful song, the kind that told stories of loss and unrequited love. The kind you were supposed to dance in the embrace of the person you loved most.
“I agree, you deserve more than Marcelino Silva. But I will leave, and tomorrow you will go back to your life. Marcelino will pretend none of it happened because he wants his grandmother’s approval, which only comes with you. But that will be it. He will wed you, impregnate you, and have you as his breeder. The royal family are allies to my brother—they value valco blood. You can feel important with them—have it be your purpose. That is a choice you can make.”
Eva would be offended, if what he said weren’t exactly what would happen. Her gaze couldn’t compete with his violent red one. “Turn the flame off,” she said, and he did so, without a flicker of hesitation.
In the darkness, he said, “As I agreed in my letter, you also have the choice of coming with me.”
A cuatro joined the harp in a flurry of notes, taking Eva’s soul by the hand and lifting her up, up, and up.
“But if you will, I must have this guarantee.”
“Why do you need me?”
“You’ve heard of Rahmagut’s legend.”
Eva blinked and grimaced. Why was he bringing that up? “Every child has. But it’s just a tale—”
“The legend is true. Soon, Brother will fulfill it. He’s already captured eight of the wives.”
Eva covered her mouth.
“It is only a matter of time before he discovers the ninth. When that happens, I need the support of a second valco to seize Rahmagut’s reward from him.” He searched her eyes. “This is the matter I couldn’t write about in our letters. If we succeed, Enrique will have no choice but to bow to me. It won’t matter that it’s his daughter’s name and not mine in the succession papers. I will be caudillo and protector of Sadul Fuerte. And Eva Kesaré, that second valco must be you.”
She frowned, for he was sharing so much, as if he knew her deepest desires. Like he was assured she was going to accept, aware her alternative was too unsavory.
“I didn’t come here for your cousin’s wedding. Our families think they can play us like puppets, command us here and there. Brother had no idea how much I had to gain by coming here—because you are here. And if I’m going to risk the wrath of my brother, the Silvas, and your family by taking you away, then I must have the guarantee of gaining something worth it. For ages, Brother has hounded me about forging my own legacy. Well, this is me doing it. I will need allies and a worthy partner.”
Javier spoke of her as if she could supply equal influence. He saw her as worthy for her natural affinity to the arcane, the same thing earning her the scorn of her people. Maybe he had even seen the hunger in her writings and her eyes and realized she wielded the potential for more. Her chest fluttered with satisfaction. She chewed on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. This man, beautiful and valco, needed her for his conquest.
“I am not like Marcelino. I know where my worth lies. With me, you’ll have the freedom to do whatever you desire, even if that is to become a caudilla as powerful as Mother—if you’re willing to do what it takes.”
As she clenched her jaw, Eva realized she was very willing. It didn’t sound so bad, when he laid out the cards for her to truly understand.
“And in return for coming with me, for being my valco bride, I will teach you everything I know. I will give you the key to unlocking the magic in your blood.” Again, quoting the letters.
Eva allowed herself a breath.
“You will be my greatest ally. Not a wife or a breeder. A woman of power, as my mother was. So, Eva Kesaré, now that I’ve laid out my terms, what is your choice?”
“I can’t stay anywhere near Galeno if I go with you. My grandparents would hunt us down.”
He held her eyes captive. “We cannot stay in Venazia for this. The place of the invocation is in Fedria.”
Fedria, the sister land east of Venazia. Eva could feel her heartbeat at her throat, at her fingertips, tingling every vein and vessel in her body. Images of everything she’d ever imagined about Fedria flashed through her mind: The sun bronzing her skin as she beheld the enormity of the Fedrian jungles. Feasting on snappers freshly caught off the aquamarine waters of the Cow Sea.
“This is a dream, right? I’ll wake up at any moment now.”
His smile was small but comforting. He seized her hands, and this time they were warm. “Don’t vacillate, Eva Kesaré. I won’t stand for it. I’m not your savior—merely a partner in business. What is your answer?”