Reina buried her head in the dusty pillow for many moments before Maior’s voice was finally discernible. “What is the matter with you? Are you all right?”
Even in her dizzy delirium, Reina knew what was wrong with her. “My heart,” she croaked.
She was a docile doll under Maior’s ministrations, letting her unbutton her jacket and unwind the binds over her chest. Maior’s gasp at the sight was as sharp as Reina’s pain.
“Are you dying?” Maior asked.
She was, but there was a way to prevent it. “I just need this—the iridio.”
With a shaky hand, Reina lifted between them the iridio pendant Do?a Ursulina had given her. She forced herself to sit up. Her chest pounded and ached, and Reina bit on the insides of her cheeks until she tasted sharp iron to distract from the pain. She slapped Maior’s hand away when the human tried to help, for she couldn’t trust her with this: the delicate moment of unclasping one of the two tubes sticking out from the crystal contraption, for the other one was a pressurized connection, which would truly kill her if it came undone. With the steadiest hand she could muster, Reina titrated two drops of iridio from the pendant directly over the opening. Then she screwed the tube back in place. The effects were delayed but a few seconds before the iridio showered Reina with shivery relief. She collapsed on the pillow again, eyes lulled back and breaths panting. The throbbing heartbeats calmed.
Maior shook her shoulder. “Please tell me you won’t die?”
There was no joy in the moment, yet Reina couldn’t help the bitter smile. With eyes still closed, she said, “I thought that would bring you satisfaction.”
“Why?”
“Because I took you away from your home?”
“I do not want to see you die.”
“I will live,” Reina said flatly.
Maior had no reply, which was just as well, for Reina had no more words left in her.
Reina allowed the darkness of sleep to lull her away.
In her sleep, Reina was transported to that tunnel through the jungle, where the prisms of sunlight filtering through the canopy kissed her skin and graced her with warmth. She awoke later to the wetness of fresh water on her lips and, in her addled state, concluded she must have reached the lagoon at last. She swallowed it on instinct, then coughed and spluttered as someone helped steady her on the bed. It was Maior, who handed her a cup sloshing with chilly water. Reina gulped it down as she realized her thirst.
Maior sat on the bed’s edge. She brushed her hair behind her ears, watching Reina intently until Reina got ahold of herself. “You slept for a whole day.”
Reina sucked in a startled breath and tried to sit up, but collapsed dizzily back on the bed.
“Easy now. You needed it.”
Reina grimaced, ashamed of her weakness—disappointed at her inability to get a move on with her task.
“There are supplies in this house. Cassava and purple potatoes in the stores. Corn to be ground in the shed. Everything halfway done. Does someone live here?”
The thought of Celeste made Reina smile. Those were Celeste’s antics, trying to make the house livable but giving up before it was done. She was too used to the comforts of a fully staffed home, of someone taking out the chamber pot and dusting the sheets. Cooks meticulously grinding and seasoning legumes and meat cuts to deliver extravagant meals to her table. Gegania was a functional house; it just lacked the labor of the ?guilas’ staff.
Maior helped Reina wrap herself up again, in the binds and the shirt and under the blanket. Outside, dusk deepened into nighttime, draping the room with its cool shadows. It made it easier to accept Maior’s help, for if they were shrouded in its darkness, then Maior’s inquisitive gaze wouldn’t be able to detail the abnormality bursting from Reina’s chest, the darkened scar tissue, and the rot of the caudillo’s curse.
“This is the Benevolent Lady’s house. Her daughter inherited it.”
Maior’s voice shook as she said, “If this is the Benevolent Lady’s house, why did you bring me here? You said I would be safe from the caudillo. I thought she had died.”
“You will be.” The lie came steady and sure. “Don Enrique doesn’t know about this house, for reasons that are none of your concern. The house has a great power, which I’m going to need in the next few days.”
Rahmagut’s Claw was the countdown to the end of her life. If she didn’t procure more iridio, and she didn’t bring Maior and Celeste to Tierra’e Sol, there was no future left for her. She needed the house to slice the length of her journey, or else she wouldn’t make it.
Reina tried sitting up again—ignited into action by her own panic—but Maior shoved her back down on the bed.
“You are weak. You need to sleep.”
Reina tried again. “What do you know?” But she was stopped.
Maior pressed the back of her hand to Reina’s forehead. “You have cold sweats, and for a mighty nozariel, you sure can’t stop me from keeping you on this bed.”
It was too dark to see her eyes, but Reina could imagine the raised eyebrow. The pointed look.
“Don’t worry, your weakness can be cured with a meal and another full night’s sleep. When was the last time you had those?”
“My occupation doesn’t always allow me those comforts.”
“And what is your occupation?”
“I serve the ?guilas.” The assertion left Reina before she could weigh its truth. Maybe this had been true once, but without Celeste, Reina was banished by the caudillo himself. She decided against correcting herself.
The air was heavy with Maior’s outrage.
Reina took a deep breath. “What do you know about my weakness? And why are you so concerned? Normal people would have taken this chance to make a run for it.”
“Make a run for it where, exactly? The caudillo’s men have overrun my home. If you’re a woman of the ?guilas, then you know as well as I do that the mountains are dangerous. My only options are Apartaderos or Sadul Fuerte. You can imagine how that will go for me.”
A deep weariness embraced Reina. She hugged the wool blanket closer around her shoulders, cozying up as the prospect of resting seduced her. She was running out of time, but maybe she could afford one night’s sleep at the least. And Maior didn’t seem likely to run away… yet.
“So you are smart,” Reina muttered sleepily, one foot in this room and another tugging her into her dreams.
Maior scoffed. “You never wondered how I made it to Apartaderos with your shitty rings, did you?”
“I thought you liked my litio rings.”
“I do. But they are shitty.”
Reina chuckled. “So how did you?”
Maior took a deep breath. She leaned back, better settling over the bed for her tale. “Apartaderos is a haven for travelers. All sorts of people from the Llanos think they can cross the Páramo to Sadul Fuerte without issue, but they don’t have any idea of what truly lives here. We get many injured and weary travelers, and we receive them in the stone chapel where you found me—us, Las Hermanas de Piedra.”
Reina spluttered the name. “The sisters of stone?”
The human looked away. “It’s what we call our order. It was founded when I was just a girl. I grew up with them. We take our name from the chapel, since it’s the only notable thing about Apartaderos.”