Reina was blinded and deafened by the pain. She didn’t see or hear what they did. All she knew was that, in a moment, it was over. The world came into focus. Her headache and heartache calmed to a mild throb. She sucked in a fat breath, and when agency returned to her, she reconnected the tube and scampered away from Maior’s lap.
Maior’s face split into a relieved smile, beads of sweat rolling down her temples. The flask of iridio still hung from her hands. “Are you all right? Is it better?”
Reina’s fingers were clumsy sticks fumbling to rearrange her bindings and smoothen her shirt. She didn’t want to imagine what Maior thought of her, after seeing her naked and squirming pathetically. She forced a stoic face and just muttered a thanks.
Maior helped her to her feet.
“Well, that was quite the spectacle,” the curandera said, settling back behind the counter.
“We came here for iridio because we need it.” Maior spoke for Reina, shooting a meaningful look her way.
The curandera ignored Maior. She said, “And to think that witch was right: a nozariel with a heart of iridio.”
“What witch?” Reina blurted out.
“You’re not the first Parame?a to come by my shop today. I can tell where you come from by the way she speaks,” the curandera said, pointing a sausage finger at Maior. “And, of course, from the spectacle of your heart.”
When Reina grimaced in confusion, the curandera elaborated. “Like I said, Rahmagut’s Claw stirred the hive. First came the valco half-breed, and second came that witch from Sadul Fuerte. Ursulina. She talked about you, her granddaughter.”
“What?”
“She came demanding to know if a nozariel half-breed had come by already in the company of the caudillo’s daughter. She expected you to have an… urgent need for my iridio, and I can clearly see why now.”
“Do?a Ursulina was here,” Reina said, to let it sink in.
The curandera chuckled. “Indeed. Came like a tyrant, demanding I sell her all my iridio. I gave her a good amount for an inflated price—not like she’ll have much luck finding it anywhere else in these parts. Though, for someone who works under the employ of the master of all iridio, she sure has a demand for it. Why is she buying it from other sources if she can get it directly from the caudillo? Something stinks there.” Her eyebrows curved shrewdly as she added, “And she offered me a mighty prize for holding her granddaughter when she inevitably came by.”
As Reina made sense of the tale, she realized it sounded like a trap. But why would Do?a Ursulina bother with snaring her before reaching Tierra’e Sol? They had agreed on her objective, which Reina desperately needed to complete in order to live. Unless Do?a Ursulina distrusted Reina’s intentions after Maior’s disappearance.
“Mentioned you were fetching something for her—Rahmagut’s reincarnated wife?”
Reina’s eyes found Maior, who was paralyzed by the news, backing away against a crate near the door. Do?a Ursulina expected Reina to come to La Cochinilla with Celeste, not Maior. Even if the curandera had her facts befuddled, they were true, and they lifted the veil Reina had spun all this time to keep Maior docile.
“How can you tell I’m the one Do?a Ursulina speaks of?” Reina asked in a last attempt at self-preservation.
“How many nozariels with hearts of iridio do you think exist?” the curandera said.
Maior looked to Reina in disbelief or betrayal—a gaze Reina couldn’t hold for long. She knew the human was on the verge of bolting. And she knew once she did, Reina would have no other choice but to hold her back, by force if necessary.
“Either way, I’m not in the business of helping humans with their schemes. They always involve the wrong crowd, and a nozariel always ends up getting hurt.”
Reina shoved the bag of escudos her way, plopping it over the counter. “Sell me your iridio. In powder and solution—all of it.”
The curandera’s eyes glinted at the gold. “Now wait a moment. First we must weigh it and count your gold. And you must pay for the solution the human used on you. I’ll sell you half of it, for all your escudos. But only because we both know it’s that nozariel blood in you that’s stopping them from treating you fair.” She put an emphasis on them and gestured behind Reina.
With a sinking stomach, she saw Maior taking off. She had to squash the instinct to dart after her. Purchasing the iridio was her priority.
“Some galio healer, that girl is,” the woman muttered as she walked to her cabinets to scoop half the powder into a sack. “Never trust humans. Or valcos.” She gave Reina a meaningful look as she added, “Learn from this bitter old woman, and don’t repeat my mistakes. We’re separate creatures for a reason. Just say enough is enough and refuse their schemes. It’s the only way to end the abuse. I mean, look at what happened to the yares. Killed to extinction.”
Reina bolted the moment she had the sack of iridio powder in her hands. She caught up to Maior at the crowded entrance of the citadel marketplace and yanked her by the arm.
“Hey!” Maior yelped.
“You can’t run away,” Reina growled.
Maior towered over her with all the shortness of her stature. Her glare fixated on Reina, glossy. “You’ve been playing me for a fool. This whole time—it’s always been a lie.”
Reina’s cheeks burned, at her pretenses and the open-ended meaning. As if whatever existed between them hadn’t been born exclusively from self-interest. So she leaned on the irrefutable facts. “I helped you escape Don Enrique’s men, and Gegania is the only place where you’ll be safe. Has that been a lie?”
“Safe.” Maior spat the word between them. She yanked herself free again but headed in the direction of Gegania’s burrow.
Reina fell into pace with her. “You heard the curandera: We have to go to the Plume. That’s where Celeste went. She’s the Dama del Vacío the curandera was talking about, not you.”
Maior jerked away as Reina tried steering her by the elbow. “You just said I would be safe in Gegania.”
Reina had no patience for her protests. She was too hot and wired from the fresh iridio. In the shade of La Cochinilla’s walls, Reina wrenched Maior by the arm to stop her from heading in the wrong direction. She trapped Maior against the crumbling stone.
The surprise was bright in Maior’s eyes. Her cheeks and lips were red and flushed, from the heat or from her anger, and Reina swallowed heavily to clear her mind of the distraction. She didn’t think on the words; she just spoke from her chest, still raw from the humiliation of having her cavities opened and exposed.
“I don’t trust you. I don’t trust you won’t run off if I leave you alone in the house. You’ll be found by the caudillo’s men. Or worse, you’ll be killed by tinieblas.” Reina couldn’t be sure Maior wasn’t going to do something reckless after learning Reina’s true purpose.
Maior’s scorn came with her silence. There was betrayal written on her face. The sting of it angered Reina. Because why should she feel weighed down by Maior’s expectations? Nothing and no one mattered besides her singular goal. Her heart ached for the stability of health and family, for the companionship she knew only Celeste could give her. For this to happen, their life needed to be back to normal, with Do?a Laurel in it. And Rahmagut was going to give it to them.