This nozariel was as strong as Javier. She had no reason to fear him. Just as Eva had no problem admitting she wished to witness Reina striking Javier down.
“Celeste is injured, and she wouldn’t want anyone but me to take care of her.”
Javier backed away, lowering his sword. His red gaze settled on the fallen valco woman, pensive. “What she has is beyond physical. You can’t help her.”
“She’s better off with me than with you,” Reina spat.
He slid his sword back into its scabbard, the blade hissing in retreat. “Then let us help her, you and I,” he said.
Eva and Reina stared at him in surprise.
“We both serve Brother’s goal. We have been the ones capturing the women since Laurel died. We are not friends, yes, but we share a common objective, and this has been our work for over a year.” He raised his eyebrows, basking in this void left in the atmosphere. A silence maintained by the holding of their breaths. “You know you’ll need someone with my expertise in galio to cure what she has.”
“You’ll… help me?” Reina asked. “But you do know what Celeste is, right?”
He exhaled deeply, his stance easing. “Do you think I crossed the Páramo and Llanos just so I could marvel at your nozariel scowl?”
“We came here to see the truths of the legend,” Eva said, surprising them both. But she wasn’t voiceless or a minion, and it was best if she established this sooner rather than later. “There are rewards to be had, no?” She raised her eyebrows at the blade in Reina’s grip, which reflected the blinding light of the sun, as if it were made for exactly that reason.
It was her turn to earn Reina’s frown. Eva turned the iridio pendant over in her fingers, thirsting to use it. Craving the sensation of raw starlight fleeting through her muscles and veins. Of it accumulating at her fingertips until the burst of release. Whatever happened next, Eva was never again going to rely on Javier to keep her safe. She had never seen anyone else use geomancia like she could, not even Do?a Rosa, with her wealth of knowledge on the ancient arts. And this was just the beginning of her journey.
“The caudillo sent you?”
Javier gave her a slow nod, and Eva bit down the truth. It wasn’t her place to give it. First, she needed to understand all the players in this new game of theirs.
Reina assessed them with a tight jaw, the muscles rippling. But something about Javier’s answer convinced her. Finally, she looped the leather straps of her scabbard around the blade’s golden pommel, haphazardly affixing the blade to her waist. “Very well. We’ll have to use a shortcut to get to Tierra’e Sol in time,” she said, taking the fallen valco woman in her arms as if Celeste were her bride. “Come with me.”
They followed, just as Eva caught the subtle victorious curling of Javier’s smirk. He was getting exactly what he wanted. And in Eva’s experience, this was never a good thing.
31
Ches’s Blade
After more awkward introductions, Reina carried Celeste in her arms all the way back to the burrow, without help, because no one else would have the kind of tenderness Celeste deserved. As she walked, Reina angled Celeste’s face close to her chest, so her soft breaths tickled the hairs along her forearm. It eased her anxieties—her fears of Celeste’s breathing coming to a stop, even after Reina had found her in one piece.
They had to pass La Cochinilla on the trip back; thus Maior got her wish. The market bustled at high noon. She found the chicken she wanted, and tomatoes and onions and chickpeas, and as the group maneuvered out of the citadel market with the clucking chicken in Maior’s grip, a butcher announced a price drop in the offal of his cow. Maior pounced on the opportunity and haggled for a satchel of tripe. She was going to cook it right away, she announced to the weary and annoyed Reina.
The day was bright when they came upon the burrow nestled into that lone tree in the Llanos. Reina had made the decision to show Gegania to Javier before they’d even arrived at its tunnel. She didn’t know with utmost surety how long it would take to travel to Tierra’e Sol on foot, but she didn’t doubt it would eat up what few remaining days they had with Rahmagut’s Claw in the sky.
The thought pummeled her with the truth: She was a wretched thing for betraying Celeste’s secret this way. Yet there was so much chaos around their journey that Gegania gave her a grounding point, oddly enough. With it, they could reach Tierra’e Sol. With it, Celeste could rest and recuperate.
Behind her lead, Eva and Javier walked the stone staircase ascending to the house perched on the hills of the Páramo. Eva watched the change in heat and scenery with wide-eyed wonder. Even Javier couldn’t hide his amazement as he realized the whole house was magic.
Without pausing, Reina took Celeste up the rackety stairs to the highest floor, where Do?a Laurel’s former bedroom door stood ajar. She gently lay her on the bed and tucked a wool blanket tightly around her. Javier’s and Eva’s footsteps followed, and they entered the room without invitation. But this time Reina was glad for the intrusion, for Javier was a master of galio healing, better than Maior. Celeste needed his expertise in the arcane branch of healing related to the soul. Reina just hoped she wouldn’t have to beg him… too much.
She sat at the edge of the bed and brushed stray locks of black hair out of Celeste’s eyes. “This isn’t just normal exhaustion.”
“Her spirit’s drained,” Javier said, parting the gossamer curtains to peek out the window. “She’s been summoning geomancia nonstop for days, by the looks of it.”
Reina could tell he was studying the hills and the flora and the colors in the sky, trying to discern Gegania’s location. She clenched her fists tight. It was risky bringing him here. Still, if he could help Celeste, this was a risk Reina would gladly take.
“You mastered galio. You can help her,” she said, drawing his attention back from the frailejón-dotted landscape.
“Look at you, barking orders. Don’t let this situation get to your head.”
“I just want her to wake up.”
Javier crossed his arms. “Will you at least provide me some galio? Or are you going to force me to deplete my own supply?”
“We don’t have much left,” Eva piped in, earning Reina’s attention. The woman had pretty curls. They were of a light brown color, stubbornly coiled and lighter near the bangs, as if the sun were doing her the favor of crowning her in gold.
Reina dusted off her pants and headed for the door. “I’ll get you some. Do not touch Celeste.”
Her gaze wrestled Javier’s, to make a point, and she rushed down the stairs to the underground chamber. Gegania had stores of geomancia reagents, except for the one it needed the most. Their new iridio hung from her scabbarded belt in a pouch, along with her machete and Ches’s golden blade. In a way, Reina felt like a keeper of treasures.
She fetched the galio potion, panting the whole way down and then up the stairs, and ran into Maior on the second-story landing. She would have kept going in her whirlwind of strides, but Maior grabbed her wrist.
The human tugged her into a broom closet. “Reina, he’s the man who stole me from Apartaderos.”