Mag-log inI found Ramona in the library the morning after Felipe brought Lady Veronica to the castle.
The library was quiet this morning, nothing like the day I had seen Alejandro standing in the shadow of the bookshelf, watching me with those burning golden eyes.
Today, the shelves stretched from floor to ceiling in peaceful silence, packed with books so old that their spines were cracked and their pages were yellowed with age. Dust motes floated
The second time I woke, the fire had burned low, and the room was darker, and the weight of the blankets was heavy on my chest. I did not know how much time had passed. Maybe hours or days, but I knew that Alejandro was still there.He had not moved from the chair.But he had changed. His head was bowed, and his eyes were closed, and for a moment I thought he was asleep. His breathing was slow and steady, his hands were limp in his lap, and the tension in his shoulders had eased, just a little. The firelight cast shadows across his face, and I could see the exhaustion written there, in the lines around his eyes and the set of his jaw.Then his eyes opened, and they found mine immediately. It was like he had been waiting for me to wake, like he had been listening to my breathing and counting my heartbeats and holding himself together by sheer will."You should not be awake," he said. His voice was low and rough, and there was no anger in it,
Alejandro's voice came from far away, muffled, like I was hearing it from underwater. I tried to answer, but my tongue was heavy, and my lips would not move."Someone help her!" Another voice yelled.That was Doña Beatriz's voice, sharp with fear. I heard chairs scraping against the floor and footsteps running toward me."Serena, stay with me."Alejandro's face appeared above mine, his golden eyes wide with panic, and his hands were on my face, warm and shaking.I tried to say something, but the darkness was already swallowing me, and then there was nothing at all.I woke to the sound of roaring.It was not an animal roar, and it was not thunder. It was Alejandro's voice, low and loud and full of rage. It echoed off the stone walls and shook the chandeliers and sent the nobles scrambling for the doors."Who did this?" he shouted, and his voice was ice. "Who poisoned her?"I tried to open my eye
Alejandro finally broke the silence."Let's go back now. We've done enough tours for today."I nodded. Because I was already exhausted both from walking and seeing this dungeon.Alejandro walked me back to my room, stood for just a bit at my door, as if he was thinking hard whether he should stay or not. I could feel his eyes looking down at my body with strong desires and needs. But his facial expression showed that he was fighting to push his desires down, and he had to move before they took control over him.He said goodnight, turned and left in quick steps.I walked into my room, sat on the bed, and pressed my hands to my chest that was pounding so hard. I thought of how he looked at me. Like he was tired of holding back his desires, and he was ready to feel every inch of my body, and claim me as his fully. I thought of how his lips had claimed mine, the first night he touched me, before he stopped himself. I touched my lips, and
The ring stayed on my finger for three days.I did not take it off, not even when I slept, or when I bathed. The silver was warm against my skin, and the weight of it was comforting, and every time I looked down at my hand, I thought of Alejandro's mother and the life she had lived and the son she had left behind. I caught myself touching it sometimes, twisting it around my finger, and I did not know if that was a habit or a need.Ramona had told me that the ring was a symbol of the bond, but it felt like something more. It felt like a promise, and I did not know if I was ready to make promises, but I was not ready to let go of it either. Every morning when I woke up, I checked to make sure it was still there, and every night before I fell asleep, I pressed it against my chest and thought about the king who had given it to me.On the fourth day, I went looking for Alejandro.I found him in the throne room, alone, sitting on his throne with h
The morning after I moved into my new room, Ramona came to visit me.She tried to walk inside without knocking as usual, like she had lived in my room for years instead of just visiting. But the door did not open and she had to knock.When I opened the door, she had a face of surprise, because she must have expected the room to be the same as the previous one. But it was not.She walked in, with her silver braid hanging over her shoulder. Her grey eyes were sharp as always, but there was something softer about her today, something almost gentle. She carried a small wooden box in her hands, carved with symbols I did not recognize, and she set it on the table by the window before she sat down.She looked around the room, at the big fire burning in the hearth, at the window looking out over the mountains, and at the bed with its soft blankets and plump pillows. She nodded, like she approved of what she saw, and then she sat down in the chair by the window and looked at me."You are settl
Three days passed after Doña Beatriz's visit, and my body was finally starting to heal. The shaking had stopped, the color had returned to my skin, and I could walk from my bed to the window without feeling like I was going to collapse with every step I took. The cold was still in my bones, but it was fading, and the cough that had rattled my chest was getting quieter.The boy Mateo had come to see me once. He was shy and quiet, with his mother's hand on his shoulder. He had thanked me in a small voice, and I had told him that he did not need to thank me, that I was just glad he was alive. He had hugged me before he left, quick and fierce, and I had felt something warm spread through my chest.The nobles still whispered when I walked past, but something was different now. Some of them looked away when I caught their eyes, and some of them nodded, with just a small dip of their heads. Some of them still sneered, but there were fewer of those now. The story had spread through the castle
We sat across from each other, and neither of us spoke. The silence was heavier than any words.A servant came to my room the evening after my conversation with Ramona, and she was not carrying the usual tray of bread and cheese.She stood in the doorway with her hands folded in front of her, and s
I woke to the smell of bread and honey, and for a moment I forgot where I was.The mattress was soft beneath me, and the blankets were warm, and the fire had been relit sometime while I was sleeping, casting orange light across the ceiling in dancing shadows. I
After Camila left, I sat in the silence for a long time, with her words echoing in my head like the ringing of a bell that would not stop. "No one cannot save anyone." I did not know if she was warning me or telling me the truth, but either way, it settled into my chest like a stone, heavy and cold
Serena's POV The snow burned my knees through the holes in my trousers, and I had been kneeling for what felt like hours, though time moved differently when you were waiting to die, and I had been waiting to die for as long as I could remember.The chains bit into my wrists, and the metal was so c







