Page 6 of Mistress of Bones
“Sirese De Guzmán, can’t you do anything?” she pleaded. “I need to get back to Sancia. To Monteverde.” To Isadora’s bones. To Isadora. To the end of the dread eating her from the inside out that would only be satisfied when her sister was standing in front of her, alive and safe. “Surely they can’t simply hold us as long as they please? You’re an official envoy, do something.”
Nereida held her gaze, unfazed by her desperation. “There are more important matters involved in this visit than your sister’s death.”
Azul felt slapped. The Del Arroyo name was solid enough, but Isadora and Azul by themselves had not enough value to risk whatever negotiations the envoy had been sent to secure. If one of their half siblings high in Cienpuentes politics had come with them, would her wishes have carried more weight?
Azul lifted her chin. “What is it, then,” she asked, “this matter that is so important?”
The door opened, and the outside guard appeared. “Your visit must come to an end now, miss.”
Nereida stood, giving the cards a last lingering look. “The Anchor ban.”
With those words she exited the room, leaving Azul to punch the mattress until the burning rage had spent itself and dispassionate composure filled its place. Let the emissary come, she dared the citysprawling under her windows. She would deal with him. What could he find but a strange accident of nature? An act of the gods? People did not turn into dirt. Azul would answer his questions, charm him if needed, then talk her way into freedom.
For could she not bring the dead back to life? She could also make this fanatic of death acquiesce to her will.
IIIAZUL
NINE YEARS AND A FEW MONTHS EARLIER
Azul sat on the grass, her back to a tree while Pica, her favorite cat, lay curled up by her side. Her family’s whitewashed house rose in the distance, short and square, no windows to be seen. They were all inside, opening into the tiny patio her mother adored so much whenever she deigned to live with them.
Azul hated that patio.
Small, suffocating. Why stay there when there was so much outside?
Carefully, she unfolded Isadora’s letter, arrived just the day before but read plenty already. Azul missed her sister like she would miss her heart if she woke one day and found it gone. Her tutor had recently taught her about that organ, guided by her curiosity. To think there was a thing inside your chest that kept you alive. But if you couldn’t see it and you couldn’t touch it and could only sometimes hear it, did such a thing really exist? It seemed far-fetched. Even if she had seen their cook rip a chicken open and take out its innards plenty of times, it didn’t seem possible.
But it was. She had this thing, a heart, inside her chest, and having Isadora away felt like her sister had taken it with her.
Azul flattened the letter on her lap and read greedily. The first attempt was always a little slow—she’d rather listen to stories than read them, and Isadora’s writing was tiny and crammed together to save space—but after a dozen rereads, the words flowed easily.
Dearest Azulita,
I wish I were home with you.
Azul snorted at the sentiment. Isadora was lucky to be away at the Temple’s school, and she couldn’t understand why Isadora would wish to be back instead of wishing Azul would join her.
But Azul could never join Isadora at such a distant school—a whole five towns away!—because the offer was only for Isadora. One of their mother’s customers had given the invitation to send her eldest daughter as a reward for another healthy baby delivered. Another child for a couple who could not have one of their own.
Azul knew she should be glad her mother provided such a service, had been told often enough what a great gift to Sancia she was, but what was the point of having so many half siblings if she never got to meet them? And those were just her siblings on her mother’s side—what if she also had siblings on her father’s side? She’d heard murmurs, as children often did when adults forgot they existed. Comments about another sister or a brother in the court of Cienpuentes.
Once, Azul had been eager to learn all about them, but the fancy had passed quickly. She had Isadora. Why should she wish for anything else?
The lessons here are interminable, and the benches hard under my ass—that is a new word for you, Azulita, and learn it well because you’ll find many uses for it in your life. Just don’t let anyone else hear you say it. Mayhap when I am back, we shall have a contest, see which of us finds the most ways to put it to use!
Azul looked down at Pica and whispered, “Ass!” somewhat afraid the word might drift all the way into the house and fall into Cook’s eager ears.
Pica yawned, showing a row of neat teeth, then snuggled into her paws.
Azul giggled and returned to the letter.
Last weekend, we had another exhibition and I bested everyone in class. You should have seen Mari’s face when my rapier touched her vest! You’d think I’d run her straight over with my Maravillosa instead of poking her with the end of my training blade. The horror! The outrage! The queen, brought down by a mere peon!
The dean told me afterward that next time they’ll have me fight the girls in the upper year if I want. I think I shall. They’re very good, and what joy is there in fighting those you’ve already defeated? What do you think, Azulita?
Azulita thought her sister would do as she wished, as she always did, so she refrained from forming a true opinion on the matter.
It is most unfair that even though I won the fight, I’m still stuck having to care for the Temple. The statues are old and the pedestals older and someone stole the Anchor from half their eyes. The Blessed Heart has no eyes left, and the Lord Life stumbles around with just one. The Lady Dream still has both of them, because one of the girls’ family is part of the court and donated them. I think one day I shall like a piece of Anchor too. Something flashy. I’ll flaunt it around Agunción, and everyone will be in awe. I think I shall embroider that on a ribbon tonight and tie it around the Lady Dream’s leg. Then I’ll embroider one letting the Lord Life know Mari once cursed him for allowing me to live. He shan’t be happy about that!
