Chapter 19 Esmeralda
Esmeralda
Where was a golden egg when she needed one?
She could have chucked it right at Ignacio’s thick skull. She wouldn’t blame Anella for wishing to kiss Ignacio. He had saved her, and he was exceptionally handsome. For a weasel. He had no ties to Esmeralda. And, truthfully, she had no ties to him.
She had turned around right after Anella’s lips smashed into his. If she spent one more second watching that horrendous scene unfold, her lunch might have found its way onto the cage floor. And that wouldn’t do. Not when people were finally taking notice of her.
Ignacio could kiss the damn queen for all she cared. What mattered to her was becoming the lead act. Impressing ángel was imperative. Not just because he held her livelihood in his hands. But because he saw something in her. She wasn’t just a nobody to be left in the dust to him.
The door to the birdcage swung open, and Ignacio bounded in. She ignored the flutter her heart made.
He came back.
“What are you doing in here?” she deadpanned.
He wiped bubblegum-pink lipstick from his mouth. “You and I made a deal. You said you were going to help me.”
She scoffed, almost made a remark about him getting help from Anella instead, but then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to care.
Kicking out her legs with more force than necessary, she swung harder.
She called out to the crowd as they turned down another street, “Follow me! Get in line! Carnival Fantástico is a wild time!”
Ignacio’s hand smacked the wooden plank, holding her in place.
Her eyes widened, but she forced an exuberant grin. “What are you doing?” she asked through her smile.
“We need to talk, Dovie.”
“It’s Paloma Blanca, payaso,” she said in a singsong way. She raised her voice so the revelers nearby could hear. “Paloma Blanca, Fortune Teller Extraordinaire! Some even call me a Renaissance woman, for my gifts know no bounds!”
She placed her toe on his chest and nudged him back, but he didn’t let go. “Scram, you stubborn ox.” She shoved him harder.
His fingers wrapped around her ankle to stop her. The warmth of his touch did something terrible. All her defenses cracked. The anger. The hurt. They tried to break through. They tried to reach out to the boy she once loved. To be soothed by him. But they were her wounds to carry.
“I wish I never laid eyes on you,” she snapped.
“Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual.” He let go of her ankle and held on to her swing on either side of her hips. “But we made a deal.”
She leaned forward so their noses almost touched. “Consider it broken. If you need help, go back to Anella’s float.”
Dammit. She hadn’t meant to say that.
“Is that what you want?” His eyes bore into her. “To leave you to impress that rat of a ringmaster?”
“Don’t you dare call him that,” she snapped.
“He doesn’t care about you. He just cut Anella from the Running for stopping the show. For something she couldn’t control. She nearly died!”
“Quiet down,” she hissed. The spectators still following the parade were casting her curious glances.
They had departed from the city limits and were now rattling up a dirt road toward the carnival grounds.
With the buildings no longer holding the sound in on both sides, the noise of the bells and hooves clomping dispersed, and anyone nearby would easily hear them.
“You don’t care, do you?” he said. “You don’t care about the danger you might be in.”
“I’m not arguing with you.”
“Why not?” he asked. “Talk to me. I haven’t seen you in a year. We used to care for each other.”
Someone eavesdropping in the crowd gasped.
People were starting to chatter. Her first instinct was to glare at them all.
To yell that they should mind their own business.
But now knowing Anella had been cut for forgetting the cardinal rule cemented the fact that Esmeralda couldn’t rest on her heinie now.
People were taking notice of her, true notice of her, for the first time.
She needed to show she could adjust to the crowd at the drop of a hat.
This was her shot. And ángel could still be watching.
They were nearing the carnival entrance, where the onlookers would stop following and gather to wait in line. She had to give the audience something that would make them desperate for more.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically. “I only have room in my life for the spirits that guide me. I have given myself, my heart, and my life to the cause of telling the dear guests at Carnival Fantástico what fortunes fate has in store for them.”
She didn’t need to see Ignacio to know what sort of face he was making. His fingers digging into the plank of her swing was enough. He was furious.
“That is the answer you have for me? That’s all you can say?” His tone was unexpectedly void of anger. Void of any emotion at all. “After all we—”
“There is no we,” she spat. She quickly regained her composure. “Paloma Blanca belongs to the carnival alone.” She raised an arm and blew kisses to the crowd. “Come and see me, friends, for I have many more futures to share!”
The parade rambled through the gates of the carnival, and the crowd that had assembled behind it was ushered toward the ticket line.
Her smile faded at once, and she slumped. Entertaining droves with her charisma alone was rather draining.
She peered down at Ignacio and found his eyes cold and closed off to her.
A bit of her spirit broke when seeing him this way.
She had fallen in love with him because of the words he wrote on those paper doves.
He was so open and honest and free with his heart. He’d tell her whatever was on his mind.
I love you.
I feel like I cannot breathe without you.
I will always protect you.
Because of his openness, she had felt confident enough to answer every question he fluttered her way. One exchange floated to the surface.
Dovie. What scares you most in this world?
To be left alone with no one to love me. You?
To be a disappointment.
Dovie. Where do you dream of living someday?
I think I’d like to live in a meadow filled with flowers. Somewhere where I can twirl and sing and laugh and be as loud as I want.
What about you?
I’ve always loved looking up at the galaxies. So, I suppose someplace that offers a clear view of the sky.
You’re in luck. I heard meadows are perfect for stargazing.
Hot sorrow clogged in her throat. Where had that kind boy gone?
When did he decide his father and the Blackbirds were more valuable than her?
The day he learned of his enlistment into training camp, she’d told Ignacio everything his father had done.
She’d been the comandante’s little spy for years by then; she knew the horrors he’d inflicted upon the people in this kingdom.
She knew about the business owners he blackmailed.
The family members he ransomed to keep court officials in line.
She’d told Ignacio that. But he didn’t care. He joined the Blackbirds anyway.
“You and I have both made our choices. What is in the past is in the past,” she said.
He glared at anything but her. “Fine. If that’s how you want it, I won’t bring us up again.”
The word us sliced against her heart.
He lowered his voice. “But I must tell you about Anella’s lock. Someone tampered with it. It has the same makeup as what is inside the enchanted ink. I need to find whoever has access—”
“That’s really all you care about? Getting answers for your daddy. Hiding his secrets.”
“I’m trying to do what’s right.”
“Your version of right is much different than mine. It always was. It always will be.”
He scoffed. “How little you know.”
The parade floats entered Clown Alley, where they would be hosed down and readied for the march of showstoppers when the Big Top show began. The moment the floats came to a full stop, Ignacio left the cage.
Esmeralda gulped. She had half a mind to chase after him. To kiss away the marks Anella had made and squeeze him until he loved her back. Instead, she slowly eased off the swing and straightened her shoulders.
When she stepped toward the cage door, she blinked rapidly in surprise.
Lying on the grass was a black envelope stamped with bell-shaped flowers surrounding a hand mirror.
She snatched it up. Tore the seal open and pulled out the card. The words on it were written in iridescent ink.
Congratulations to our reigning birdcage thief!
Your fast thinking has shown versatility beyond belief.
Your resourcefulness has gotten you through.
Now get ready, Paloma Blanca, for challenge number two!
(But first, kindly return Estefan’s enclosure to the menagerie before Jade loses her temper.)