20. Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Confessions
Of course, Ana should have said she loved him and had missed him the moment his face got revealed by dragon light. That would have been the sensible thing to do, but Ana couldn’t be sensible with Federico.
“So, you danced with me and ran off to the track? Why?” Her words came out terse and unwelcoming. “How did you even know I’d be there?”
The glow of a lightning bolt flashed through the cave, revealing all the nooks and crannies the gentle dragon light did not.
He licked his bottom lip as if contemplating the question or whether to answer. Ana couldn’t tell.
When he spoke, his voice dropped into a hoarse sound.
“That night at the inn, when Julian and Lucia were discussing the new rules to the races, you had a spark in your eyes. It was your dream come true. I knew as long as your padre didn’t forbid you from going, you’d find a way to be there.
I had to protect you and didn’t think you’d accept my help. ”
Ana couldn’t understand herself in that moment. Hot pools accumulated in her eyes not at some declaration of love, but at this. The warmth and comfort of being so known and loved.
“Federico Vega, I’ve missed you too.” Though the declaration came much later than his, it did come eventually.
The warm smile that spread over his face could have stolen the breath of every senorita in a ballroom, but it dawned like first morning light just for her.
“I was scared you’d never admit to such feelings, especially after the last letter you sent.
For what lady could love a poor dragon dung collector? ”
“For someone who knows me so well, you should have known I would never say such words.” Tears slipped like hot streaks down her cheeks. “My sister wrote that dreadful missive. I should have written to you sooner, but I was so embarrassed. Padre also took care to check all of my correspondence.”
“That explains why you never responded to a single letter.” He cocked an eyebrow upward.
“You who knows me and my family so well.” Ana swiped at her face. “You had to have known how I felt about you.”
“Ana Montenegro, you are the worst at admitting any feelings.”
“I am not.”
“Remember the first time you met Celestia?”
“How could I not?”
“Why did you throw mud at me?” He dipped his head low, watching her response through thick eyelashes as if expecting a grand conclusion to simmer to the surface at any moment.
Ana recalled both how cute Celestia had looked cuddled in his arms and how she’d realized how handsome Federico had become.
“See.” Federico poked her shoulder, which did nothing but aggravate Ana all the more at his ability to read her reaction though she hadn’t said a word.
“See what?”
“You’re smiling.” He combed his fingers through his hair and leaned his head back against the cave wall in a self-gratifying accretion that he was correct.
“Can I not remember my first meeting with my dragon without some fondness?”
“You always liked to fling mud at me when you had emotions you could not say. I pondered that one for a long while and realized it must have meant that you liked me.”
“You smug little monster.”
“It would be presumptuous if you had rejected me at my declaration that day, but you didn’t.” He watched Ana as if to analyze every reaction tiptoeing from forehead to chin.
She could have flung mud at him just then, but he seemed so sincere and those childhood days were long gone. Instead, she cradled his cheek with her palm, the prickle of his beard returning from a shave.
When he placed his hand over hers, the touch felt scandalous, causing her to want to jerk away, but she didn’t.
“I love you,” he rasped. “I tried so hard not to, but I couldn’t pluck you out of my heart no matter how hard I tried.”
“I love you too.” Trails of happy tears traced Ana’s cheeks though the doubt about how they could ever receive Padre’s blessing wiggled at the back of her mind.
Federico turned his face to kiss her palm and lowered her hand. “I have one more confession.”
Celestia’s firelight flickered and died, making the cave grow darker than it had been before. The storm had dissipated outside the mouth of the cave and now shone with the orange of sunset.
He continued, “I won the last Santolaria Race for you and only you.”
The full meaning of his statement rolled over her in waves, leaving behind possibilities she should have seen from the moment Federico came back in her life.
He’d never stopped caring for her and neither had she, despite Padre having Maria write the dreadful letter and preventing them from speaking for the last three years.