Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
BIANCA
A whistling sound is the first thing I notice as I come to. I open my eyes and then quickly shut them. My head is pounding. I touch the side that seems to palpitate with pain. It’s the side that was hit, I recall. A trickle of blood runs down my chin from my temple.
I decide to stay put for a minute and breathe. I focus on the smells and sounds around me first. The air smells clean. The sound of a slimy mop moving side to side mixes with a whistling tune.
I open one eye slowly before the other one, and take inventory of my surroundings. I'm lying on the floor of a cell. I sit up and rest the back of my head against the opposite wall, spotting three more empty cells in the room. My amulet is on a desk atop some papers. The whistling stops, making me look toward the sound.
A hunched old man peers at me from a distance. “Ah.” He nods in obvious relief. “You are alive. That is good. Good. I dislike my space being dirty or smelly. It would be bad if you died. Too messy. ”
I point at the desk. “My amulet.”
“The rabbit’s leg?” The old man asks.
Oh, here we go again.
“It’s an amulet for good luck.”
My words ring half-heartedly. I’m tired and hurt. I don’t know where Matias is, and the head hit took all my energy.
The old man nods in agreement. “It sure is.”
“You believe me?” I ask, surprised.
“No one who has ever angered General Roman Oscuro as you have has lived to tell the tale.”
I roll my eyes. I didn’t mean to hurt his girlfriend. Before I can say anything, the old man goes back to mopping the clean floors.
I try to ask him a few questions, but he ignores me. After a few attempts, I give up and close my eyes. Someone will come for me soon. I must be awaiting a trial or something. They can’t plan on keeping me here forever.
“You will be fine,” I tell myself under my breath.
I’ll find a way to fix this; I won’t die here. I’ve faced countless obstacles back at Fierno, not knowing a moment where I wasn’t trying to survive, and even then, I’ve never let my circumstances get the best of me. I might not be the strongest, wisest, or luckiest, but I am unwilling to let the world eat me alive. That alone has been enough to get me this far, and it will have to be enough to get to the next place. I refuse to believe anything else.
“There is no room for fear here.” I tap my chest. Tears gather in my eyes, but I do not let them fall. I just repeat it, over and over again.
T he sound of doors opening and shutting snaps me from my sleep. A tall figure moves into my view promptly after, and I’m frozen in place. I might not know a lot about Puerto Quinn or be very immersed in the world of magic, but everyone knows Brandon Oscuro. The crown prince is next in line to take over as the sole leader of the magic world.
He stares at me, and for a second, I witness his eyes widen at seeing me. They do not look at me, they look through me. I can abruptly feel every ounce of dirt on my skin heavier than a second before. It itches, and I fist my hands at my sides to keep me from scratching. His brother, Roman, made me shiver, but Brandon gives me pause.
The crown prince looks like royalty in a way I cannot explain. His dark eyes hold the same danger as his brother, and then some. He is not as tall or rugged. Instead, his features are more defined and delicate. Like a god walking amongst humans, his movements are fluent and confident. It’s the power that gives me pause. The power radiating from him is unlike anything I have ever witnessed before.
At first, I think he is going to stare at me and interrogate me. Instead, he turns to the old man. “Blessings, how long has she been here without food?”
Brandon’s eyes show horror. At what? My appearance?
“Oh, no, this is not my doing. She came in here looking like that!” the old man hurries to say.
“Malnourished?” Brandon questions.
“They caught her stealing about twelve hours ago.”
So, that’s how long I have been out of it. Good to know.
“Stealing food, I presume.”
I scowl at the prince. I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it; it’s instinct.
“Food would have done her more good. She tried to steal a cursed book. Trapped her friend’s soul in it instead.” The old man shakes his head.
“Hey!” I call out to them, done with their criticism. “I eat enough. Thank you very much.” I roll my eyes at the men before glaring. “My friend’s name is Matias. Where is he, by the way?”
“It could be a medical condition.” The old man tries to whisper, ignoring my outburst.
“How insensitive of me,” Brandon sighs. “I didn’t think of that before speaking.”
I sense he’s trying to annoy me on purpose. My exasperation is fueling his amusement. Not what I imagined the crown prince to be.
“I don’t have a medical condition. I may not live like you do, but I eat enough. Just because I’m not six-something with muscles doesn’t make me weak.”
At my words, he arches a brow. I try not to give him a once-over because I can already feel my face heat in embarrassment.
The crown prince steps closer to my cell, a smirk playing on his full lips. “Where are you from, thief?”
I guess he’s not planning to ask my name, and that bothers me for some reason.
“Fierno.”
“I presume that to be true. Food is free here in Puerto Quinn. Well, I refuse to keep talking to you until I know you at least have something to eat. I’ll tell you where your friend is when we talk.” He turns to my jail keeper. “Send food to my hall. First, open the door. I will escort her to my quarters. Please, don’t mention her presence to anyone.”
“Are you sure?” The man gives me a wary glance. “She is a little rabid.”
I clench my fists at my sides. As soon as he opens the cell, I’ll show him rabid.
Brandon takes a step back as I exit, then gestures with his head to the door. As I follow, my head swims, but I fight the urge to wince at every step.
I’m a logical person. The crown prince seeing to me himself, makes little sense. I would have guessed royalty leadership would have better things to do.
Not knowing is making me uneasy. His silence while we walk only adds to my nerves. I have no clue where we’re going. Judging by the damp walls and moist smell in the air, we’re in a dark hall somewhere underground.
He stops suddenly without warning, almost making me run into his back.
“To get to our destination, we need to walk across the castle. This will be the perfect opportunity for you to show me how you infiltrated the castle completely undetected.”
His eyes tell me he expects me to fight him on this. Little does he know I have no fight left in me. Not when my best friend’s life is on the line. I need him for Matias, leaving me at his mercy. If I have to dance to the tune of the Prince of Puerto Quinn, I will give him my best performance.
“A gift,” I say to him with my head held high. I might not have a lot, but I have this. I prepare myself for his disbelief.
Instead, he asks, “How does it work?”
The question comes from curiosity. Of course, gifts are much more common here than they are at Fierno. The magic bloodlines are purer here. From the little I’ve gathered about gifts, they run in pure blood lines—the ones blessed to have them bestowed upon. Since my bloodline is unknown, so is the origin of my gift.
“I can glamor myself and others around me.” The words come out between clenched teeth. It has been a long time since I disclosed my gift to anyone. The action feels too personal.
“A trick of light?” He asks .
I can almost see the wheels in his head working to make sense of the magic behind it. Effortless, unconscious magic carries gifts out.
“Not exactly.”
It is almost like a separate room that opens. I can pick who is inside that room. Everyone inside can speak and see each other. They can still see everyone outside the room but not speak to them. I want to say the words out loud, but they get stuck.
Brandon steps closer. “You have to give me something. Does a person have to be close to be part of the glamor?”
I think of missions where Matias and I had to work with others. Those were few and far between.
“As long as I can see them.” My words come out clipped.
Brandon doesn't miss a beat. “Can you pick and drop a person from a distance?”
I think about his question because I have never had to do it before. “I don’t know.” My eyes fall to my hands like they will give me the answer.
“How many people have you been able to cover at once?”
I flinch at the pain in my head and press my palm to it. “The most I’ve tried is four.”
“Looks like there might be more to your gift. You have the ability to not just be invisible, but untraceable.” He is talking more to himself than to me. His eyes fall back to mine, and a smirk spreads on his lips until he is full-on grinning.
The sight of it makes a shiver run down my spine.
“Go on, show me,” he says.
At the end of the hall, we stop behind a set of double doors. Brandon looks at me over his shoulder, and I nod. It’s showtime.
The first set of hallways we come across are empty. After that, we pass only a few guards in corners. Brandon doesn’t stop and wave at the men like I expect him to. The few people I have shared my gift with always do it. I’m sure I did it for a while at first, too. Instead, he spares them a glance and keeps walking.
Soon enough, we enter a large hall. Clusters of people walk all around us. The crown prince of Puerto Quinn looks around with what I can only describe as bewilderment. A young woman with a food platter walks past him, and he snatches a carrot off her plate.
“How do items interact with your gift?”
I step closer so I don’t have to raise my voice. “They enter our room once we take hold of them.”
“Amazing,” he says, chuckling.
I can’t help but let my eyes follow the sound before I remind myself to stay focused. I need to prove myself useful and devise a plan to bargain for Matias’s life. The way he’s reacting to my gift already tells me he is going to find a use for it. He doesn’t want anyone to know I am here. The prince wants to keep me a secret, giving me something to bargain with. It is not much, but it’s hope.
We cross a bridge and pass a few more hallways before we reach a set of large double wooden doors. As we reach this part of the castle, the number of people moving around decreases to only a few servants here and there.
“This is my private quarters,” he says as we enter.
The space is enormous, splitting into three sections. A large sitting room fills the space to the right. Next to it, there's a dining table and chairs. A large black wood desk stands off to the left side, in front of a huge set of windows. The desk has a mountain of papers scattered all over, in no particular order.
There are four doors on the opposite wall from the entrance. One leads to a small library, and three are private bedrooms. I want to ask him who else shares this space with him, but I keep my questions to myself.
We enter the last bedroom and stand in the clean space. A spacious bed and a desk with a chair are the only pieces of furniture in the room, with a single other door I assume is a bathroom.
“Food will arrive here soon enough.” He gestures back to the space we came from. “Why don’t you shower and change? I’ll be out there. We have a lot to talk about.” He points to the bottle on the nightstand. “That medicine will help your head.”
I survey my surroundings in disbelief. He can’t possibly be offering me to use this room. I’ve never been in a room this nice, let alone used it for myself. Is Matias’ room just as nice?
I chase after Brandon as he moves to the common room. “Where is Matias?”
His head inclines sideways.
“My friend,” I clarify. “Is he somewhere near here?” I take a deep breath, trying to keep my anxiety at ease. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Oh, no, no. He is going to be fine, but he isn’t here.” Brandon points back at the room he assigned me. “I will tell you more about his condition later. For now, just know he is fine.”
“There is a way to fix him?”
Hope flares in my chest. I need the prince to say it for me to believe it.
He sighs. “It won’t be easy, but it’s possible.”
“At what price?” I ask.
There isn’t a single free thing in this world. The question is mostly to prepare myself for what is coming. There’s nothing I won’t do for Matias, he’s my only family.
Brandon points toward the bathroom inside the room. “Shower, change, and we will talk. I have a deal in mind that will benefit us both. You’ll find everything you need inside your bathroom.”
I turn back to look at the room. “My bathroom?”
“If you take my deal, this will be where you sleep for the foreseeable future.”
If the crown prince plans on keeping me near, it is because he needs something from me. I need something from him. This is exactly what I wanted, which makes me suspicious. Being in his personal space feels far too trusting on his part. He doesn’t know me.
I turn back to face the crown prince. “Aren’t you afraid I could kill you in your sleep?”
“There are many, many things I fear, Ms. Blanco, but you will never be one of them.”
He steps back and nods for me to go into my room. This time, I don’t argue and head inside. It’s only when I am submerged in the warm water that I realize he knows my name.