Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
BIANCA
I glance to the side of the long line, sighing in frustration. Every time I look, it seems to get longer. Are people skipping the line? I clench my fists. We haven’t moved much in the past hour. Matias grunts in pain next to me and I pat his head. The only form of comfort I can give him without hurting him further. Sweat covers his forehead, making the dirt on my hands smear. I wipe my palms on my dirty pants.
We are a mess.
“How did our day end with us waiting in the clinic’s line?” I kneel to sit next to Matias.
He takes a break from his grunting to answer my question, but I stop him with a glare. I’m dirty, tired, and scared. I don’t know how much healing a broken arm can run for, but I’m sure I can’t afford it. The coins left in my pocket already feel like borrowed change. We just started doing jobs. We almost had enough to upgrade our current living situation, but this will set us back.
Climbing a boulder to try out a floating spell was not the brightest of our ideas. In my defense, I had no clue Matias bought it from the central market at Fierno. I could have warned him it wouldn't work. They never do. The central market is full of desperate fools and tricksters trying to make a quick coin.
“Perhaps I did it wrong.” The stupid boy beside me said between clenched teeth as soon as he hit the ground.
Matias is a fool. A hopeful fool, and despite my lack of trust in the world, I refuse to shut down his lingering optimism. He’s hopeful our situation will get better. I’m not. His hope is the only thing keeping me going sometimes. Other times, it takes us to the local clinic.
After hours of waiting, we finally make it inside.
“Let’s see it.” The young woman stretches her hand toward us.
Seeing us doesn't surprise Lee Ann, but she doesn't reprimand us either. She simply gets to work. Her gentle nature and divine energy are soothing. I often wonder what keeps her in the City of Sin. The clinic is tiny, with one patient room, and like everything else in Fierno, it’s worn down.
I shove Matias over when he makes no move to follow her directions. The shove brings out a grunt from him. We’re all done one snap later, followed by a high-pitched scream.
“How much will it be?” I ask her with one hand on my chest and another holding the last two coins in my pocket.
Her face turns soft, and a glint of something moves in my chest. The edges of my vision go fuzzy. I see her mouth moving, but I can’t hear her words.
“Wake up, sleeping beauty.” A voice penetrates my dream as a finger pokes my face. Then, the poking motion trails up to my temple and back down my cheek. “We have a lot to talk about before seeing Matias.”
Matias.
I open my eyes and look around. Once they finally focus, I can fully take in my surroundings. I’m momentarily confused before I recognize the face in front of me. Crown Prince Brandon.
I must have fallen asleep. I rise to my elbows and look around until I find the window. It’s open, light shining in as the wind moves the curtains back and forth. The sun sits high in the sky.
“How long did I nap?”
I briskly wipe the drool off my face and feel a flush spread across my cheeks. I can only imagine how I look. My hair must resemble a bird's nest.
Brandon moves to the open door. “Something like eighteen hours, give or take.”
I jump up instantly and scream, “Eighteen hours!”
“Give or take.” The prince shrugs and then turns to leave. Over his shoulder, he adds, “Lunch is served. Hurry.” The last part is more of a demand than a request.
My body aches all over as I take the first two steps, but not as badly as I expected. The aches are almost gone after a brief stretch. I pick up the glass of medicine I drank before lying down. This stuff was truly magic. Sadly, it had no label explaining what it was.
I find Isabel sitting on the couch outside my bedroom with a book in front of her. Thankfully, no mark remains on her face from our encounter.
“Hey.” I tentatively wave at her. “Good morning.”
She kindly waves back but does nothing else. Seems we won’t be friends anytime soon—for a good reason.
“We will visit Matias after lunch,” Brandon tells me as he opens the suite door.
A young woman pushes a food cart inside the room toward the couch. She gives Isabel a nod before turning back.
Brandon opens the suite door again. “Thank you, Sofia.”
The girl gives him a flirty smile. “You are welcome, Your Highness.”
Is she mocking him? I double blink at her departing form.
“Oh, piss off,” he says, unamused.
I take back the flirting comment. She’s definitely mocking him. The girl gives me a wink before departing in laughter.
“Lexi Blue,” Brandon calls out. “Lunch is here!”
Another young woman comes from the library. With every step, she sways from side to side while fidgeting with her hands. She doesn’t acknowledge me—or anyone else, for that matter. She sits next to Isabel, and without a word, Isabel serves her a plate.
They are likely related. Isabel is a foot shorter than Lexi, but they have the same honey-brown hair, pale skin, round eyes, and round rosy cheeks. Despite their differences in appearance, they are clearly relatives.
Brandon serves his own plate and then gestures for me to do the same. “Eat.” The word comes out like another demand.
Though it rubs on my nerves, I am starving. The dishes in front of me are bizarre, but they smell amazing. I scoop a few servings onto a small plate and watch as Isabel’s fragile hands sprinkle chopped-up vegetables onto her food and then add what looks like a tomato-like paste. I’ve seen nothing like it before. The smell of that bowl is stronger than the others.
“That is sauce for the meat,” Brandon says between chewing. “A cultural food from here. You spread it on top. It adds flavor.”
“Aren’t princelings not supposed to talk with food in their mouths?” I ask under my breath.
“No one is supposed to speak with food in their mouths,” Isabel corrects me. She doesn’t say it in a rude tone, but I still feel like a scolded child. It's also the first thing she has ever said to me.
Curious about this sauce, I spread a layer on top of my food and give it a tentative bite. The flavor erupts on my tongue, making my eyes widen. I cover my cough with my hand. I cover two more before all hell breaks loose.
I break into a coughing fit that makes it hard to breathe. Tears gather at the corners of my eyes. My mouth feels like it’s on fire. I spit the food on a napkin, but it does nothing to stop the blazing feeling rooted in my taste buds. Adding flavor is a funny way to describe what is happening to my mouth. Brandon’s smile spreads to a wicked grin.
Was this a joke of some kind?
I witnessed everyone at this table try the same sauce. They act like nothing's wrong and look at me like I am crazy. Am I going crazy?
“What the hell is that?” I fan my face, but nothing helps. I try a gulp of water, but it only lights the fire higher. “Help!” I let out a cry, prompting an even rowdier laughter from him.
“Here.” Isabel pushes a small cup of creamer closer to me. “It will help.”
I don’t dispute the piece of advice. I swallow the entire thing in two gulps. The milk goes down smoothly, soothing the burn.
“Hey, that was for my coffee.” Lexi Blue crosses her arms and glares at me.
Isabel taps her knee with a gentle smile. “We’ll get you some more.”
Brandon’s teasing smile is bright as the day. “I should have warned you it would be spicy.”
Yeah, well, a little too late.
“Ahh.” The sensation is not totally gone, but it definitely lessened. “How can you possibly eat that for enjoyment?”
“I do not think your dramatics were truly necessary,” Brandon says. “We eat spicy food from a young age. If you’re new to it, it’s different, but you might grow to like it. It’s your first time. Perhaps start with a smaller amount. You bathed your plate in the sauce.”
“I’d rather not.” I close my eyes and lean back on the couch. A trail of sweat runs down my temple.
“Suit yourself, but imagine all the wonderful things in the world you will miss for having such a closed mind toward new things.”
Those words coming from a crown prince makes me feel like a child being scolded for the second time this morning.
Isabel stands. “I’ll go get Lexi Blue some fresh coffee cream.”
Isabel cleans up the space as she makes her way out of the room. She is comfortable enough in the space to tell me she is likely the one occupying the other room.
“I am sorry about your milk,” I tell Lexi Blue. I don’t think I should have to apologize, but keeping the peace is a priority after my encounter with Isabel.
“It’s okay,” she says without making eye contact. “What’s your name?”
“Bianca,” I say. “Bianca Blanco and you’re Lexi?”
“My name is Lexi Blue,” she corrects.
“Lexi Blue,” I repeat.
Lexi Blue says nothing else as she follows Isabel out of the room. She murmurs under her breath as she continues to sway from side to side with each step, the door shutting slowly behind her.
I face Brandon again, noticing he hasn't finished eating yet. He looks like he’s enjoying every bite. I know it’s rude to stare, but it’s almost like the man is having a spiritual experience.
“Are you done eating?” He asks as he puts his plate down.
I don’t think I could keep going if I tried. I quip that I'm scared, and he rolls his eyes, but there's a spark of amusement .
“Just say whatever you are thinking,” I say. The sooner we talk about this, the sooner I can see Matias.
Brandon holds my stare for a minute before clearing his throat. “Your ability to go undetected.” He stands. “It’s an ability I can use.”
I knew it.
“Therefore, I will make a deal. Your services for the cure for your friend’s condition.”
“In what way will you be using my services?” I ask with suspicion.
“A discrete mission. I can’t give all the details, but enough to complete the jobs. The jobs will be like the ones that got you here in the first place.”
“Would Matias and I go to trial for breaking in and attempting to steal?”
“No.”
I dislike the sound of this. The exchange doesn’t match. It’s too good to be true, and I learned it’s not usually the whole truth when something is too good to be true.
“You want to hire me to steal things?” The question comes out before I can help it. I need an explanation. The risk must be high if he is willing to give and forgive so much.
“I require your help to take trusted team members into similar vaults. We won't be taking any items ourselves, but we need to check if anything else is gone.”
I sit a little straighter. “Where are these similar vaults located?”
The way his eyes glint tells me I’ve asked the right question. After all, if the crown prince of Puerto Quinn can’t go into these vaults, can anyone else?
“The royal families.”
And there it is. Hell no. Absolutely not. Doing it once was bad enough. I never would have agreed to do it repeatedly .
“You rule over them, why not ask them to let you look?” The question comes out as a laugh.
“It’s not that easy.”
As far as I know, the royal families in Puerto Quinn are decorated titles with no real power on the reign. I cross my arms and wait for Brandon to continue.
After a beat, he looks at the ceiling. “You might know the basics. They have no government authority, but they do represent their respective cities. Their social power cannot be dismissed, and besides, there’s a reason I don’t want them to know I’m looking.”
This entire thing is so absurd it is laughable. Brandon leans back and gives me time to process what I am signing up for. Because who am I fooling? Do I truly have a choice after Matias’s life is at stake?
“The book you were supposed to steal requires five souls to break its seal. If you had touched it, it would have gotten its last and final soul.”
The words don’t process right away, but when they do, I pause because it means it was a setup. I try to recall the man who approached Matias and me for the job. The day we met him, we were having a late dinner at a corner stand when a scrubby man approached us. Nothing out of the ordinary for Fierno. Several of them had previously offered us jobs. The weird part is that when I try to recall his face, I can’t. It’s a fuzzy image that doesn’t have any distinguishable marks. He was so ordinary and unremarkable that it’s suspicious.
“What do you know about the people who hired you?”
“Nothing.” I try hard to recall any details, but I can’t. “A fuzzy image is all I remember of them.”
I go over the details I remember. The amount of money promised and the advance payment we got. They gave us instructions to meet at a building in the heart of Fierno afterward, but looking back, I know nothing could wait there. The man never expected us to return. Brandon and I go over the entire interaction repeatedly. I briefly tell him about making our way to Puerto Quinn, but that’s all I have for him.
“What’s inside that book?” I gulp, already dreading the answer. I'm certain it's something bad. There's nothing good behind dark magic that steals souls.
“You're not privy to that information,” he says. “You’re currently on a need-to-know basis.”
I take a deep breath and let it out. He’s right, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me.
“Have I piqued your interest, Ms. Blanco?”
I tilt my head to the side. I want to ask him how he knows my name and if he knows anything else about me, but what a useless question to bring up.
“Do I have a choice?” The question makes me groan, feeling partially defeated.
“Of course, you do. Everyone has a choice.” The smirk I have seen so casually on his face hardens. “You have the option to comply with my proposed plan, or you may choose to present yourself to the Royal Force and accept responsibility for your involvement in the endeavor to steal a secured artifact from the library. I won’t lie, their last concern will be to get your friend back from his current state. Their focus will be on getting as much information from you as possible. By any force necessary.”
I had almost forgotten who I was talking to. His dry tone and professional demeanor are firmly in place. The image he makes simply standing there is everything a crown prince is meant to be.
“Okay, I see that choosing to do things your way is in my best interest.”
I look down at my hands. Once again, they feel tied down. The slight shake of my fingers is the only sign of my nerves about what will come. Just like every other time, I will find my way through. I vow it to myself and my friend. Wherever he currently is, I will get us through this.
I look up and meet Brandon Oscuro’s scorching gaze head-on. I make sure my own determined expression is showing too.
“I’m in.”