Page 89 of The Familiar

“Do you forget Fortún Donadei, señor? His gift is as great as mine, maybe greater.”

“God’s power is all that matters here.”

But he didn’t mean God. He meant Santángel and the luck that had always served him.

“I will do all that I can.”

“Do you understand the sword above your head? It hangs above your aunt’s neck too.”

Luzia struggled not to show her surprise. Had Don Víctor always known that she and Hualit were kin?

“I can strip her of respectability,” he continued. “I can take away everything she’s earned with her clever cunt. That is what my money and my influence mean.”

He was trying to frighten her. But she wouldn’t be goaded into revealing she knew of her aunt’s trip to Venice. Soon Hualit would board a ship to Salonika and then she would be beyond Víctor de Paredes’s reach.

She kept her head bowed. “I understand, señor.”

Silence seemed to stretch between them in the darkened hall. “Santángel has a fondness for you,” he said at last. “He has always liked weak and broken creatures.”

“I think you will find me very sturdy. Most servants have to be to survive.”

“Sturdy like a cooking pot. Perhaps there is some novelty in fucking someone so beneath you, but it’s not a perversion that has ever appealed to me.”

“How you must hate him.” The words slipped free, and they felt so good Luzia let herself go on. “He’s stolen any chance for you to know what kind of man you might be without him.”

He slapped her, hard enough that she lost her grip on the door and stumbled. Her hand went to her cheek.

“Sturdy, indeed,” he said. “I trust you can use your talents to heal any bruise or mark. A wonderful convenience.”

I could kill him, she thought. I could impale him on a spike of roses.

Instead she curtsied, no longer worried over the linen of her shift or that he knew she had been anticipating a visit from Santángel.

“Yes, señor,” she said softly, humbly, and when she glanced up she saw the unease on his face. Had he thought she would rage? Cower? Crumple from a single slap? There were many ways a servant learned to survive. She had years of experience biding her time, counting up the insults done to her. She wasn’t yet sure how badly she’d been wronged, but she could wait until she had allies powerful enough to protect her, for the right moment to let Víctor de Paredes know just what kind of enemy he had made.

“Keep your wits about you tomorrow,” he said. “I expect miracles.”

Luzia smiled. She knew there was blood on her teeth. “Then I pray God answers both our prayers.”

CHAPTER 40

Valentina arrived early to help her into her black velvet. Luzia had pressed the lace collar herself the previous night, then lain awake, staring into the dark. With every passing hour, she felt the escape Hualit had offered slipping away, until at last dawn came and the chance was truly gone.

“I was scarcely able to sleep,” Valentina said as she finished placing the scalloped shells in Luzia’s hair. “To think I will meet the king.”

For all her talk of Águeda’s cooking, a king was still cause for excitement. Valentina had dressed in her green silk today, the sleeves spangled with silver, and she looked surprisingly pretty, her cheeks pink, her eyes bright.

“You look well, señora,” Luzia said, and wondered if she’d endure another slap for her impertinence.

But Valentina beamed, flushing even pinker.

The coaches were waiting when they descended the steps of the palace, but some of the party had chosen to ride. Luzia saw Fortún Donadei already mounted, dressed in green and gold, a plumed velvet cap set on his curls. Doña Beatriz was seated on a sleek mare the color of cinnamon. She reached out and adjusted the chain of Donadei’s golden cross. It was a fond gesture, and yet Luzia wondered if it felt like the rider’s hand upon the reins, a tug to remind her mount that she would set the pace. But if her love was real and his was not, who really held the reins?

And where was Santángel?

Marius waited at the De Paredes coach to help them inside.

“Don Víctor will not ride with us?” Valentina asked, her worry clear.