Page 103 of Untamed

I tried to keep my eyes from rolling to the ceiling. Minerva winced but continued to stroll toward us with more tentative steps. She obviously had seen the whisper between Beatriz and me.

“Congratulations.” Minerva’s weak smile made the girl look even more tired than I felt.

“Thank you.” Beatriz said coolly. “I hate all this waiting around. Is there a way we can help?”

Minerva’s chin fell. “No, but—”

“Take us to the others. I think the three of us could be formidable opponents should the need arise.”

“But—”

“I can imagine Zichri wants you to keep us safe.” Beatriz’s tone did not waver. “Take us. Please.”

My toes wiggled in my shoes with excitement. This Beatriz was always more fun, and she did have a point about us having the ability to add protection because I was a fireball now and no one could stop talking about Beatriz stalling an entire army with her thoughts.

Minerva took our wrists, and we yanked across space into a dark passage with faded light. A noise echoed through the corridor. I’d never been there before. Should we have stayed in the brightly lit downstairs where we could dance to our victory? We could celebrate that we had survived.

“Wait here.” Minerva rushed ahead.

Beatriz swooped me into her arms and gave me a tight squeeze. “Dear friend, this might not be the time to ask, but I was thinking that perhaps we could do a double wedding.”

I yanked back, needing to see her face. She couldn’t be serious. But the expression plastered on her lifted chin had no hint of a joke.

One of her eyebrows rose in question, looking so very much like her mamá. “I have a feeling we’ll both be queens and it might be the last time we’re able to spend so much time together.”

The hollowness of her words struck me with force. This wasn’t a happy declaration of our friendship but a last hurrah to our time together. I’d planned to slip away in the night, unnoticed, but that would not be an option now.

Minerva came out of the room and something about her slumped shoulders and drooping eyes was like a splinter in my chest. “Come in.”

Here Beatriz and I were talking weddings while something dreadful was taking place just around the corner.

With a final squeeze, Beatriz stepped back and tiptoed into the room before us with heavy shadows. Weeping and tears poured from multiple people within the room. Even Minerva, who hovered outside the door, had streams of tears pouring down her cheeks.

Someone had died, and I hadn’t a clue or the ability to ask questions.

Jaime moved around a giant four-poster bed at catching sight of me. He strode toward me, eyes coated in a sheen of unshed tears. When he covered the gap between us, he put his arms over my and Beatriz’s shoulders. “We’re too late. The king died yesterday, and the prince today.”

Chapter 48

Beatriz

There was nothing leftfor me to do but attempt to comfort Zichri’s pain, tears, and regret. I finally met Griselda and saw Milo, Gonzalo, and Blas again. The reunion held the joy I would have imagined, though it was tainted with sadness. Milo greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, Gonzalo and Blas bobbed a quick bow. I nodded and hadn’t any words to say. Emotion clogged my throat. Laude and I stayed at Himzo Palace late into the evening, and then Minerva brought us back home into Cosme’s sitting room.

My brother lounged in an armchair, muddied boots, disheveled hair, and eyes half closed despite our sudden appearance. Lucas snapped his attention toward us from the couch and Fermín gave a limp wave.

“Papá said you went to Himzo.” Cosme’s voice came out gravely and slower than normal. “Something about Zichri’s brother.”

My throat constricted with pent-up emotions. It must have been evident in my expression. Laude sidled closer to me with red rimmed eyes, swollen and sorrowful. Cosme’s eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned forward.

Witnessing Zichri’s unrestrained tears by his dead brother’s bedside played through my mind. “We didn’t make it in time.”

Cosme scratched at the side of his face. “Caramba. First one brother, then … what about his father?”

I shook my head. Tears streaked down my cheeks. Though I hadn’t known the king, I felt Zichri’s pain and would have sunk into my own black pit of pain if that loss had happened to me. Zichri had gotten the blessing from Papá but had lost most of his family. Was it my fault? Should we have not dreamt of an impossible alliance?

“That’s horrible.” He stood. “I should give my condolences and the news.”

“What news?” I asked.

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