Even in the light of the moon, I could plainly see that she’d gone far paler than was normal for the natural tan of her skin, and it was like deja vu.
When Isla wasthat scared,she would be briefly rendered to a catatonic state until she slept it off, and I knew there was no getting her out the window and down the trellis.
So, I had no choice but to stay here with her.
Even though I knew the door was locked, I jumped out of bed to double check it. For good measure, I slid a dresser in front of it, cursing myself for being only eighteen and not twenty-one so I could buy a fucking gun already.
But I had no gun. I only had a locked door, and a dresser, and pure grit, and the unflinching willingness to step in front of a bullet for her if I had to.
So, I crawled back into bed and pulled her close to me, holding her against my chest and tucking the blankets tightly around her, just like when she was a little girl and would climb through my window in the middle of the night.
And I waited out the chaos.
All night long.
The chaos dissipated at around four in the morning, and there was a quiet knock on the door.
“Mijita?”
I cut my eyes sideways, but stayed silent.
The doorknob twisted and released.
“Todo está bien, mijita,” Ernesto’s voice murmured through the door.“Solo descansa.”
I held my breath and listened as footsteps padded away down the hall, and continued to hold Isla tightly against me.
I didn’t sleep.
It wasn’t until the early light of dawn began to peek through her lace curtains that she began to stir.
“Mmmm…”Isla hummed against the dip between my pectoral muscles. The tiniest giggle eked from her lips as she pressed a kiss to my skin. “You stayed all night, you bad boy.”
I dipped my face to kiss her head. “Are you okay, baby girl?”
Another quiet giggle. “Of course. I never get to sleep with you. I love it.”
“I mean about last night, Isla.”
She turned her big, brown eyes up to my face with total mischief.“I loved last night.”
I managed to maintain a neutral expression.“You mean you…”
She didn’t remember any of it.
Isla has always had a prolifically patchy memory when it came to things that were unpleasant. Her brother, Joaquin, and sister, Graciela, were constantly teasing her about it. To me, it always seemed that she simply focused her memories on the good things in life. It never struck me as problematic.
After all, what would it hurt to let bad things slip from your memory?
“I mean, I love you, mi amado.” She pressed another kiss to my skin and turned her head to rest her cheek against my chest as I stroked her hair.
“I love you, too, baby girl.”I dipped my face to kiss her head again, shifting down the mattress so I could lie flat and drift into sleep with her. “World without end and beyond my last breath, I will love you, my sweet Isla.”
MALACHI
Present
AT 3:40, I STAND in front of the mirror in my own bedchamber on the opposite side of the palace from Isla, adjusting my silver tie and platinum cufflinks, and silently convincing myself that she’s going to be late just to spite me.
