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We Set the Dark on Fire Page 12


  But that left just one course of action, and it wasn’t an idea Dani relished.

  Outside, low clouds made the day muggy and strange. There was a restless static in the air, like the moment before a lightning strike. Dani watched the sun travel behind the clouds for most of the morning, the sky changing from silver to the storm-yellow of an old bruise. She would have to wait for the perfect time, and right now they all seemed equally dangerous.

  When another tap came at the door, Dani groaned into her pillow. “I’m sorry, but I have a headache today,” she called. “I’ll be down for dinner!”

  “Please,” said a voice from outside. “Save it for someone who believes you.”

  Carmen. Dani jumped out of bed, shock motivating her where nothing else had. She crossed to the door in her dressing gown, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

  Carmen was never underdressed—unless you counted too much bare skin. Today’s dress was plunging, the deep purple of a summer night’s sky. How did her skin just . . . glow against any color?

  “What are you doing here?” Dani asked. Carmen had never visited her rooms before.

  “Thought we’d spend the day together,” Carmen deadpanned. “Paint our nails, talk about hair care and boys?” When Dani didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes. “The Garcia tailor is here to do our fittings. I’m supposed to bring you to my room.”

  “Oh.” Dani cleared her throat, dispelling the strange illusion Carmen’s sarcasm had cast. One where they were the kind of people who could spend the day together. What was wrong with her? “I’ll just get dressed and meet you down there.”

  “No point,” said Carmen, already turning away. “She’s just gonna undress you again anyway, right? Come on.”

  Walking through the house midmorning in a dressing gown with bare feet was not one of the more decorous moments of Dani’s life. Two of the cleaning girls stared openly until Carmen clucked her tongue at them.

  “I wish you had let me get dressed,” Dani muttered under her breath.

  Carmen shrugged in a way that was becoming troublingly familiar. “You’re still wearing more than me.”

  That much, at least, couldn’t be disputed.

  When they arrived at Carmen’s suite, she pushed the doors open like there was nothing special beyond them, but Dani had to tighten her jaw to keep it from dropping. The room was the opposite of her own in every way. The carpet swallowed Dani’s bare foot nearly to the ankle, and opposite a large window overlooking the garden, a gilded, three-paneled mirror took up an entire wall.

  It was a luxurious suite, fit for a luxurious girl, and Carmen moved in it like she’d never expected less, at home in her surroundings in a way Dani feared she could never be.

  “She’ll be here in a minute,” Carmen said, wandering into a closet the size of the houses in Polvo. “Make yourself at home.”

  Dani almost scoffed aloud at that. Was there a place in the world she could possibly feel less at home? The most she could manage was to perch on the corner of a royal-blue settee and wait for Carmen to return, or for the tailor to arrive and this strange sojourn into another world to end.

  As she waited, Dani looked around the room, searching for clues beyond her bad attitude to tell her what kind of person Carmen was. But everything seemed standard issue. There were no photos of her family or friends, nothing that looked sentimental. Even in five years at school, Dani had never learned anything personal about the Segunda, though rumors had certainly followed wherever she went.

  Dani had done her best to stay away from gossip, but sharing a hall with twelve other girls, she hadn’t been able to help picking things up here and there.

  Once, she’d heard Carmen was the illegitimate daughter of Medio’s president. The next time, it was that she’d grown up on the outer island, barely crossing the border in time for selection. Three separate times, Dani had heard Carmen was in love with another Segunda. The most drastic one of these involved a desertion pact, where Carmen and her secret lover had vowed to run away before graduation, rather than be parted and forced to marry anyone but each other.

  The rumors functioned as any others—easy to pass along and impossible to prove—but as Dani watched Carmen saunter back into the room and adjust the lighting to her preference, she could be absolutely certain of one thing: Carmen had never set foot on the outer island. This was not a girl who knew what lacking felt like.

  “I thought it would be easier in here,” she said, gesturing toward the massive mirror. “Better lighting than that prison cell of yours.”

  Her choice of words made Dani’s heart stutter. She kept her face casual as she watched Carmen out of the corner of her eye, searching for any hint that her remark had been more than just a dismissive turn of phrase.

  But Carmen’s face showed nothing besides her usual haughtiness, and as Dani relaxed, another thought pushed Carmen’s suspicions (or lack thereof) from her mind entirely.

  She was going to be undressing here. Measured mostly naked in front of Carmen with her dewy skin and topaz curves and that slightly snide smirk on her face.

  It was too late now to back out without making a scene and inviting more ridicule. Instead, she prayed to the god who gathered shadows to conceal her as well as he could, the goddess who lived between her heartbeats to keep them slow and steady.

  It would be bad enough without Dani going to pieces.

  “Morning,” said the tailor, taking in Dani’s discomfort and Carmen’s nonchalance. She was a tiny woman, barely reaching Carmen’s shoulder, her short hair just brushing her chin. “My name is Lara,” she said. “Let me guess . . .” She pointed to Dani. “You’re Señora Daniela, and you’re Mistress Carmen?”

  Carmen smirked. “What gave her away, the abject terror?”

  So much for avoiding ridicule. “Where would you like us?” Dani asked in her chilliest tone. “I don’t have all day.”

  “In front of the mirror is fine, señora,” Lara said, bustling over with a box of supplies and returning to the hallway for fabric samples. “Feel free to get undressed; I’ll be back in a moment.”

  Dani shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably as Carmen slid the straps of her dress over her shoulders without a thought. Like it was nothing. Like she did it all the time. Had Dani ever undressed in front of someone before? Carmen reached for the zipper at her side in slow motion as she considered it.

  She thought she remembered playing in the mud with some neighbor kids once; she’d been six, maybe seven. But even then, her mother had made her leave her shirt on to protect her shoulders from the sun.

  Carmen’s dress made an expensive sound as it slid down her body and settled at her feet. Dani kept her eyes straight ahead, trying to avoid the sight of her undressed, but of course there was the mirror, reflecting everything back in perfect, well-lit detail.

  Dani’s fingers froze on her zipper. Carmen in clothes was ridiculous enough, but in nothing but her underwear she was, objectively, a work of art. She was all circles and curves, all dark amber and soft edges. Her shoulders flowed effortlessly to an ample chest, her waist thick with hips that demanded notice and a belly that fit like a puzzle piece between them.

  She’s evenly bronzed all over, Dani thought, delirious. How does she . . . But the answer occurred to her then, and she wanted to bury her face in her hands to blot out the image it invited.

  “Need any help with that zipper?” Carmen asked, bringing Dani back into the moment reluctantly.

  “I’m fine,” she snapped, thankful for the sound of the tailor coming back in, for the puncture in the terrible tension that apparently only Dani had noticed.

  Dani jerked her zipper down, trying to leave her body completely before she bared it in front of strangers. The dress was over her shoulders. Around her waist. With a deep breath to steady herself, she slid it over her nonexistent hips and lowered it to her ankles, ignoring the uncomfortable, fluttery feeling in her stomach.

  She was sure Carmen would be staring, smirking, mayb
e outright laughing, and she braced herself for it. But she and the tailor were preoccupied. No one was looking at her.

  Unfortunately, Dani couldn’t help but look at herself. Narrow shoulders and hips; long, spindly legs. Her skin was the brown of a branch, a stone. She was a solid presence, without adornment. There was nothing wrong with the way she looked, Dani thought, but there was nothing special about it, either, and it had never been more obvious than it was now, with Carmen glinting and glittering beside her. Alluring in a way Dani’s dry kneecaps and uneven tan lines couldn’t possibly equal.

  She shook herself. Primeras weren’t supposed to concern themselves with the fleeting trivialities of beauty. That much had been beaten into them during every lesson for five years. Let Carmen have the skin and the curves and the sparkle. Dani had . . . other things. Which she was sure she’d remember later.

  “Arms out,” said Lara, who attacked them with measuring tape, muttering numbers under her breath.

  She took no notes, apparently memorizing every measurement before moving on to the next. Dani tried to get swept up in her capable attitude, in the feeling that this was nothing stranger than a checkup at the physician. But even with her eyes closed, Carmen’s curves pulled on the tide of her blush like a honey moon.

  A true Segunda, Carmen was not quiet during the process. She suggested cuts and colors, expressed preferences for necklines and hem lengths. Once, Lara looked to Dani for similar instruction, but she could only shake her head, distrustful of even her voice. Not to mention her knowledge of high-society fashion.

  Carmen rolled her eyes. “High waists,” she said. “Long lines at the leg, high collars.”

  Lara nodded again, a curt, efficient gesture. “Colors?” she asked, and Carmen looked at Dani again, thoughtful but not critical.

  “Black for formalwear,” Carmen said, like Dani wasn’t there. “But for daywear, maybe earth tones. Some deep blues, a forest green or two.”

  More nodding, more bustling. Carmen had made all the choices Dani would have made for herself. How had she known?

  “Okay, I think we’ve got it!” Lara said, tossing the tape measure into her box. “Thank you, ladies, you’ll have your garments the moment they’re ready.”

  “Do thank Mama Garcia for us when you see her,” Carmen said, making no move to pick up her dress, though the fitting was clearly finished.

  Desperate as she was to cover herself, Dani felt that to reach first would count as a loss in this unspoken competition with Carmen. And the only thing she hated more than exposure was losing.

  “Good day, Primera,” said Lara as she backed out with her things.

  Dani managed a nod in her direction.

  Surely Carmen would reach for her dress now. Put them both out of this misery. Dani willed her toward it, looking harder than was necessary at the hand now reaching up to smooth her plum lip stain.

  “So, Primera,” said Carmen, leaning forward into her reflection.

  Dani cleared her throat, ignoring the ways that leaning changed Carmen’s shape in the mirror. “Yes?”

  “What were you really talking to the gardener about that day?” Quick as a striking snake, she’d turned to face Dani, her eyes locked in.

  Dani’s throat went dry. She couldn’t look away. Her mind was entirely blank of everything but stupid comparisons between her own body and Carmen’s. All she could think was how ridiculous it was that her cover was going to be blown at last, in a Segunda’s room, in her underwear. It was the twin god and goddess of lies she thought of now, hoping they would honey her tongue.

  “He hasn’t been back since,” Carmen continued relentlessly. “I know, because I’ve been looking for him. What you said about having a schoolgirl crush on him isn’t true, because I’ve watched you. You don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”

  Dani swallowed hard, her mind spinning with absolutely nothing useful. If only she hadn’t been so fixated on their reflections. On the way Carmen’s skin glowed like there was a setting sun behind it . . .

  “It was you,” she blurted, the twin deities coming to her rescue after all. “I had to let him go . . . because of you.”

  Carmen’s gaze went from predatory to calculating. “Oh?”

  “The señora and I were having breakfast, and I heard him talking about you. About your figure in your dress and how he’d like to . . .” Another hard swallow. “Well, you get the point.”

  Something almost joyful danced in Carmen’s eyes. “Oh, go on, Primera, entertain me.”

  Dani drew herself up with as much dignity as she could, considering she was still mostly naked. “I’m not going to repeat the filth traded around by the help,” she said. “It’s beneath us both. I let him go for saying inappropriate things, and that’s final. He won’t be back.”

  “So why lie?” Carmen asked, seeming genuinely curious. “Why not just tell me?”

  “First off, to save myself this exact conversation,” Dani said, rolling her eyes. “And second, because I didn’t want you to feel . . . unsafe. I thought I’d just take care of it and that would be all.”

  “And the secluded walk down the garden path?”

  “It’s unseemly to terminate an employee in front of their peers,” she said, in a voice as dry as the Medio School for Girls handbook. “Also, I’d never done it before. I didn’t know if he was going to throw a fit.”

  Carmen raised her eyebrows, looking momentarily impressed. “I guess that explains the look on his face when he stormed off,” she said.

  “He wasn’t happy about being fired by someone younger than him,” she said with a self-deprecating smile. “Or . . . less male, either.”

  “Typical,” said Carmen, and Dani found herself silently chuckling.

  Finally—finally—Carmen reached for her clothes, sending Dani lunging for her pajamas and dressing gown. They dressed in almost companionable silence.

  “Anyway,” said Dani, zipping herself up. “Sorry you had to find out.”

  “You know,” Carmen said, “you’ve been kind of a pleasant surprise. I figured this job was gonna be a bore, but here you go making it interesting.”

  Without the first clue what she meant, Dani just smiled—an unpracticed thing—and started toward the door. “Well, see you around,” she said, but then she turned back. “Carmen?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why the change of heart?” She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know, but her mind was too full of mysteries to add another to her plate. “You hated me so much in school, but now . . .”

  Carmen looked almost sad, or maybe it was a trick of the light. “It’s a conversation for another time,” she said. “But trust me, it had nothing to do with you.”

  How was that possible? She wanted to ask, but she felt she’d pushed her luck enough for one day. Without answering, she gave Carmen a nod and padded across the rug to the door.

  “Hey, Dani?” Carmen called after her. It was the first time she’d ever used her name, and Dani felt a strange thrill at the sound of it. “I really will tell you sometime, if you want. And in the meantime, if you ever need anything, you can consider me a friend.”

  “Oh,” Dani said, completely taken aback. “Sure, okay. Um, thanks.”

  Carmen just laughed and shook her head. “Okay, make your escape,” she said, with an eye roll that might have been more affectionate than mocking.

  Dani hurried out before she could change her mind.

  12

  As Primera, you will be your husband’s first line of defense against detractors, including himself. Be strong, reassure him, support him always.

  —Medio School for Girls Handbook, 14th edition

  THE HALLWAY AIR WAS COOL as the sun set, and Dani wandered the house, knowing what she had to do but unwilling, for the moment, to do it.

  Her thoughts were scattered, her dedication to the mission Sota had given her waning in the face of her afternoon on the south side of the house, her mind wandering to Carmen’s reflection in the mirr
or, the strange confession that buzzed in Dani’s ears even now.

  Could she possibly have meant it? Was there a reason for everything she had put Dani through in school? One that didn’t involve reflexive disdain for the lower class?

  And what did it mean if there was?

  Dani shook herself mentally when she reached the library, ducking inside for some privacy while she pulled herself together. The last thing she needed was the house staff reporting to Mateo that they’d seen his Primera behaving oddly. She couldn’t afford to raise suspicion now, when so much depended on him remaining in the dark.

  She had two days to find out when Mateo’s secret trip to the border was happening. That had to be her first priority. Nothing Carmen could do or say was important enough to distract her from her duty to her parents, or what was at stake if she failed.

  In the mirror on the library wall, Dani looked into her own wide brown eyes and glared. The impossible is impossible, she said to the part of her still lingering on Carmen’s words. Fulfill your obligation to Sota. Stay vigilant. Stay alive.

  Her reflection nodded its agreement, and together they left the library, leaving the distractions of the day behind in the darkened room.

  With renewed purpose, Dani’s feet took her east, into the wing of the house that held Mateo’s bedroom and private office. She’d been warned by the household manual on her first day as a Garcia never to enter it, and that warning had only been reinforced by not-so-casual comments from the man himself since then, but what choice did Dani have at this point?

  The hallways were empty, with Mateo gone for the night and the staff preparing for dinner, and Dani found her way to the dark-wood double doors without incident, their polished gold handles so different from any of the others in the house.

  Though the moment deserved gravity, there was no time. Dani gripped the left handle and pushed, her heart in her throat. She was almost surprised when it gave way. Was Mateo truly arrogant enough to trust a verbal warning to protect this place?