18
Rafael
Istood at the top of the island, looking down on the people who relied on me. On the people who counted on me to keep order in a world full of chaos. I'd never failed them before tonight.
Alejandro followed, stepping up behind me in near silence. He didn't speak, but I could feel the intensity in his gaze. The judgment that I'd never hesitated with marking a woman for her betrayal before.
"Isa never betrayedEl Diablo," he said. "She never endangered the operation. Marking her was never something that should have been done in the same way," he added, making me spin to look at him with incredulous eyes. "Penance is for people who failEl Diablo.It's for people who put our safety at risk through their actions. We were never in danger because Isa tried to leave you, Rafael."
I nodded, staring past him to watch as Regina knelt beside Isa below us. Illuminated in the lights of the flames, shadows danced overmi reina'sfawn skin.
"She leftyou," Alejandro added. "Whatever you need to do to make amends with her for that choice, it should be between the two of you. It shouldn't be a spectacle."
"That would have been nice to hear a few hours ago." I barked out a disbelieving laugh. "Now everyone knows my weakness."
"Would you have listened? This is something you needed to discover for yourself. It isn't a weakness to spare someone from harm when you love them, Rafael. It takes strength to recognize love for what it is, because it's far easier to deny it and reject those feelings. Especially when all you've ever known is pain and regret." Alejandro had grown as the son of one of my father's advisors. He'd been on the receiving end of their cruelty as often as I had. He understood what it was to be raised by a monster. "I like to think if I ever findmyIsa, I'll have the courage to tell her how I feel."
"She knows," I said, voicing the fact that it would take a fool not to see how obsessed I was with her.
"She knows of your infatuation with her, but that doesn't mean she knows that you love her. I don't think you've even admitted it to yourself. You might start there." As he retreated back down the hill to the village, I turned to watch Regina guide Isa into the main house.
She wobbled on her legs, the fall from such an adrenaline spike taking its toll on her body without the outlet the brand would have supplied. Even despite the tremors in her body that were so apparent I could see them even from my distance, she held her head high. Joaquin glanced back my way, and though I knew he couldn't see me because of the light from the fire, he nodded once.
Isa turned to look for me once she reached the house, her striking gaze searching for the phantom she couldn't seem to find. The strength in the lines of her face brought a smile to mine. She might have knelt at my feet with tears in her eyes, but the unmistakable crown of a Queen rested on top of her head. She accepted her fate. She didn't act like a simpering fool.
She hadn’t closed her eyes, afraid to look the devil in the eye as he delivered her punishment. She’d met my gaze with strength and quiet determination. She defied me.
Without ever saying a word.
It was in those short, breathtaking moments that I came to terms with my truth. The one that pulsed inside me, demanding I give it a voice despite all my denials.
Love wasn't a strong enough word for how I felt for Isa, but it was the only one that existed. She was my weakness. My everything. She was the heroin I would willingly inject into my veins, even knowing it would be the end of me one day. She owned me, body and whatever remained of a soul inside me. That feeling only grew with every day she spent on the island, growing into the woman I'd known she could be.
I couldn't have her without the darkness lurking in her soul. She couldn't have only the pieces of me that she could handle, not without embracingEl Diabloas well. The only path forward was for our demons to dance together, to entwine until we were one nightmare moving through the darkness.
We'd come together under the moonlight. We'd love under the stars if we survived the night.