Page 37

CHAPTER 37

Lalo

The coach lurched forward. Lalo fell back, bumping into the hard wood of the wall.

Again, he found himself pressing the pad of his finger to his lips.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes, locks Carolina had moments ago tugged out of place. “What are you doing?” he whispered to himself. “Now is not the time for this.”

But if he was to face the original sediento soon and possibly die for real this time, shouldn’t he be allowed to kiss the girl he was falling for?

“Bloody hell,” he murmured. “You’ve fallen for Carolina Victoria Fuentes.” His head dropped. “And you are going to lose her before she was ever even yours.”

The clopping of the horses’ hooves on dirt and the rattling of the wooden spokes filled the infinite quiet. He shouldn’t have said their kiss was a mistake. He could never regret something that was so…He felt the heat rise to his cheeks. That kiss was perfect in every way.

He should tell her that.

“No,” he said. Confessing his love would only be a distraction.

He jolted. He loved her?

“Saints above,” he groaned.

He sank into the bench. He wished he could speak to Fernanda at that moment. She was an expert at love. By his count, she’d fallen in and out of it at least a dozen times.

But what did it matter when Devil’s Spine grew closer?

“We’re entering the woods now,” Carolina yelled. “I’m taking us on a hidden path. It’s going to get bumpy.”

An hour or so went past. He couldn’t really tell. His rear was getting sore from being jostled about so wildly.

“Hang on to something!” Carolina yelled.

Before he could even attempt to stabilize himself, the entire right half of the coach dipped low. A miserable crack sounded from one of the axles before everything came to a crashing stop.

“Carolina?” he called. She said nothing. Panic tore through him. He started toward the exit. “Carolina!”

The door to the coach slowly opened and Carolina’s face peered into the darkness.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, noting the paleness of her skin.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Just…embarrassed. I crashed the carriage,” she said. “I thought it was a small dip. I was wrong. The axle is busted.”

She lifted her face toward the sun. Her hair blew in the breeze. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

His mouth ran dry. “Are there no trees to shelter us?”

“I took a path no one would dare use. If my papá comes after us, he’d never think I’d be foolish enough to come this way.”

“Why is this path so dangerous?”

She chewed on her lip. He wished to kiss it.

“The road is basically impassable with a coach. And…”

“And what?”

“Wolves run rampant here.”

“Why in el Cielo would you choose this way?”

“It’s the fastest route to Devil’s Spine. And with the winds so fierce, our tracks will disappear behind us in moments. No one would be able to track us.”

“And now we are stuck,” he said.

“The carriage certainly is.” She looked around at what appeared to be a barren landscape. The few trees he could make out in the distance were spindly and freakishly large but had no leaves to speak of, as if even the leaves knew to stay away.

“What are our options?” he asked.

“We sit here and wait it out. The sun will go down in a few hours.”

He shook his head. “Any sediento in the area will find us as soon as night falls.”

“Then you will just have to trust me to see you to the other side of this valley.” She gave a weak smile. “We’ll cover up any of your exposed skin and ride like hell.”

“I’m not very good on a horse,” he admitted. Or a pony , he thought. He’d leave that fact out.

“You’ll have me to guide you,” she said. “You can trust me.”

Their eyes linked. Heat spread through his body like he was already on fire. If he could, he’d forget everything and kiss her until the world slipped away.

He cared for her so very much. And he could see it in her eyes that she felt the same. It was in the sound of her heart. The softening of her body. Alas, he had to end whatever this was. He was already going to destroy his sister if he perished; he didn’t want to hurt Carolina as well. Maybe it was cowardly but knowing he would pain her was too much to bear.

“Carolina.” He cleared his throat. “About this kiss.”

Her heart thumped faster.

Tell her the truth, his mind and body urged. Forget playing it safe. Tell her you love her. That you want nothing more than to live and be with her.

But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. It was better for her to hate him than to spend the rest of her days thinking about what could have been.

“It was selfish of me to want something like that from you. Even if the circumstances were different, this would never work.”

Carolina’s skin was bleached of the last of its bronze color. “You are right. How foolish of me.” He watched as she built a barrier between them. Brick by brick. She nodded once as if in agreement with herself. “I will ready the horses.”

He moved to grab her, to pull her back into the cool shadows of the coach and tell her he lied, to tell her he didn’t want to die, that he wanted to be with her always, but he stopped. And he let her go.