Page 38 of Castle of the Cursed
“What’s it mean?”
“Work it out as you go. Try it.”
“Toda mi vida…” I say, the only part I remember.
Felipe goes to the desk, and when he comes back, he hands me a piece of paper. “Read it out loud.”
“Toda mi vida,” I say, “all my life.” Felipe nods in approval. “Tuve la atención completa de mis padres… complete attention… my parents.” I look at Felipe and translate the full thing: “My whole life I had the complete attention of my parents.”
The hole in my chest widens as I say it, and my heart holds its next beat.
“Good,” he says of my translation.
“But even with their full attention,” I say, “I was still missing something. I used to think it was a room of my own. But now that I have that, the hole is still there. It’s only… only when I’m here that I feel better.”
My cheeks warm as I admit that last part. Felipe’s face heats with color, too.
“Estela,” he says, and a cold fear spikes the warmth as it occurs to me that he may want more than friendship.
“Can I visit you at the castle in two days?”
I’m relieved that’s all he wants. “Why two days?” I ask, thinking of the full moon.
“It’s my day off.”
Beatríz said I’m not to bring anyone to the castle, but if she’s going to take off without warning, I’m not going to follow her rules. Besides, if Felipe won’t be at the bookstore, I’ll have nowhere to go during the day. And I’d rather not be alone.
“Sure,” I say after a beat.
Today, he adopts a more traditional tutoring approach, opting to teach me from a workbook, and we don’t say another word about la Sombra.
I want to ask him about vampires, but I can’t bring myself to form the question. Knowing I’ll be completely alone with Sebastián in a few hours is exciting and terrifying in equal measure. Part of me never wants to go back to la Sombra. Part of me wishes the clock would move faster.
My skin craves the shadow beast like a new drug. I shouldn’t want his fangs anywhere near me—and yet, I’ve been fantasizing about his bite all day, as if it had been a kiss. I’d rather not think too hard on how wrong that sounds.
This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way about anyone, like a pull that’s impossible to resist. Returning to Sebastián’s orbit feels as inevitable as gravity.
I want him to touch me.
I want him.
I want.
“Closing time,” says Felipe, snapping me out of my reverie. A million moths flutter in my belly as I stand up to return to the castle.
I follow Felipe downstairs, and I see someone else in the store. A man in a tweed coat who walks with a cane. “Hola, Estela, soy el padre de Felipe. Me llamo Arturo Sarmiento.”
I stick out my hand and greet Felipe’s father with a firm shake. “Hola.”
“Tu tía me ha pedido que me asegure de que tienes donde comer, así que estás invitada a comer con nosotros.”
I look to Felipe to translate, even though I understood the last part. I’m just buying myself time to react.
“You’re invited over to dinner tonight,” he says, beaming.
“My wife is already cooking,” says Arturo in a thick accent. He smiles, and it’s clear his son inherited his father’s crooked smirk.
I’d rather return to the castle, but I can’t come up with a good way out of this. So I just smile and nod in assent, and after father and son lock up the store, the three of us climb the road uphill, toward the residences of Oscuro.
