Page 515 of Bad Prince

I know it does.

On the other end of the line, I hear him breathe.

Then:

“Bueno.”

Just one word.

Good.

I blink.

Because from a man like Emmanuel, in this context,goodis an entire speech.

“He is still on trial,” he adds immediately.

There he is.

I laugh outright this time.

“I figured.”

“And if he breaks your heart?—”

“He won’t.”

“Estrella.”

I smile despite myself.

“You wanted honesty. There it is.”

A long pause.

Then, quieter now:

“You sound different.”

I glance down the hallway toward the locker room, where life is already pulling me back into the day.

“Maybe I am.”

His voice softens by a degree. “Then be happy,hija.”

Daughter.

The word hits warm and strange and still a little sharp around the edges.

But warm.

“I am,” I say.

“I can hear it.”

That nearly undoes me.

Before either of us can get too sincere and ruin the tone completely, he adds, “I still reserve the right to terrify him.”