University of California, read the golden letters in the front. Although the words made no sense, I memorized them anyway and repeated them to myself again and again as I rode on Flecha. Somehow they made me feel closer to my uncle, away in his distant manor where nobody had ever been invited. Not even my parents.
One afternoon in late summer, Margarida and I happened to catch sight of my sister Sabela talking with her captain in the garden. They were so intent on each other, they didn’t hear our approach. Tiptoeing behind some bushes, we hid from them. Not for a moment did I stop to consider that spying on them could be an intrusion of their privacy. After all, the garden was a public place, and their conversation our only window into the grown-up world. As far as I was concerned, listening was our right and duty.
When we arrived, the captain was pressing Sabela to marry him. My heart pounding wildly, I waited for her answer, certain she was going to accept him. Hadn’t she defied Mother often enough on his behalf? Besides, I had to admit that the captain was indeed very handsome. But Sabela refused her lover’s request. “I cannot marry you without my parents’ approval,” she said slowly, as if the words pained her.
“But you must. I cannot live without you. I know I am only a captain, but my arms are strong. With you by my side, the world will be ours.”
“I know, my love. But I cannot defy my father’s orders. If I do, he would ban you from his kingdom forever.”
“Then escape with me. Tonight. My men will come with me.”
Sabela shook her head.
Her captain did not take the rejection well. His voice rose as he said, “You don’t love me enough to give up the crown. You will just marry any lord in order to be queen.”
“That is unfair!” I mumbled, and I started to get up to explain. Margarida tried to stop me, and I fought her back. By the time we settled our dispute and pushed the branches of the bush to listen again, Captain García was holding Sabela’s hand while apologizing to her. Presently he took a step back, retrieved his sword from its scabbard, and with a knee on the ground, presented the tilt to Sabela. Then in an earnest whisper, he swore to love her forever. After my sister had returned his vows, he got up and took her in her arms. One minute he was kissing her. The next, he was gone.
Sabela kept her head up until the captain was out of sight. Then she collapsed on the grass. Although I could see her shoulders shaking, she made no sound.
I would have gone to Sabela and embarrassed us both if Margarida had not held me down once more. After a moment of confusion, I stopped fighting and quietly followed her back to the lane. Soon the hedges that ran along the path hid Sabela from us.
As we walked, the argument we had just witnessed kept playing in my mind. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t understand my sister’s rejection nor the bizarre behavior of the captain. Sure that I was missing some important point, I turned to Margarida. “Why didn’t Sabela accept Captain García’s proposal?”
Margarida stared at me, eyes wide open. “Do you realize what you are saying, Andrea?” There was a note of irritation in her voice. “Sabela is the primogenitor of the House of Montemaior. She will inherit the crown. She cannot marry a captain.”
“Why not? She is in love with him. Besides, Captain García is a respected officer in Father’s army.”
“Have you forgotten that whoever marries Sabela will be the next king? Sabela must marry into one of the Houses of Old. It is the law.”
I pondered her words for a moment. Then I remembered my sister’s silent crying after her lover’s departure, and somehow I knew Sabela would never break her promise to him.
“What if she refuses? Would Father force her to marry against her will?”
Margarida did not answer immediately. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “But I do hope she will oblige. For her own sake and for the kingdom’s as well.”
“Why?”
A stream of giggles answered my question. I looked up and saw Rosa, a blinding vision in white, emerging from a bend in the path. As usual, one of her admirers was in her wake.
“That’s why,” Margarida said, pointing at them.
As I looked at the approaching figures, trying to make sense of Margarida’s puzzling answer, the young man whispered something into Rosa’s ears. Again Rosa laughed.
Before I could question Margarida further, the couple was upon us. I moved to the side to let them pass, while offering them my greetings. But Rosa, balancing a lacy parasol in her gloved hands with the mastery of a soldier brandishing a sword, hid her face from us and ignored my salute.
I would have gone after her, angry at her slight. But Margarida stopped me. “See what I mean?” she whispered. I shook my head. “If Sabela doesn’t agree to marry into the Houses of Old, Rosa will be the next queen.”
I gasped. Rosa our queen? That was indeed a scary prospect.
4
The Ball
Summer passed and the harvest came. Soon the snow covered the walls and the courtyard and the fields beyond. The warm weather was gone, it seemed, forever. Captain García was gone, too.
On the morning following the conversation between my sister Sabela and her captain, Ama Bernarda had said while she helped me get dressed, “Captain García has left your father’s guard.”
A little later Lucia, the kitchen maid, had whispered eagerly in my ear after setting the breakfast on the table, “Captain García’s gone, Princess. And many good men with him.”
Even Margarida, usually so self-controlled, had rushed into my room with her version of the event.
Only in my mother’s quarters did the captain’s name go unmentioned. Still, the astonishing news was written everywhere: in the tight lips of the ladies, in the insidious solicitude of Rosa toward Sabela, and of course in Sabela’s impossibly sad stare. But in my mother’s presence, not a word was said about the brave captain who had deserted my father’s army for love.
Although I was forbidden to talk with my old comrades, that night I made an exception and joined them in the barracks. There I learned that Captain García and his followers had headed east toward the wastelands. They planned to cross the rugged mountains and try their fortune in the eastern lands.
For days, everybody talked about the captain and his courage in defying my father. Time passed and no news came. The rumors died. And the name of Captain García was heard no more. But Sabela didn’t forget. Although she never mentioned his name, I saw her atop the castle ramparts on many an evening staring into the distant mountains where morning awaited.
Over the winter months, my training as a lady continued. Soon my hair was long enough to dress, and I had to spend long hours brushing it. Eventually my hands became soft and white, and my nails stopped breaking. On the outside, I was starting to look like a lady.
Inside, though, something was missing, some sixth sense ladies seem to possess. Hard as I tried to fit in, I still felt awkward. To add to my misery, my sister Rosa was always there, ready to point out to my mother whatever it was I had not done, or not done well enough. The maddening thing was that whenever she told on me, she always managed to appear as innocent as a baby.
Tío Ramiro did not visit that winter. I did not really expect him to, as the roads had all disappeared under the snow, making travel impossible. But still, I missed him. Without Tío to talk to, only Margarida stood between me and despair.
“Wait until the spring,” my sister kept telling me after listening to my complaints. “Mother will introduce you to the court at the Spring Ball. You may change your mind then.” And so, obediently I waited for the spring and the mysterious ball that would make a lady of me.