ravaged hearts

CHAPTER FOUR,

  Castrillo was unfazed. "Nine months, Io." Now she sounded genuinely angry, all evidence of care and concern gone. Maybe it was because she'd realised that Io was completely alright.

  "If you want to catch up, we have time. But not tonight. I literally just arrived in Vayante, I'm exhausted."

  "Where did you go?"

  No point in lying. Now that she was back, the truth would start coming out anyways. "Gira. I was in Gira, Constanza."

  "Why Gira?"

  Constanza didn't know. She'd never told her. The woman didn't even know anything about her past. She'd always kept tight-lipped about it, wanting to keep herself seeming almost divine in her eyes. They were the same age, but Io had started being an agent years prior. They'd met the year before the fallout with Louis. They got along, but the power in the relationship had always been heavily imbalanced and leaning towards Io. She'd appreciated that, not being the person under someone else's thumb for once. In the years that followed, Constanza had grown, of course, as all people did. Somewhere down the line, she became much more comfortable in her own skin, someone who'd stand up for herself.

  Io shrugged. "Why not Gira?"

  It wasn't a proper answer, and Constanza's nose flared. Nice to know some things never changed. The fiery temperament remained, no matter how much the woman had matured in the past few years. It was what Danna had seen in Constanza all those years ago. People never changed much.

  She did, though. She refused to be the same person she was before. So she'd forced herself to metamorphosis.

  "You didn't even tell Danna."

  "Why would I tell Danna? Constanza, I needed peace and quiet. I got it. And now I'm back. It's not that big of a deal."

  "And the moment you come out of your little hiatus, you run into Louis Sanchez." There was something like accusation in her voice. "You never did give him up, did you?

  "I assure you, I didn't expect this. Wholly a coincidence. I'm not any more pleased with this than you are."

  "He is. He was talking to you, wasn't he?"

  "I was half-hoping you'd catch up with me first so he'd run out of courage and stay behind.  Bide his time, you know."

  "Well, unfortunately for you, you vanished before I realised where you were. And by the time I located you..." She flexed her fingers. "What did he say?"

  "It's of no interest to you. Don't angle for gossip."

  "I know better. I'm worried about you. And I don't trust him."

  "He's your colleague."

  "He's an excellent agent. Does not mean he's a good person. The two things are very, very different."

  "It's been seven years, we were both children," Io scoffed. "We've both moved on. I'm not forgiving him, but it does not mean we can't have a functional professional relationship. We're both elites in this field, we'll run into each other."

  "You've avoided each other for the past seven years."

  "And it's been a massive inconvenience." Io absentmindedly fidgeted with the bracelet she wore around her waist. She'd taken this from Fayette's wardrobe, something the other woman had grown tired of. The two sisters were of similar complexion, so it complimented Io as well as it did Fayette.

  "What are you planning to do?"

  It was such a vague, unspecified question Io froze momentarily before she collected herself and fixed her gaze upon Constanza. "Finish the mission, of course."