Castillano walked his guest to the entrance hall, where Alma joined them, bringing the general's hat and cloak.
"Say, Alma, do you think we could accommodate a lady and her maid at the upper floor?" Castillano asked, his blue eyes and his fake smile turned to Segovia.
The woman couldn't hide her surprise. The upper floor was where the family's private chambers had been until Doña Isabel had passed. Then, Don Diego had moved his and son's bedrooms to the ground floor and closed the whole upper floor. Ever since, only she and the service maids visited that part of the house, once a month, to air and clean the rooms, where the original furniture still was.
"The upper floor?" she repeated, hesitating. "I guess so, Captain, if you don't mind—"
Segovia cut her off. "When could you have them?" Could it be right tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?"
"The maid can help get the rooms ready."
"That won't be necessary, General," Castillano said. "We'll have everything set tomorrow afternoon, right, Alma?"
"Y-yes, Captain."
"Thank you so much for your hospitality, Captain," Segovia said, shaking Castillano's hand. "I'll send Doña Dolores' luggage in the morning, and bring her myself after lunch."
"My pleasure, General."
Segovia hadn't reached the street yet when Castillano strode across the house, dragging Alma and the soldier behind him.
"A speedwell tea, Alma, please," he grumbled as he stalked toward the side door.
He walked out to the shadowy garden. He heard Garrido behind him and was tempted to punch the man, but kept a grip on himself. The man was only doing his job. However, the soldier stopped at the door, and Castillano knew he wouldn't come any closer as long as he was in sight. So he halted by the well, breathing heavily, and kicked it to vent out.
How was he supposed to spend the next three or four weeks under the same roof with the Pearl of the Caribbean, surrounded by his watchdogs day and night? And surely Segovia too, visiting his friend! For Christ's sake! There was no way it would end well.
Alma brought him the tea. Castillano met her eyes full of questions and he wasn't able to smile. He'd had a chance to tell him about Dolores earlier, but hardly more than a mention in front of Garrido. And now he couldn't risk any explanation for his foul mood either. She pressed his arm with a quick smile and left him alone.
Back to his lodging, Segovia gave his assistant a message for Dolores, with orders to deliver it as soon as the nunnery opened its gates at six. The man followed his instructions to the letter, and despite the early hour, the nuns assessed the note surely was urgent enough to go knock on the guests' door, even if that meant waking them up.
However, Marina opened the door right away, up and awake.
An hour later, Alma headed out as the cart bringing Dolores' chests stopped at the side door. And she found out the luggage wasn't alone. She tried a quick curtsy at Dolores and asked her to wait. Soon Castillano came out himself to welcome his guests.
Dolores greeted him with an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry, Captain. But my friend was in a hurry to leave the nunnery."
"Don't say," Castillano grumbled.
He invited her in and went to the cart, to help Marina down. He signaled her to go on in and lingered assisting the soldiers with the chests. When he headed to the side door again, he found Marina halfway to the door, suddenly pale, her eyes moving over the house and a hand to her chest.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked her.
Marina ignored Alma and Dolores at the doorway and the soldiers behind her. She could only focus on controlling an upsetting distress that seemed about to choke her when he approached that door. It was there. The place she'd been looking for in the storm of her nightmare the day before. And there was nothing in there but death.
"This is your home?" she whispered.
Castillano nodded, curious.
Marina pressed the hand to her chest, where her heart seemed to refuse to keep beating.
"What is it, child?"
The soldiers passed by them, carrying the chests, and Alma led them inside and upstairs.
Dolores remained where she was, observing them.
Marina faced Castillano with welling eyes. "It was here," she whispered.
He raised his eyebrows. "Well, yes. Welcome to my humble home, Velazquez. And I'll be damned if I ever thought I'd said something like that. I'm sorry, but it looks like it's here or the nunnery."
Marina forced her feet to move, one step, then another, toward that place from where she would've wanted to run away.
The place where her father had died.
He noticed she shivered from head to toes, and her troubled breathing. He rested his hand on the small of her back and guided her inside gently. She was so upset, she didn't even realize he was touching her.
Castillano shook his head slightly at Dolores' questioning frown. He took Marina to the daily dining room and helped her to a seat. He pulled up another chair to sit down by her side, studying her. Marina met his eyes, still pale and upset.
"Was it a mistake to come?" she murmured, her gaze moving up and down the house again. The air felt thin and her chest ached.
He smiled. "You finally get it. Want me to find you a ship to Tortuga?"
Marina frowned. "You've changed your mind?"
Castillano lowered his head to chuckle.
Dolores joined them.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" she asked, keeping her voice down.
"That my father and hers killed each other in this house," Castillano replied, like commenting on the weather. "And only now the child realizes where she is."
Dolores was so shocked that she dropped herself on a chair across the table. "What?"
"Welcome to the fascinating story of the Castillanos and the Velazquez, Dolores. This is us —full of surprises."
She ignored his bitter sarcasm and patted Marina's hand on the table.
"We'll find a lodging, Marina. You don't have to—"
"No."
The other two were surprised by her sudden determination. The girl faced Castillano with a daring spark in her eyes.
"If the Captain can live here, I will too."
Dolores would've slapped them when he chuckled again and stood up, almost in a good mood.
"And they say I'm the stubborn piece of work. Come, I'll show you to your rooms."
At the main hall, Marina literally staggered and Dolores had to hold her up.
Castillano paused at the first steps of the stairs. "It's just a room, child," he said, guessing what had happened to Marina. "Four walls and some furniture. You'll get used to it."
He looked up and found Alma at the gallery, observing the girl with a suspicious frown. He hadn't had a chance to warn her who the maid actually was.
Marina looked down and kept her eyes on the steps to follow him up the stairs, keeping from gazing at the main hall again. She would've wanted to rip her ears off, too, because the whole room seemed to be filled with echoes of clashing blades. Honestly, she didn't know how Castillano could live there, considering he'd seen it all with his own eyes when he was but a boy.
She didn't like seeing one of the guards following Castillano all over like a lapdog, but armed, and told herself she would need to get used to that as well. Castillano didn't seem to notice anymore. Like the echoes in the main hall. Like the traces of death all over that old house crowded by fleeting shadows.
However, she couldn't help a smile when she saw the room they'd chosen for her. Plain to see it'd been a little boy's bedroom. And for some reason, the idea of sleeping on the same bed Castillano had used as a child felt like a gesture she would've never expected from him.
She approached the woman that seemed to run the house while Dolores and Castillano watched her with open curiosity, because they didn't know what to make of her sudden mood shifts.
"I'm sorry, milady, I—"
"Alma," the woman corrected her curtly. "I'm no lady."
Marina smiled, nodding. "I'm sorry. Alma, may I ask for your help with something?"
Alma listened to Marina's whisper near her ear and turned to Castillano. He threw up his hands, stating he had nothing to do with whatever the girl was up to.
"Of course, Miss..."
"Marina, please. Like you, I need no titles to be who I am."
Castillano snorted when he saw his former nanny's smile.
"How does she do it? She's already won her over!" he grumbled, watching them head downstairs together. "And she used her real name! Didn't she think that could be dangerous?"
Dolores patted his arm, amused. "Dangerous? What are you afraid of, Captain? That they may charge you for treason?"
Castillano shook his head, snorting again. Maybe he should write to the jury, begging them to hurry their sentence and hang him already.