We try each wheel on the walls again, but none of them move. Even reversing the order doesn’t work. Hunger drives me around the room, searching for an answer, willing one to appear. But there’s nothing. Finally we slump onto the ground again, backs pressed against the wall. Both of us sweating, exhausted, and panting.
“Do you want to eat the nuts?” Manuel asks. “Enough to curb your appetite?”
“Are you going to eat?”
“No.”
My stomach grumbles and I actually glance down at it and glare. “Then I won’t either.”
“Have my portion,” Manuel says.
A fissure of alarm sweeps through me. “When I eat, you eat. Always together. Stop thinking that you’re not important.”
“You have to survive and I don’t.”
I can’t stand his tone. Matter-of-fact, far removed, as if he’s already decided that he won’t make it out of the jungle alive. I hate that he’s thinking that.
“I’m not going to survive without you. That’s the unvarnished truth, so I suggest you eat when I do.”
He pushes back the dark hair falling at a slant over his brow. “Well,of courseI want to live. But we may not have the luxury of walking out of this building together.” He deliberates for a moment and then reaches inside his bag, pulling out a cloth bundle tied up by a leather string. He hands it over to me, and I carefully unwrap the fabric. My stomach growls at the sight. There’s a large pile of assorted nuts: walnut, macadamia, and the enormous castañas de Pando. “You need to eat, Condesa.”
I grit my teeth, ignoring the loud rumbling of my stomach. “Only when you do.”
Manuel glares at me but eats a handful. “Happy?”
“Now that you’ve stopped being morbid, yes.”
“I’m not being morbid,” he says. “I’m beingpractical.This is our reality.”
I can’t talk about this anymore, can’t imagine Inkasisa without Manuel in it. I spent years wondering about his life beyond the walls of the Illustrian keep. Hated the miles and miles between us, not knowing if he was all right. I pluck a castaña and enjoy its smooth, buttery taste. I eat several, one after another, thankful to have something in my belly. “Tell me about the people you met during your travels around Inkasisa.”
He blinks at the subject change. “¿Por qué?”
I nudge his shoulder. “Because you’ve been everywhere, and for most of my life, I’ve lived within a fortress. You’ve probably fallen in love, and the most I’ve done is kiss boys at the keep.”
He faces me, outrage dawning.“What?”
I can’t help the sudden thrill that makes my body shiver. “I was curious. Nothing else happened, not that it’s any of your business.”
“They ought to have left you alone.” A scowl tugs at his mouth. “I knew they admired you, but I never once thought anything was happening.”
I offer a dainty shrug. “I can be quite persuasive.”
He shoots me a dark look.
“Will you tell me about them? About falling in love?”
“For someone who’s expected to make a strategic match, you sure talk about love a lot.”
“I’m not currently in a position to make a strategic match, am I? Who’d want to marry a deposed condesa?” I raise a brow. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“I had a job to do. I couldn’t afford to develop feelings for anyone.”
“So you’ve been alone these three years? No girl to keep you company?”
“I didn’t say that.”
My mouth snaps closed.
