“You’re right. It was always me. Always me pursuing you. Fighting for you. Coming to you. But it was never enough.Iwasn’t—” He clamped his lips shut. But she’d already understood what he was going to say.
He thought he wasn’t enough for her.
She barked a laugh, and his face fell. She hadn’t meant to. But of all the absurd things for him to say,thathad not been on her list. He was Ignacio Olivera! The kindest, smartest, most genuine boy she’d ever known.
“You’re laughing at me,” he said quietly. “Why are you always so cruel?”
She recoiled. “I’m not. Maybe you need to toughen up.”
“Maybe you should learn to have a heart.” He gripped the hoop tighter. “What did I do to you to make you so—”
The ringmaster’s voice cut through their exchange. “The performers have two minutes to wow you, dear audience. And I need to hear your screams. I need to know which act you want to see more of!”
“Get behind me,” she snapped.
“I’m so tired of being interrupted by everyone and everything.” Ignacio grumbled but shoved off the hoop and stomped around to the back of her. He grasped the ring on either side, just above her own hands. “Now what?”
She sucked in a breath. “I nearly forgot the biggest part of my plan.”
She released her hold on the hoop and dug into her bodice, pulling out the gloves she’d been gifted. Soft fabric slid over her skin as she put them on. That buzzing sensation she’d felt when she first wore the gloves fizzled up her arms.
“Take those off,” Ignacio hissed, his lips next to her ear. Chills pricked over her skin like raindrops.
“Fat chance.” She held her arms before her with a flourish, knowing the audience might be watching. The stitching of doves in flight glinted like magic. “These are my only hope of getting to the final challenge.”
“Camila wore cuffs with that very same stitching the night of the accident,” he said.
“Don’t talk about accidents right now. That’s bad luck.”
“You have to take those off,” he urged. “That thing I saw in the mirror. It smiled and then Camila’s cuffs started to sparkle.”
“Because they’re made from glistening thread, genius.”
“Dovie,please. Trust me.”
“Like you trusted me when I told you your father was a fiend a year ago?”
The music began. She only had two minutes to impress Ángel.
“Quickly, stand on the hoop,” she ordered. “Put your feet on either side of me, but don’t step on my costume. I couldn’t bear it if it got dirty.”
Cursing, Ignacio did as he was asked, the hoop shifting under his weight.
Esmeralda’s nerves dipped to her knees as the ring started to rise from the ground. Once the tips of her toes left the floor, they began to spin in slow rotations.
“What did you get me into?” he growled.
“Just smile,” she said through her teeth. “Always smile.”
When they were halfway between the ground and the peak of the Big Top, she said, “I want you to slowly lower yourself to a seated position.”
“How? Your tail feathers are taking up all the room.”
Shakily, she slid one of her arms up so she could clutch the top of the ring. She held on tight and released the other hand so she could take hold of the feathers draped from the back of her costume and place them over the front of her thighs.
“Better?” she asked.
He made a noncommittal sound. “Where do you want me to sit?”
