“What can I do? It’s not easy to transform a harness maker into a captain. There’s something civilians don’t have and can only get from lengthy training: discipline. Of course I could try to teach it to them, drill it into them—by my example and also by certain measures that must absolutely be established. . . . But I’m boring you. This is no kind of conversation for a woman. I should ask you what you are going to do.”

There was no real interest. Only a forced and distant courtesy. Julia felt wounded.

“That depends on what happens. And what happens depends on you.”

It was such an abrupt conclusion that she had to add: “You’re the Chief of Operations in the highlands. Isn’t that the title they gave you at the last meeting?”

“They gave me that title because they were scared. And because there wasn’t anyone else who was inclined to face what’s coming.”

“Don’t belittle yourself,” La Alazana responded heatedly. “This is a promising situation, and it’s only the beginning for you. You were born to go very high. Ciudad Real isn’t much. Chiapas either.”

“Please, that’s enough.”

Leonardo protested without conviction. And Julia, for whom, until then, flattery had been closely related to mockery, discovered in astonishment that she now believed her own words and longed for them to become a reality. Disturbed, she added glibly, “I’m foretelling your future. I’ve got a little bit of witch in me, did you know? If you don’t believe me, ask Idolina.”

“Right now it isn’t easy to talk to her. She spends all day locked in her room.”

“Is she sick again?”

“I don’t know and don’t care.”

“She stopped coming to see me. Like that: all of a sudden. Without any explanation. Without any reason.”

“Maybe she found out about us and was offended.”

“Did Isabel tell her?”

“Isabel doesn’t need to tell her, the stones in the streets can. It’s one secret that’s shouted from the housetops.”

Leonardo came closer to examine Julia’s face. Its sharp angles had disappeared, dissolved into smooth curves that gave it a tranquil, meek expression like a domestic animal. So: he had captured the hawk, swift, high-strung and rapacious; he had fattened it up patiently, and now it was heavy, it moved with difficulty, it had acquired sedentary habits. Would his triumph over Ulloa amount to no more than this conquest? Would the two of them never confront one another on any other terrain?

Uncomfortable, Julia ducked away from her lover’s stare, which was both fixed and distracted.

“Your prophecies aren’t going to come true, Alazana. Because those prominent citizens who are now under my command don’t trust me. No, they don’t have any doubts about my bravery. Only about my loyalty. Because of you.”