Chapter 187 Secrets

Chapter 187 Secrets
Ten days after the War of Succession.

In a meeting room at the royal castle.
The queen entered with Countess Marisela, and they sat in comfortable chairs. The small woman from Colinas Gemelas gestured to her personal maid. Patricia opened a door, and a group of women entered and stopped before the queen.

Marisela: My Queen, I know there are many important things to decide and resolve in the kingdom right now. But I want you to listen to these women.

Olivia: You are very important to my court and to the kingdom. If you desire my time, of course, I will consent.

The countess looked at the women and nodded to one of them: Courage.

The maid: During the rebellion led by the traitor Valero, I entered the castle to serve as a common maid. After many other women had been accepted, I entered the office of Lord Bartolo along with two other women.

The woman spoke with hesitation and tears: They closed the door. There were guards, pages, and the Lord. They tied our hands. When we resisted, they punched us in the stomach. They took turns with each of us. They laughed when we cried. When they were satisfied, the Lord said that we had been accepted and that we could begin our training the following morning.

The queen could not believe what she was hearing: By the Goddess!

The maid: One of the women left the castle and never returned. I heard that the other threw herself from a high window of the tower two days later. My family has two younger daughters. They need my coins.

The next maid began to speak, followed by the next, and the next. Their stories were similar. Some spoke of Bartolo; others, of Héctor. After they had finished speaking, they bowed and left the room.

Marisela: These are just a few among the hundreds who served in this castle. Your father, other nobles, and many men of power treated women as if they mattered no more than a glass of wine. Yet, those women supported poor families with the very coins those men gave them.

Patricia: Children ate because these women remained silent about the horrible treatment.

The queen could not speak. Her mind struggled to imagine how a heart could be so wicked. She wept at the mere thought of those tales.

The elegant maid took the hand of her countess: There is one more story you must hear.

Marisela: I was twelve years old. My family sent me to the Castle of Colina Verde, accompanied by guards, to meet a nephew of Octavio. Arranged marriages between families were common among the old noble houses. A twelve-year-old girl would be betrothed to a boy of fourteen or fifteen, and they would marry a few years later. Everything was going well; the nephew was handsome and kind. That night, while I was alone with two of the maids of the castle, Octavio entered the room. They pinned me down on the bed, face down. The Count raped me and took my virginity. Afterward, he told me that if I said anything, the two maids would claim it was a lie.

Olivia took her hand and wept: Marisela... how horrible...

The countess: Two months later, I discovered that I was pregnant. My family kept the secret, and at the age of thirteen, I gave birth to a daughter who died immediately. I nearly died, had it not been for the great skill of the mother of Patricia.

Patricia: Octavio must have done that with other women; I am sure of it. He shaped the culture of the castle under your father. But the castle is yours now.

The Throne Room.
The queen had spoken with Bartolo in his prison to inquire about the accounts concerning women, as well as about a matter regarding her position on the throne. His responses were laden with hatred toward women. She departed and drafted a legal decree.

Before all the noblemen of the castle, the Queen sat upon the throne. Bartolo was kneeling and naked, his body bound to a stone bench. A tall figure stood nearby, wrapped in a black cloak that completely concealed the identity. Esteban read the parchment aloud, in a firm voice. The queen looked into the eyes and at the expressions of the men while the law was being read. She continued observing them during the punishment of the rapist.

The figure, defying tradition, cast aside her cloak and revealed herself to be Tatiana. With a dagger, she severed his penis and testicles and then them fall to the ground directly in front of his face. She waited a minute, a minute that, to Bartolo, seemed infinitely longer. The axe that killed Aurelio severed the head of the first rapist executed under the new law. He was not going to be the last.

A stone support for the nest.
The parchment affixed to the shirt of Octavio bore a single word written in large letters: Traitor. A man placed a rope around his neck and tightened it. Three burly men began to pull on the rope, little by little, until the old man was left hanging in the air. One of them tied the rope to a sturdy post secured to another support. As the man died of asphyxiation, a fourteen-year-old boy stood before him, whispering.

Marco: Luis, fifteen. Elisio, fifteen. Gilberto, fifty-two. Arturo, thirteen...

The old man was already dead before he finished the list. But the young man spoke every name and every age while looking into the eyes of the traitor. Part of his mind began to heal.

In a private bedroom of the castle.
Patricia helped her lover shed her black garments. The maid gazed into her dark eyes and at her masculine face. The Sister of Shadow was younger than her; yet, her wisdom was that of an elder.

Patricia: You would have felt proud of her this morning. She told her story to the Queen with courage. Do you ever think about telling her the truth?

Sister: No. My grandparents decided that it would have been better if I had died at birth. The goddess guided me toward a lover who works for my mother. So now I have her in my life...and a perfect love.

The beautiful woman smiled: You are perfect. So strong and intelligent. The pig died today at the end of a rope. You are free of him.

Sister: I became free the moment I saw your face for the first time.

Patricia smiled and spoke in false seriousness: I am the face of love. Your mother saw me. All the women before you saw me. You will see me again. Remember your oaths.

The Sister laughed and kissed the woman who was the center of her life.