MasukSergio's pov
Leticia did not flinch. She knelt on the cold stone floor with her hands bound and her wrists bleeding, and she looked at Leandro like she was not afraid of him.
"I betrayed a castle full of monsters," she said. "And I am not sorry for that. I am sorry that I got caught, and I am sorry that I will not be able to send more warnings. But I am not sorry for trying to save lives."
Leandro's hands curled into fists on the arms of his th
Sergio's POVLeandro walked to the desk in the corner of the room, and he pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. The paper was thick and expensive, and it was the kind that only a king would use.Leandro dipped the quill into the inkwell, and his hand moved across the page with quick, deliberate strokes.I watched him write, and I felt something shift in my chest. This was the first time we were truly planning something together. We were not just surviving, and not just reacting, but we were fighting.I watched him work, and I could see the focus in his eyes, the way his jaw tightened as he chose each word carefully. This was not a casual letter. This was an order, a command, and a piece of the plan that would bring Ramiro down.When Leandro finished, he set down the quill, and he blew gently on the ink to dry it. He folded the letter, and he pressed his seal into the wax.
Sergio's POVI woke up the morning after my meeting with Doña Clara, and the first thing I did was reach for my notebook. The pages were still there, filled with my handwriting, and the words about Ramiro's mistress were still fresh in my mind.I read them over twice, making sure I had not missed anything. “The mistress was in the south, she was human, Ramiro visited her often, and he thought no one knew.”I had been carrying this information for hours, and waiting for the right moment to share it. It felt like holding a flame in my palm that was hot and dangerous, but also full of light. This was the kind of secret that could burn Ramiro to the ground, if we used it correctly. And I was going to make sure we did.I smiled to myself, and I felt something warm spread through my chest.I dressed quickly, and I walked through the halls toward Leandro's chambers. The castle was quiet at this hour, and the torches were still burning low, and the shadows were long.I knocked on his door, an
Sergio's POVI sat at my desk the morning after Leandro and I had cleaned his room, and I stared at my notebook. The pages were filled with names and weaknesses and fears, but there was one name that kept drawing my attention.Doña Clara.She had been the first noble to show me kindness. She had knelt before me and thanked me for saving her son. She had told me that Ramiro had enemies, and that I was not alone. She had seen something in me when no one else did, and I had not forgotten that.I had not acted on her offer yet. I had been too afraid, too unsure, and too busy surviving. But I was not just surviving anymore. I was fighting, and I needed allies who would fight beside me.I tore a page out of my notebook, and I wrote a note that was short, simple, and direct."I need to speak with you. Privately. - S."I folded the
Sergio's POVLeandro was still holding my notebook, and his golden eyes were still moving across the pages, and I watched his face change with every name he read. And I could see the realization dawning slowly across his features. He read them all, one by one, and I could see the weight of what I had done settling into his chest.I could not stand the state of the room any longer. The unmade bed, the papers scattered across the desk, and the untouched tray of food that had been sitting there for days was making me uncomfortable. The fire had burned low, and the air was stale, and the silence felt heavy and suffocating, and I could see the weight of his isolation pressing down on the space. I knew I had to break through it."Leandro," I said.He looked up from the notebook. "What is it?" He replied with a soft voice."Look at this room." I said, pointing around. "You have been living in this mess for a week.""It does not matter, right now," he said."It does matter," I countered. "Thi
Sergio's POVWhen Leandro saw me, his eyes immediately softened. "Sergio," he called. His voice was hoarse."I need to show you something," I said.He stepped aside, and I walked into his chambers. The room was dark, and the fire had burned low, and the air was cold. The bed was unmade, and there were papers scattered across the desk, and the tray of food on the table was untouched.I wanted to ask why everywhere was the way it is, but this was not the time. That could wait a little bit more.I turned to face him, and I pulled the coin out of my pocket, and I held it out to him."Ramiro has been stealing from you," I said. "He has stolen gold, weapons, and food. I believe that he has been preparing for a rebellion for months. Or maybe longer."Leandro stared at the coin, and his face went cold. His jaw tightened, and his hands curle
Sergio's POVThe night Leandro came back to me, we did not talk much more. He stayed in my room, and I held him until his shaking stopped, and neither of us mentioned the week of silence that had passed between us. In the morning, he was still there, and I knew that he was not going to hide anymore.But the castle did not stop turning just because we had found our way back to each other. The whispers in the corridors did not stop, the nobles did not stop plotting, and Ramiro did not stop moving pieces on a board that I was only beginning to understand.I had learned a lot in that week of silence. I had learned to trust my instincts, I had learned to see what others were trying to hide, and I had learned that Leandro was not the only one who needed to fight for his crown.I had been watching, and I had been listening, and I had been learning.And I had finally found what I was looking for.I had been watching for weeks, and I had learned to trust the patterns of the servants who moved
Sergio's POVThe morning after Leandro stayed in my room, I woke to find him gone.The space beside me was still warm, and the indent of his body was still pressed into the mattress, and I could smell him on the pillows, like snow and smoke and something wild that I was starting to recognize. I la
I woke the morning after my meeting with Ramiro, and the first thing I saw was the tray of food on the table, still untouched from the day before.The fire had burned low while I slept, and the room was cold enough that I could see my own breath hanging in the air. My back ached from pressing again
The nobles smiled at me whenever I walked through the halls of the Ice Castle, and that was how I knew they wanted me dead, because I had learned to read smiles a long time ago, back when I was a child who needed to know whether the person approaching him was going to hurt him or just walk past.My
Three days passed while I sat in that room with the fire burning and the snow falling outside the window, and Leandro did not come near me, did not send word to me,and did not give any sign that he remembered I existed at all.I counted the hours as the sun rose and set behind the clouds that never







