We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire, #1)(21)

As she’d hoped, the interviews kept her busy for the better part of the week. Housekeepers on day one, gardeners on day two, cooks on day three. She conducted them in various rooms of the house, both to familiarize herself with the layout and to make herself more difficult for Carmen and Mateo to find. At breakfasts and dinners, he was courteous but cold, and Dani found herself almost relieved that he’d dropped the act from the first morning.

At least when he acted like himself she knew what she was up against.

Next week there would be parties, dinners, fund-raisers, the beginning of her life as a high-society Primera. Next week there would be opportunities to show him what he was missing by relegating her to the sidelines.

By the end of the week, the house was fully staffed, the schedules written up for the month, and the correspondence basket was empty. Dani tried to find some joy in her menial tasks, tried not to think of her schoolgirl fantasies of touring the government offices and impressing the politicos with her knowledge and intellect.

Above all, she tried not to chafe under the weight of her new upper-class mantle, to forget Sota’s note, smudged with the dirt and dust of her homeland, and to let the weight of gold pens and silver forks against her fingers and silk pillowcases against her cheek at night be only what they were, and nothing more.

Everything would have been peaceful but for Carmen, who seemed to have changed her strategy. She no longer lashed out with petty insults when she passed Dani in the house’s halls, which at first had been welcome. But then Dani had realized: Carmen had replaced mocking and scorn with appraisal. Eyes that picked Dani apart and reassembled her, searching for all the shadows lurking between her bones.

She was subtle about it. Almost frighteningly so. Even Dani took a few days to notice. Segundas weren’t trained in the art of reading a situation, only in anticipating emotional responses, so this skill of Carmen’s was both unexpected and unsettling. Dani felt as if she were being constantly evaluated, but had no idea why, or what for.

The logical reason was that Carmen was looking for a gap in Dani’s armor. At school, it had been enough to insult her low upbringing and her poverty. The other girls had been all too eager to join in. But here, her upbringing hardly mattered. She was a Garcia now, no matter who she had been before.

If Carmen hated her enough, she’d need some new material, and if she was determined enough, there was no telling what she’d find. With Mateo already underestimating her, Dani couldn’t run the risk of Carmen undermining her. It looked like she was going to have to do some appraising of her own.

At first, she took to avoiding Carmen during the day, seeing her only at dinner, when Mateo’s presence forced her to orbit around him instead. Dani figured she’d bide her time, let Carmen think she had the upper hand. Figure out what to do with a rival she trusted even less than her condescending husband with his cold, still eyes.

When Dani had been in the house a full week, Se?ora Garcia appeared at breakfast, changing places with the departing Mateo. Dani was almost glad of the distraction. At least she wouldn’t be forced to endure Carmen’s strange vigilance with Mateo’s mother at her side.

“How are you holding up?” she asked when they were alone, her face unsmiling but not unkind.

“Just fine, se?ora,” said Dani, her expression neutral, her dutiful daughter-in-law manners on full display. “The house is beautiful, Mateo is more than generous, and I feel well-prepared for my duties here.”

The older woman nodded approvingly, stirring her café with a tiny silver spoon. Her skin was a deep brown, slightly darker than Dani’s own, her hair close-cropped and curly. It was the only thing the se?ora had in common with her mama, that hair, not that Dani ever could have said as much. It was far too nostalgic a sentiment for a Primera.

Something of it must have shown on her face, however, because when she looked back up, Se?ora Garcia’s hawklike eyes were on her.

“We stick together in this family,” she said, rather abruptly. “If there’s ever anything troubling you . . .”

Dani nodded, not sure whether the words were an offer or a warning.

“Within reason, of course,” she finished, pursing her lips.

“Of course, se?ora,” said Dani. “Thank you.” But inwardly, she laughed as the woman across from her sipped without loosening her lips.

Tell Se?ora Garcia what was troubling her? Had anything ever been so ludicrous?

Well, since you asked, she imagined saying. There’s this awful secret I have . . .

“So,” she said, cutting into Dani’s imagination just in time. “Are you looking forward to the dinner party tonight?”

Dani seized on this appropriate conversation topic eagerly. “Yes, very much,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed the quiet to get used to the house and the job, but I’m thrilled to meet Mateo’s colleagues and friends, and begin actually applying what I learned in school . . .” She hoped the dig was subtle enough, but Se?ora Garcia quirked an eyebrow.

“You’ll need to make them your friends, too,” said Se?ora Garcia. “Well, as much as anyone is anyone’s friend up here. It’s a viper’s nest, child, I’ll not deny it. See that you have the strongest venom. Society has no use for a weak woman who clings to her husband’s coattails.”

For a moment, Dani wanted to break down, confide in the se?ora about Mateo’s strange reticence to allow her a foothold in his life. But this was not Dani’s sweet, mild mama, and something told her this woman wouldn’t appreciate the confidence, no matter what she had said.