The Promise by T.J. Bennett Page A

after Martin’s burial. But how do these experiences relate to why you cannot marry Günter?”
    “Let me finish my tale,” Alonsa begged. “You will understand soon enough.”
    Inés nodded and returned to brushing Alonsa’s hair.
    “Three months after we wed, a servant he had dismissed for thievery killed Eduardo.” Alonsa’s voice shook.
    Inés’ hand flew to her mouth in shock. “When he loves, death will follow,” she whispered.
    Alonsa nodded. “I could not disregard it. Not for the first time, the curse arose in my mind. I know in his way Eduardo loved me, though I never loved him. I asked myself, could it have been Miguel’s curse?”
    Inés considered it as well. “Still, you say you married again.”
    Alonsa hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin upon her knees like a young girl. Of the two, Inés felt older and wiser, though Alonsa preceded her by two years. “When I reached four-and-twenty, Papa arranged a marriage as a business alliance, nothing more.” Alonsa folded her legs beneath her. “Juan Carlos had many grown married sons already, several of whom had apprenticed with Papa. My father began making plans to leave one of this man’s younger sons the Toledo blade concern.”
    Alonsa picked absently at the weave on the gray wool cloth covering her pallet. Inés stayed silent, listening with great interest.
    “It … it went well, at first. Juan Carlos became like a second father to me. I told him my troubles, and he listened patiently. He taught me to play chess and to keep track of the receipts for the sales of my father’s blades. He took me on merchant trips and taught me to distinguish the quality of fine steel, how to match a blade to a man … everything Papa had never bothered to do because I was a woman.” She smiled faintly. “He even instructed me in the rudiments of sword fighting as a precaution, since I often traveled with him when he visited the yearly trade fairs and the military companies. He had a gentle soul. He was a good man.” She sniffed back tears.
    “Did he also try to …” Inés probed delicately.
    “Eventually, yes, though not as you might think.” Alonsa slid a sideways glance at Inés. “He … It was no longer possible for him to engage in marital relations,” she finally said.
    Inés raised her eyebrows. “Ah.”
    Alonsa stared down at the tips of her shoes poking out from beneath her hem. “Though otherwise healthy, and still handsome, he was older, no longer capable in that manner. Do you understand?”
    “In other words, he could no longer raise the drawbridge?” Inés offered.
    Alonsa almost smiled again. “Yes.”
    “Then how …”
    Alonsa shifted on her side of the pallet and blushed. She cleared her throat.
    “He sensed my restlessness, I think. Certain … dreams disturbed my sleep. As a young woman, I still overflowed with the normal passions, yet remained unfulfilled. He could not bear for me to be unhappy.”
    Alonsa looked quickly at Inés and then away. She lowered her voice, and Inés had to lean toward her to hear what came next.
    “So one night, he offered to … to do certain things for me. He was, after all, my husband. I allowed it, for a time, and he came to love me not as the girl he had seen growing up before him, but as a woman. Still, no love existed in my heart for him. I felt guilty taking so much when I had nothing to give in return.”
    “And the curse?” Inés asked.
    “Several weeks later, bandits murdered Juan Carlos after we became separated from the military company.”
    Inés sat up straight. She was no fool. She saw the same pattern Alonsa must have seen then.
    “And that is how you met Martin.” This part of Alonsa’s story she knew.
    Alonsa nodded.
    “Yes. He saved my life, rescued me from those bandits before they could do any harm to me. On that day, I felt nothing but gratitude. I do not know what I would have done without him. All the men traveling with my husband were killed, but