SIMONE'S POV
'Five years ago...'
'The music had been soft, romantic. I'd been bored by the political conversations stirring around me, tired of being shown off as the suitable daughter of Don Alejandro. When a man in a black mask had asked me to dance, I'd accepted gratefully.'
'We'd talked for hours. About books, about the sea, about dreams and fears we'd never shared with anyone else. He'd been intelligent, funny, and surprisingly gentle. When he'd walked me to the garden, I'd thought he might kiss me.'
'But then Carlos had appeared, whispering urgently in his ear. And Papa's men had found me, reminding me it was time to leave. We'd been pulled apart by duty and family obligations, just like the star-crossed lovers in the poetry we'd quoted to each other.'
'I had never e
