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She heard the shouting first Leaning over to grasp the bucket as it rose over the lip of the well, she frowned With the heat, Cook had been waking earlier than usual and it was nearly ti the fires on the big ovens Had they discovered ain?
She picked up her pitcher and started back through the courtyard, only to be nearly bowled over byfrom every hand And then she s over its wet shards as she ran for the gardens, visible now through the open kitchen doors Golden light flickered areen shadows, as if abefore she reached the doorway, clawing her way through the clusters of terrified servants, knocking aside any who tried to stop her
The cottage was on fire, its straw thatch a torch in the night She registered the i in her chest, her brain shrieking at her to hurry, even as her heart told her God would not be so cruel, that she was a good Catholic who honored her Church, who donated generously and never missed an observance God would not take her beautiful babies, not her boys
She raced toward the conflagration, searching the huddled servants as she did so, looking for her children, listening for their voices Someone called out and she turned, relief like a rush of wind blowing through her soul She scanned the faces all around and found her husband, Teodosio, his face a stricken rief that stole his handsorotesque
"Sophia," he said, his voice breaking as he reached out to her
She backed away fro if she never heard the words, she would never have to know the awful truth
"Sophia," he repeated, grasping her arainst his chest in ahi sound spun her around in ti a shower of sparks to catch on the trees Sophia screamed and raced toward the fire Her children were in there, as no one saving the the flames in search of her sons?
The heat hit her like a wall, shriveling the s her hands and face before she’d coone farther, would have run into the fire itself, but strong ar her away fro, clawing at the hands that held her "Chérie, Sophia, no It’s too late" His voice was a soothing rip no ht
The roof caved in without warning E after the smaller fires, lest the house catch and the entire estate burn down Not that Sophia cared She watched in despair, her eyes cloudy with tears and ash, her breath coht to breathe in a world that had lost allher until her feet touched the ground She twisted, looking up to see the face of a stranger, blackened with soot fro pale streaks down srief drove Sophia to her knees Her heart seized in her chest and she welcos couldn’t find the air, and she welcos bellohen her children, her beautiful babies, were gone? She raked her nails down her face and felt war the tears she couldn’t shed She found her voice at last, but it was only to keen like an aniainst a pain beyond any other
She heard nothing of the servants or the villagers who had coht the fire which threatened everyone should it get it out of hand Their shouts and cries, the distant panicked screa as bucket after bucket of water was thrown into the greedy less noise Her mind was filled instead with the sweet voices of her children, with their laughter and songs She saw no reason to listen to anything elseuntil a wo curses
Sophia froze, her head swiveling to one side to listen Men’s voices were shouting angrily, the wo above them
"Don Teodosio," one of theaway!"
Sophia heard the gasps all around She stood and saw her husband glaring down at his whore of a lover The woman was blackened with smoke, her hair seared away in places, but it was her hands that drew everyone’s attention They were reddened and burned, covered in blisters
Sophia raised her gaze to Teodosio’s look of horrified realization She shrieked wordlessly, running the short distance and grabbing the whore by her hair, yanking at it in great handfuls until the men pulled the her naiveness
Sophia howled and spun on hiiveness to give "You did this," she snarled furiously, her face crurief "You murdered your own sons" Her voice broke on the last, sobs replacing her words as she turned away from him
"No No, Sophia, please, I had no--"
Sophia didn’t hear the rest of his denials She went back to the fire and dropped to her knees, not to pray, but to bear witness to the death of her children
They’d buried her babies the next day Their se and swathed in white linen while Sophia lay in bed, drugged into unconsciousness by a well-ht of all that was left of her sons She’d stood on the dry hillside, listening to the priests mutter their empty words in fervent voices of how her children had been called to God, how their great destinies had just begun But Sophia had no use for a God ould do this, ould permit a worthless French whore to murder innocent children She’d turned away from them and their prayers, turned away fro for death to find her