The Familiar

Table of Contents
Quick Plot Recap
Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

Doña Valentina, a woman of mediocre beauty, and Don Marius Ordoño, a man with a dwindling fortune, are a married couple living in Casa Ordoño on Calle de Dos Santos. It’s a loveless and passionless marriage, which makes Valentina ill-tempered. She spends her days ordering the servants of the house around.

She comes down to the kitchen today to see the cook isn’t there, and she smells burnt bread. She thinks of how her cook, Águeda, has been unreliable and stressed out over her son’s increasing infatuation with the playwright Quiteria Escárcega.

Valentia is angry, but she’s distracted by a knock at the door with someone delivering a letter from her father. Valentina then returns to yell at Águeda, but Águeda is just sitting there in front of a pan of perfectly cooked bread. Valentia is confused and wonders if it’s some type of prank.

Afterwards, Luzia Cotado, the scullery maid (scullion), helps to prepare dinner. She thinks of how a short while ago, upon seeing the burnt bread, she’d waved her hand over it and sung a few words that her Aunt Hualit had once taught her, turning the bread into it’s current perfectly cooked state. She hadn’t realized that Valentia had already been in the kitchen and seen the burnt bread.

Luzia has just a little bit of magic in her, which she uses sparingly. Her limited magic is also limited in usefulness, and it’s certainly not enough to make her rich.

Tonight, Valentina talks to Luzia and asks if the incident with the bread earlier that day was some type of prank. Luzia denies it and ask what Valentia saw, but Valentia declines to pursue the topic further. Lucia is careful not to use any magic the next day.

She heads to San Ginés church, since her aunt had once told her she needed to be seem in church every day. There, she thinks about her mother, Blanca Cotado, who died when Luzia was ten.

Afterwards, she goes to visit the brick house on the Plaza de Las Descalzas where her aunt lives. Outside the home, her Aunt Hualit is known as Catalina de Castro de Oro, mistress to Víctor de Paredes (also referred to in the book as “the widow”). Aunt Hualit ushers her in, where they’re served by her aunt’s solitary maid, Ana.

Luzia pleads with her aunt to stay with her here instead of returning to the horrible Ordoño household, but Hualit says that it would ruin her virtue. If she lived here, Luzia would never be able to find a husband or have a home of her own.

Back at Casa Ordoño, Valentina continues to mull over the bread incident. Valentia then purposefully makes a small tear in one of her gowns When Luzia returns, Valentina demands that Luzia bring it to her. When Luzia goes to fetch it, Valentia hears her quietly hum, and she soon sees the gown has been mended.

As soon as Luzia sees Valentina’s reaction to the gown, she knows she’s made a terrible mistake. She fears what will happen if Valentia starts looking into her lineage and asking where her tiny bit of magic comes from. Valentina then demands that Luzia perform her magic at dinner, threatening to throw her out otherwise.

Tonight, an elaborate dinner is served to Valentina’s rich friends, Don Gustavo and his wife. After dinner is served, Valentina demands her trick. When Lucia does nothing, Don Marius starts to berate his wife for her foolishness. Seeing her pain, Lucia finally smashes a goblet on the table and magics it back together.

That night Luzia sleeps poorly, fearing what might happen to her now that her secret is known. In the morning, Valentina calls for Luzia, she shows her the many dinner invitations she’s received. Luzia doesn’t share in Valentina’s excitement, and instead questions how Valentia will feed them all since she’ll have to reciprocate if she accepts these invitations.

However, Marius tells Valentina that he’ll borrow the money and that they should accept the invitations, since something good has finally happened to them. Dinner and Valentia and Marius’s soon becomes the talk of the town. Each time, Luzia performs her trick, and the guests marvel when the goblet is reassembled.

Eventually, Luzia demands money from Valentina in exchange for her little miracles, but Valentina informs her she doesn’t have any. Instead, she gives Luzia one of her pearl earrings.

For reasons Luzia does not understand, Valentia seems determined not to let her leave the house, though Luzia insists on going to church. Finally, after ten days, Luzia is able to get an hour to go to mass, and on the way, she’s approached by a man on the street. He offers her a job at Casa Olmeda, with a better wage and better position.

When Luzia gets to the church, Aunt Hualit finds her and is furious with her. She says that if she starts being accused of witchcraft, the Inquisition will punish her severely. Hualit reminds her that the Church has a monopoly on miracles. She says that Luzia could be labeled a Jew and if they found out Hualit was her niece, she’ll be dragged into it, too.

Luzia is afraid, but she also is desperate for more out of her life. Luzia asks Hualit to sell the pearl that Valentia gave her, and Hualit reluctantly agrees.

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That night, Luzia performs her trick again, but today the guests want more. A man with a red beard demands to see a new miracle. Under pressure, Lucia causes the candles the the table to flare up. Just as people start to worry, she extinguishes them, and the guests are delighted, except for the man with the red beard who looks like a “cat that has spotted its prey”.

Afterwards, Luzia suspects that the man in the red beard is an informer for the Inquisition, and she packs a bag and leaves at dawn. She doesn’t know where else to go, so she goes to her aunt’s house. When her aunt answers the door, she tells Lucia that “you’ve fucked us now, querida”.

In the courtyard of Hualit’s house, Víctor de Paredes is there. Víctor is known as the luckiest man in Spain since his ships never sink, his men always find what they’re looking for and blight never affect his crops. There is another person there who Víctor refers to as Guillén Santángel. Víctor tells Lucia that she performed for a spy working for Antonio Pérez , the King’s former secretary, last night.

When Santángel suggests that Lucia may not be up to the task they need her for, Víctor then demands a trick from Lucia, and she grows a grapevine for them to see. Víctor looks pleased, though Santángel gives her a look of pity. Before he leaves, De Paredes tells Luzia that an invitation will arrive through her mistress, Valentina.

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Afterwards, Hualit explains that the King wants to see miracles and it’s Perez’s job to produce a champion. Lucia asks if Hualit told her to stop because she knew Don Víctor would take an interest in her magic, and she shrugs. Hualit explains that she can’t be the champion because she doesn’t have the same talent for magic that Lucia does.

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Elsewhere, Víctor and Santángel discuss the competition and how the other candidates have been preparing for months so theirs will be at a disadvantage, and he comments that Luzia is “homely”. Victor notes that the Marquesa de Ardales’s candidate an olive farmer’s son.

Santángel also notes that Pérez doesn’t like Víctor and may not accept his champion, but Víctor says that he’s too desperate to regain the King’s favor to care. Finally, Víctor tells Santángel that if he trains this girl well then he’ll release Santángel from his service.

Víctor thinks about how he hopes to make this girl both his spy and his servant.

The next morning, Valentina receives an invitation to go to La Casilla, and Luzia senses that this is the invitation from De Paredes. Luzia thinks to herself about how De Paredes will try to control her as he has her aunt.

De Paredes shows up at Casa Ordoños later that day. Don Marius tells Luzia that De Paredes has offered to be her patron. De Paredes asks to see Luzia’s room, and Luzia sees that they’ve now set her up on an actual room on the second floor instead of the larder. Still, he suggests that perhaps she should move into an apartment at his place. Luzia thinks to herself that she doesn’t like the idea of living under his roof. Valentina push back, saying that Luzia is comfortable here, and De Paredes lets it go easily. Luzia know he could easily override Valentia so he must want her in this house for some reason.

Afterwards, De Paredes discusses terms with Marius.

Luzia is getting a feel for her new room when Guillén Santángel shows up behind her. He explains to her that the Torneo Secreto is no mere game. The king expects to be brought a holy magic user and Pérez wants to be the one to bring them to him in order to regain his favor.

He tells her that one of the other competitors, a young monk from Huesca, was killed last week so now there is a vacancy. There are three other competitors, and he says most likely one of their patrons had the monk killed.

In beginning their training, Santángel reminds that there are a few places where her magic should never go since it’s the realm of God — resurrection and transformation. He also tells her about Lucrecia de León who had prophetic visions and is now imprisoned by the Inquisition. He tells her that there’s “a fine line between a saint and a witch”.

Luzia begins to speak some words, but Santángel tells her that through training it won’t be necessary. She should learn to form the words in her mind instead. He produces a bean, and she focuses on duplicating it until beans are cascading on the floor. He’s pleased and tells her he’ll see her tomorrow.

After the training, Santángel goes to see Garavito. Garavito’s young son Manuel answers the door. Garavito skin animald and sells furs and hides to peasants, and he also provides Santángel and De Paredes with information. Today, Santángel is displeased with him, saying he’s become unreliable.

Garavito angrily attacks Santángel, and Santángel puts up with it for a bit before stabbing Garavito. He then releases the animals nearby from their cages, and he tells Manual to leave before the authorities arrive.

He then returns to De Paredes’s palace where he lives.

Back at Casa Ordoños, Águeda warns Luzia that De Paredes’s servant is “el Alacrán”, meaning the scorpion. She says he’s a dark creature who “made a bargain with the devil for eternal life”. Águeda says that her tricks are the devil’s work, but Luzia angrily tells her they are small miracles. She threatens Águeda by tapping on the blade of a knife until Águeda agrees to say that they are the the work of God.

Aunt Hualit, going by the name Señora de Castro de Oro, comes to visit Luzia. She invites Valentina to come with them to visit Perucho, a tailor, in order to buy new gowns so they will be presentable. Along with Marius, they take a coach to the Puerta de Guadalajara. Valentina is swept away by the whole experience.

At the tailor’s, they see Teoda Halcón, a young girl who Hualit points out to Luzia as being one of her competitors. It is said that she’s the “holy child”, that she has remarkably accurate visions that come from angels and that she is the “embodiment of innocence”. Perucho intends to dress her in “pale colors to compliment her hair and eyes”.

Meanwhile, Perucho considers how best to dress Luzia for the competition. He comments that one of the other competitors, Señorita Gracia de Valera, has her own tailor who he admits is a genius.

Luzia comments that she cannot compete in terms of beauty or appear “winsome” like a child. She suggests instead that she should be dressed to appear humble.

Luzia is trained in how to behave and act. In the household, she’s replaced with another scullery maid, Juana, and Águeda speaks to Luzia slightly less harshly now, unsure of what Luzia might become. Still, Luzia tells Santángel that they both know she can’t win. She doesn’t have the poise, manners or skill, only a “scrap of power”.

Santángel considers Luzia’s abilities and limitations and how it might serve the king. She’s unable to duplicate gold or precious stones without negative consequences. An attempt to duplicate silver resulted in it all turning to hornets.

When Santángel mentions the dangers of being a “conversa” (a Jew who has converted to Catholicism) in the king’s court, he gauges Luzia’s reaction and confirms his suspicions. Any hint of Jewish blood would make it impossible for her to rise in status, and definitely not someone who could be working miracles at court. Santángel lets Luzia know that De Paredes has hired someone to attest to the purity of her blood and write up a clean history for her.

Today, Santángel tells Luzia to focus on making a plant bloom from a seed. She does as she’s told and a pomegranate effortlessly appears. He then breaks the vine and asks her to try to repair it. She concentrates and mends it. Santángel is pleased, but De Paredes appears and is not impressed. Santángel says it’s not easy to heal a living thing.

De Paredes calls over his bodyguard, Álvaro. Luzia can tell he is looking to take his bad mood out on someone, as she’s seen from others many times before. De Paredes instructs his bodyguard to break Santángel’s fingers. He continues going until Luzia screams out a song.

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After the spell, Álvaro has disappeared, and Luzia falls to her knees, her mouth gushing blood. Santángel rushes to Luzia, telling her that her tongue has split and only she can fix it. He encourages her to find a song that will fix it. Luzia does so and mends herself.

Santángel then sees that Álvaro’s body has been split. De Paredes is scared, pressed up against a wall. Marius says parts of Álvaro’s body came through the ceiling. Santángel then asks Victor to find someone to reset his bones, and Victor weakly agrees to do so.

Álvaro’s body parts are soon cleared from the house, and Santángel’s fingers are reset. Everyone — Hualit (the widow), Santángel, De Paredes, Valentina and Marius — all discuss whether Luzia should continue her training, and Santángel reassures them that he thinks it was just fear that disrupted her. He encourages them to continue training. He knows they are all acting with self interest (“Víctor might be ruthless, the widow vain, Marius and Valentina greedy”), but Santángel knows he’s the real monster. He needs Luzia to continue for his own ends.

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When Luzia awakes, she sees Santángel’s satchel in the corner of her room. She looks through it to find a book and some letters. She sees one letter with the name Pérez on it and information about Pérez’s astrological reading and the sign he was born under.

She’s interrupted by Hualit coming to check on her. She asks what happened, and Luzia says she didn’t mean to kill Álvaro. When Luzia expresses reluctance at having anything to do with De Paredes, Hualit tells Luzia about the degradations that she suffered before in order to have the life she had now. She insists that her life is better with him in it, and Luzia having to curtsy and dress up for him is nothing compared to what she went through.

Luzia asks Hualit what she knows about the spells (“refranes”) that she’s been taught, and Hualit responds that she doesn’t know, but offers to write to a rabbi she is in touch with, Gento Isserlis, and ask. Hualit reveals that she’s still an observant Jew, as is her maid Ana. She was only baptized because she was forced to do so.

Hualit tells Luzia she needs to win De Paredes over, then Pérez, and then the king. And after she’s been showered with money and jewels, then they can escape rich and join Rabbi Gento in Salonika.

The next morning, Santángel comes to see Luzia, and he offers her a pomegranate. She asks him what he thinks happened with Álvaro. He tells her that he’s heard stories of transportation abilities but they often required the use of something like a stone to concentrate power, and the spell itself required enough power that it would crack the stone when attempted.

Luzia thinks about how she longs for greater power, to find a way to win the Torneo and to see how it could expand and change her life. She tells Santángel she wants to know more about the trials so she can be ready to face them.

Three gowns arrive for Valentia, as well as three for Luzia. Luzia’s gown for performing is made of plain black wool to give a humble appearance. Hualit arrives and helps Luzia into the gown to see the affect, approvingly.

They they take her hair down to inspect, and Hualit worries it may make the king want to have his way with her. Santángel sees it and insists they leave it the way it is.

The entourage soon arrives Pérez’s house, La Casilla, and all its luxuries. Luzia knows there is to be three trials — “the demonstration of proof, followed by the proof of purity, and finally, the purity of power.”

Upon arrival, Luzia is told the first trial will commence immediately. Santángel reassures her that the first trial will be easy, just a drummed up version of her goblet trick. The second he knows little about, other than that it’ll be attended by Juan Baptista Neroni, the Vicar of Madrid, to ensure her magic is holy. The third trial is the presentation to the king at El Escorial.

Before she goes, Hualit gives Luzia a gift of a rosary that she wraps around her waist.

Santángel soon points out to Luzia her competitors. The Holy Child is there. Then, there is Fortún Donadei, the Prince of Olives, who can play any instrument to unleash his powers. Then, Gracia de Valera is The Beauty with her patron Don Eduardo Barril, and it’s said that she can speak to the dead.

Gracia de Valera goes first and smashes the goblets intended for Luzia’s performance. Then there is a cloud of smoke and the goblets are all whole again. It’s clear to Santángel that is all show and fakery, and Gracia either doesn’t have magic or chose not to use it today.

Next, Luzia appears onstage. She gets up and starts smashing the glasses, and the audience seems unimpressed by her intention to perform the same trick. But then the shards of glass are raise above their heads to form a constellation, the Pleiades — “The sign under which the king’s secretary had been born, the chart that had pleased him so powerfully, the promise that his fate was bound up with kings and queens”. There is thunderous applause.

With that, Santángel knows Luzia has lied about being illiterate since she clearly has read his letter which had been in his satchel, written in Latin.

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Luzia then reforms the goblets. As she leaves the stage, Pérez comes to greet her. He calls her Luzia Calderón Cotado. Luzia thinks to herself that her actual name is Luzia Cana Cotado, except that her mother’s name “Cana” had been pruned from her family tree. He asks how she knows the constellations, and Luzia responds that “God shows me the way and I follow it”.

Hualit comes by to warn her that The Beauty will have it out for her after that performance.

Unlike the Beauty, the other two do not appear to be frauds. The Holy Child whispers the last words that Pérez’s father spoke to him on his deathbed into his ear. Then, she declares there will be a storm just as there is the sound of thunder and rain.

Next, the Prince of Olives plays a cheerful yet sad song, and a flock of birds appear, chirping and forming shapes around the chandelier in the room. As his song ends, the birds exit. The audience responds enthusiastically.

After the performances, an elaborate feast is served, and Luzia is given a room to stay in. Concha, a maid that De Paredes has hired to take care of them, helps her prepare for bed. Before she goes to sleep, Santángel shows up at her room to ask why she lied about being illiterate. Luzia denies ever lying, saying that he assumed and she let him believe it.

He asks her what other secrets she’s keeping, but Luzia turns the tables on him and demands to know whether the rumors are true, if he really made a deal with the devil. Santángel admits that he is what could be called “a familiar”, and he exists to serve others. He says his gifts are not his own and whether or not he made a deal with the devil depends on her opinion of Víctor de Paredes.

As they talk, she sees a scorpion on her brush, inches away from her. Santángel tells her not to move and reaches over to remove it safely. He says it was probably planted by one of the other competitors. Luzia asks why Santángel uses a scorpion as his symbol and seal, and he says he didn’t choose it, it was given to him by De Paredes, but he’s come to like it.

Then, Santángel leaves to let De Paredes know that they need to arrange for guards.

The next day, after the room is checked for any other danges, Luzia finds herself sitting idle, which is a rarity for her given her life as a servant.

Meanwhile, Marius and Valentina explore the decadent grounds, and Marius brings his wife back some chocolate. Valentina is pleased, and Marius finds himself pleased to see her happy and for him to be the one to make her happy.

Elsewhere at La Casilla, the playwright Quiteria Escárcega enjoys some chocolate with her young lover Luis Lopez Venegas, though she’s become bored with him. She plans to end things after they leave La Casilla.

North of Madrid at El Escorial, King Phillip awakes to deal with kingly matters. He’s also aware that the Torneo is going on, but he’ll wait to hear what the vicar has to say about it after the second trial.

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Hualit comes by Luzia’s room to talk to her. She tells her that Pérez’s position is perilous if he can’t find a competitor to impress the king. She also tells Luzia to be careful of who she trusts, and she says that one of Gracia da Valera’s guards was found dead this morning.

When Santángel comes by, Luzia asks if he killed that man, and he implies that he did. He also tells Luzia that she’s to report to the eastern terrace along with the other candidates to have their portraits sketched, at Pérez’s request.

Santángel also tells her more about Pérez’s political situation. Don Juan is a Spanish hero, from the battle of Lepanto. Pérez arranged the assassination of Don Juan’s secretary, Escobedo. Santángel says it’s possible that the king was the one behind the assassination and that he’s worried his involvement it the matter will come to light. It’s rumored that the king felt threated by Don Juan and was worried he was trying to take power for himself. It’s believed the king thought Escobedo will helping Don Juan turn traitor.

Now there’s been a rift between Pérez and the king, which Pérez is trying to repair.

Luzia goes to the eastern terrace and joins the other candidates. She gossips with Teoda. Teoda notes Gracia’s beauty, but doesn’t believe she can win. She believes the Farmer’s talents are real though and talks about how his benefactor, Doña Beatriz Hortolano, would murder anyone who took too much of an interest in him.

When Fortún joins them, Teoda tells them that she doesn’t know which of them will win the competition since her powers don’t extend to matters pertaining to her own fate. Teoda also comments that she dislikes being in La Casilla since it reminds her of the plunder and bloodshed that the empire was built upon.

Teoda leaves Luzia with the Farmer when she goes for her portrait. Fortún comments that he’s glad someone else like him who has lived a humble life is here. He says that Doña Beatriz gave him music and a better life, and he wants to win because he doesn’t want the life that his father had. He admits that he loathes Doña Beatriz, though. Fortún also wants to win so he can get away from her and not be reliant upon her.

Luzia tells him that she won’t say anything about what he said, but she warns him not to be so honest with others. Before Luzia goes for her portrait, Fortún offers a warning in return. He says that Santángel is not what he seems and that she should be careful.

Santángel spends the day hunting and skips the feast afterwards to listen around for snippets of gossip and conversation around the grounds, which is the same way he had learned who plotted to kill Luzia with the scorpion.

Santángel thinks about how has he has been a servant for the De Paredes household for a long time, recalling how Isidro de Paredes had given him his nickname. Santángel has felt nothing for many years, but has now re-awoken after meeting Luzia in that courtyard.

When he meets with Luzia, she tells him about the information that she gleaned from talking to the other competitors. Santángel surmises that Teoda must be sensitive to objects as well, which is why being in this house around these objects taken by force is difficult for her. He talks about how her saying things like that is dangerous for her, since Teoda has been careful to flatter the king with her visions thus far, as he likes it.

Luzia expresses sympathy at Fortún’s plight and his desire to get away from a mistress who has claimed him. However, Santángel warns Luzia that he is “no guileless country boy”. He pursued his mistress, and now he is trying to weaken Luzia’s resolve to win.

The second trial is planned for the next night. Valentina thinks about how she and Marius talked about their day yesterday and found themselves laughing with each other and kissing each other.

They head out to the gardens with Luzia for the second trial, where chairs are set up on the lawn. Hualit mentions that all sorts of people are here tonight, including the playwright Quiteria Escárcega, and Valentina and Luzia exchange a knowing look.

Santángel instructs Marius and Valentia that they should introduce Luzia to the vicar.

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Luzia joins the other competitors, and they tell her that sitting on the dais to the vicar’s right is Pedro del Valle, the man who had warned Lucrecia de León that her visions were treasonous. To his left is Fray Diego de Chaves, the royal confessor. Fray Diego addresses the crowd, explaining that they will determine if the competitor’s gifts are holy or demonic.

A short while passes and then they are dismissed. Afterwards, Luzia asks Santángel where he went, and he responds that De Paredes didn’t think he should be seen with her. Then, Luzia is introduced to De Paredes’s lovely wife Doña María. Santángel explains that she is a devout and good woman, but cannot conceive.

Before the trial begins, Santángel tells Luzia that she is the reason he has regained life and energy and the will to eat. Each time she uses her powers, he gets stronger and it makes him more alive.

The second trial is conducted through a puppet show, which Santángel had discovered would likely involve the story of the life of Christ. One at a time, the competitors would be called up to pray aloud.

The show opens with the three magi visiting baby Jesus. A marionette of Fortún appears, and he’s called up to greet baby Jesus, the “Lamd of God”. Fortún plays a song and a lamb appears. The crowd cheers.

Then, a dragon puppet appears. A marionette of Gracia appears, and she’s called upon to defend baby Jesus. She looks heavenwards and snow falls and wind blows, extinguishing its flames. Teoda explains to Luzia that she likely used a magic lantern to assist in her trick. She knows because she also prepared once, since her gift deal in visions and not miracles.

Then, two puppets approach, the queen of England with her sorcerer John Dee. Luzia’s puppet also appears, and Luzia is called to protect the baby Jesus as well. Luzia then clutches her rosary in her hands and causes a wall of roses to grow between them in order to shield the baby. The audience applauds.

However, then the puppets continue to move, the shadows of the Queen and John Dee lengthen and attack the puppets. The vicars flee. The shadow continues to grow until it leaps off the stage. It lunges at Gracia, and Luzia grabs it and attempts to wrangle it.

Gracia cries in fear that magic is real. Luzia is bewildered that Gracia believed they were all frauds, but Gracia merely cries out that she didn’t come here to win, she came in hopes of finding a husband.

As the shadows continue to grow, Santángel finds Luzia and yanks her onto a horse. He tells her only she can stop it by extinguishing the light which will also extinguish the shadows. Luzia concentrates on a spell and everything goes dark.

When candles are relit, the shadows are gone. Luzia and the other candidates are told they need to be confined to their rooms until it’s been decided what to do with them. Santángel says he needs to leave her to find out more about what happened. Alone in her room, Luzia wonders who conjured and was controlling these shadows.

Eventually, Santángel comes to visit her. He reports that Gracia has left the Torneo while the other two candidates are in their rooms. Santángel says that the shadow that attacked Gracia was likely meant to kill her so that Luzia would take the blame. He says that whoever controlled it had great power, but lacked control.

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Luzia tells Santángel that when they were galloping away a part of her had hoped they would just keep riding away. Santángel admits he thought the same thing, but it’s not something he could ever do since he’s bound to the De Paredes family.

She asks Santángel to stay with her and talk to her. Santángel offers to tell her a story. He tells her about a rich and well-educated prince, who was the king’s second son. He wanted for nothing and went around educating himself and was welcome everywhere. He only had one real friend, though, a man if no name and no property named Tello who was twice as learned as the prince. When the prince’s father died, he became obsessed with the idea of immortality. He and Tello met with all sorts of sages and alchemists to find the secret.

One day, a stranger approaches them. Tello had been wanting to travel home, but the prince had heard of a text that would give immortality if read. The stranger offers the prince a deal, saying that the prince would lose the thing he values the least while his servant will lose the thing he values the most. But Tello had nothing, so he agreed to the bargain, and so did the prince. The prince asked by Tello would agree, and Tello said that he loved the prince and hope this would put a stop to their endless travels.

After the ritual, the prince lost what he valued least — his luck. He had never understood how lucky he’d been his whole life. He goes to find Tello, who says he has learned that a rich uncle has made him his heir so he needs to go travel there at once. It became clear to him that his luck, which he’d failed to value had been passed to Tello.

As time passes, Tello ages but the prince does not. His wounds heal easily. Tello meanwhile continues to prosper and has a family. The prince decides he wants to leave and continue his travels, but when he leaves Tello, his fingers burns to ash and his health isn’t restored until he returns to Tello’s side.

Tello explains to that they they are bound to each other and “as long as you remain in my service, your luck is mine and eternal life is yours”. The prince then realizes that the stranger had been working for Tello de Paredes, and what Tello gave up was the prince’s trust.

Santángel continues to explain that he believes he can die, but Tello’s descendants have tested many ways to kill him and injure him and it is not easy. Each descendant he hopes will set him free, but none of them ever do. Santángel says that Víctor once promised he would as a young man, but hasn’t done so.

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Afterwards, Luzia asks Santángel to kiss her and he does.

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The next morning, there is whispers of love everywhere.

Valentina and Marius both wake up after having dreamt about orange groves. In the gardens, two of the guards admit their desire for one another. In the kitchens, the cook and her husband make love.

And Luzia tells Santángel there must be a way to break his curse, and he thinks about how Víctor has already offered him an option.

Luzia is awoken when Santángel says that the Inquisition has arrived to arrest someone. They soon see Teoda’s nursemaid and father being hauled off. Teoda is brought out as well. She tells them that the king will die slowly, drowning in his own filth. She also tells her captor that she’s seen his death and it’s ugly. They soon find out that Calvinist texts were found in Teoda’s father’s belongings.

Valentina brings Luzia some food, saying she heard she was brave yesterday.

The next day, Antonio Pérez comes to see Luzia and her entourage. He says that Fortún is interested in continuing the Torneo, and the king demands to see the third trial. They’ve determined that it was Teoda who sabotaged the second trial. He says that she’s being taken to Toledo to face the tribunal. Pérez also tells them that Gracia has made clear that Luzia saved her life and that she is leaving but Luzia is in her prayers.

Pérez adds that he knows little about the third trial, since it will be at the king’s whim.

Santángel talks with de Paredes and thinks about his previous failed attempts to kill his descendants. He was never successful and was punished instead. No matter what, Santángel could not overcome de Paredes’s luck. He also thinks about Luzia about his plan to damn her in exchange for his freedom.

Today, he tells de Paredes that even if she’s a heretic, he doesn’t think Teoda was responsible for the shadows during the second trial. He thinks Fortún could’ve been to blame and simply used the Inquisition to remove a competitor. They also talk about how something strange is going on that King Phillip is not hosting the final trial at El Escorial.

Finally, de Paredes says the Torneo will go on and Luzia will win. Her power will be comes his and then Santángel will be free to live his life.

Luzia is by herself when Hualit’s housekeeper, Ana, comes to find her. Hualit says she left for a while because Víctor’s wife was here. Tonight, Luzia demands to know why Hualit never took her in and let her live a difficult life, and Hualit responds that she wasn’t sure about Luzia’s power and didn’t know how to teach her to control it.

Hualit says that she doesn’t want to fight. Instead, she says she has some money and suggests that they leave for Venice together tomorrow night before the third trial. But Luzia is reluctant to go before the third trial. She says that she thinks she can win, and she thinks she would have a better life if she did, rather than just being Hualit’s maid.

In her mind, Luzia also hopes that if she wins the king’s favor, she can get the king to force De Paredes to release his hold on Santángel.

Before she leaves, Hualit hugs Luzia and tells Luzia to think about it, since there’s still time to change her mind. Afterwards, Luzia runs into Santángel and the two have sex.

The next morning Santángel leaves Luzia, and Valentia invites her for a walk. Fortún and his mistress are in the garden as well. Valentina then goes to talk to Fortún’s mistress, leaving the two champions alone. Luzia wonders if this was Valentia’s intention.

Luzia and Fortún pass by a drawing by Signor Rossi of the events of the second trial. The painting show Luzia and Fortún together as part of a “divine wind” trying to fight the shadows. Luzia points out to Fortún that the painting is fiction, since she alone saved Gracia.

She asks Fortún if he thinks Teoda was actually responsible, and Fortún admits he does not. He says he believes it was Santángel. He tells her that people who cross paths with de Paredes and Santángel meet bad ends. He tells her about other past champions who crossed paths with him and ended up in the hands of the Inquisition or vanished. He also tells her about a story of farmer named Isidro who was temped by a devil matching Santángel’s description.

Fortún suggests to Luzia that they should team up instead and become allies, but she declines, reminding herself that she’s alone, always.

Later, Valentia admits that she conspired to give Luzia and Fortún a chance to talk. She thinks it’s a better option than her being with Santángel, who she says is not natural. Valentina then asks Luzia if she’s the reason she’s never been able to concieve, but Luzia tells Valentina that she lacks that kind of power. Then they talk about their desires and longings, and Valentina warns her to be careful with Santángel.

Tonight, Víctor shows up, telling her that Pérez is on even worse terms with the king that previously understood, but he says it doesn’t matter since the king will be so amazed by her he’ll want to keep her around. He also warns her that if he fails, it would put her and her aunt in danger, and Luzia wonders how long he’s known they were related.

Before he leaves, he calls her a weak and broken creature and he slaps her, just to show he can and to watch her accept it meekly.

Valentina arrives in the morning to help her dress. They then take a coach and leave La Casilla and end up at Las Mulas, an old hunting grounds. A dias has been erected near the water. Quiteria Escárcega comes to introduce herself to Luzia.

Luzia asks where the king is, but Don Víctor says he is not coming and has sent Pérez’s rival in his place, Vázquez de Leca. De Paredes informs Luzia she’ll have to be so brilliant that De Leca has no choice but to bring her to the king, and he’s clear that her life depends upon it.

Luzia talks to Santángel before the trial and demands to know what he’s not telling her about his story about the cursed prince. He finally admits that in order to free the prince, a new bargain must be struck. Luzia then asks if he seduced her because his intention was for her to take his place in De Paredes’s service, and he responds that he never intended any of this to happen.

Luzia tells Santángel that she would never accept, but Santángel tells her that De Paredes has a talent for offering impossible choices and ensuring that he is her only protection. Luzia then wonders if that’s why he encouraged Hualit to leave, so that she would have nowhere to turn. Luzia then suggests that that she should just kill De Paredes, but Santángel assures her that his luck will protect him and it’ll never work.

Santángel then suggests that she could just fail spectacularly, in which case she would be free of him.

At the last minute, Luzia tells Fortún that they should work together and construct a great cross. They get to work and a great cross is built, with Fortún inviting fish and birds to encircle it in a spectacle.

But them, Fortún branches off to do his own thing. His birds transform the cross into a ship, something useful.

Luzia realizes she’s been duped. She also recognizes something familiar in the movement of his birds and sees that he’s the one who was controlling those shadows during the second trial. Angry, Luzia then transforms his jewels and birds into bugs, causing his ship to fall apart.

Fortún reacts by shoving her into the water. When she resurfaces, Santángel is there to take her away, saying that Pérez has fled and the kings men are rounding people up. They quickly ride off.

Santángel tells Luzia that he’s taking her to Hualit so she can take her with her to Valencia. As they’re riding, two soldiers come upon them. Santángel tells Luzia to ride on without him as he shields her body when the soldiers shoot arrows at him. He tells her to go on ahead to San Sebastián and that he’ll survive and meet her there.

Meanwhile, Valentina is confused about what’s going on and why Pérez has suddenly fled. Víctor hypothesizes that Pérez will likely flee to Aragón, where Philip has the least authority. With Luzia gone, Víctor tells Valentia and Marius that their partnership is at an end and that they should find their own way home.

Without a coach home, Valentina and Marius ride off on Doña Beatriz’s horse. They follow Luzia and Santángel, but they see that they’re being pursued by soldiers. Valentina sees Santángel being shot at by arrows, and she pleads with Marius to help them somehow. When she sees Luzia on foot, Valentina asks Marius to give Luzia the horse, but he refuses.

Finally, Luzia runs off, and Valentina hears her scream.

Hualit is in a coach on her way to Venice, with plans to continue on to Salonika. De Paredes had been reluctant to let her leave, but she’d managed to convince him. She feels guilty for leaving Luzia, but her fear for herself was greater. Then, she notices the coach slow down. Víctor’s men Gonzalo and Celso invite her to exit the coach, and Hualit realizes that De Paredes had no intention of letting her leave and that she is about to be killed.

She steps out and sees that they are on a bridge. When Gonzalo grabs her, Hualit grabs him too and jumps, taking him with her along with all the jewels sewn into her dress. They both die.

Later, a poor woman finds an emerald in a fish from the nearby fish market. She leaves her husband and goes to Paris where she opens a parfumerie and is happy for many years.

Luzia awakes to find herself locked up with Teoda. There is also an old woman in there with them named Neva who has been there for two years on a fornication charge. Teoda confirms that they are in Toledo as prisoners of the Inquisition. Teoda also tells her that they’re a public sentencing (auto-da-fé) for them planned on Todos los Santos, a few weeks away.

Teoda says that Luzia is probably in here just because of her association with Pérez, and the Inquisition is after Pérez as well. The charge is that he was encouraging heresy. Fortún has not shared their fate and is still free.

Lucrecia de León is in another cell nearby, but is with a child so she won’t be sentenced with them.

Despite having the horse, Valentina and Marius were eventually rounded up by the king’s men anyway, and now Valentina is locked up in the women’s cell of the city prison in Madrid.

Valentina is soon brought in front of the vicar, and it becomes clear they’re more interested in what she knows. They asks her a variety of questions about Pérez and what she saw at La Casilla. She was also asked questions about Luzia, and she told them that Luzia regularly went to mass and had never made any heretical statements.

She’s then taken to a convent, but she’s brought back to the prison each day to answer the same questions again. After a week, they finally allow her to return home. Marius is allowed to return home, too, and returns looking haggard.

Valentina tells Marius she intends to go to Toledo to ensure that Luzia is taken care of since she was the one who dragged her into this mess. Marius tells her it’s a bad idea to attract the Inquisition’s attention, but Valentina insists she’d rather be a fool than a coward. Valentina then goes to talk to Águeda to make arrangements.

In Toledo, the days pass. Neva explains that some prisoners get better food if their families pay for it. Lucrecia gets good food even though her family is poor because she still has many followers.

But today, there is a delicious smell and the guard Rudolfo says that the food is for Luzia. Lucrecia tells Luzia that the money for the food came from a playwright who has taken up a collection for her. The food is delicious, and Luzia shares it with Teoda.

The next day, Rudolfo brings her fresh linens and tells her to give him the dirty linens so her family can launder them. In the clean linens, there’s a stalk of rosemary, and Luzia realizes that they are from Valentina and she feels a surge of hope.

Teoda tells her what the torture room is like, and explains that they want to shame you and for you to confess. Teoda says she was lucky because she knew what she was accused of at least so it was easier to confess.

Luzia is brought in front of a tribunal of three men and asked questions. She’s told to confess, but she doesn’t know what to confess. They then take her down to the torture chamber, and she thinks about the magic she might use to lessen her suffering.

They tie her up on the table and remind her that this ends when she confesses. Luzia ends up confessing to anything she can think of, to being a witch and the devil having told her how to create illusions. She’s finally returned exhausted, shaking and bleeding to the cell.

---

Later, Luzia asks Teoda if her aunt is dead, and Teoda confirms from her visions that she drowned. Soon, Luzia suggests that they try to escape, but Teoda says they will die here. She’s not able to see anything past Toledo, so she knows they all die here, and she says she can see a vision of Luzia on a pyre.

Teoda also finally tells Luzia her secret that she’s not a child, but a 38-year-old woman in a child’s body. The man pretending to be her father is actually her brother. She says that Fortún charmed her and must’ve figured out her secret by giving her the type of attention she’d never gotten from a man. He got her to admit her heretical views by claiming that he was in torment over serving a corrupt church. Luzia surmises that Fortún must’ve given up all the confidences that Teoda and Luzia told him in order to secure his freedom.

Despite Teoda’s vision, Luzia insists they should still try to escape.

As part of their escape plan, Teoda asks the guard Rudolfo to bring a note to her brother Ovidio in exchange for Luzia helping Rudolfo with a love spell regarding a woman that he is infatuated with.

Luzia does not want to be tortured again, so four days after her first session, she’s ready to make their escape. That night, Luzia uses her magic to open the lock on their door to exit the cell. They reach the entrance of the prison. She then creates a huge booming sound as a distraction for the guards outside before they slip out the door.

Ovidio meets them outside as planned. They run through the courtyard to where Ovidio has hidden a uniform for himself and change of clothes for the two of them. They then exit through the entryway. Ovidio claims that the two women are visitors for a prisoner. The guards ask for a cut of whatever he’s being paid to escort the women, and Ovidio pays up.

However, at the last second, the guards notice something is wrong, and they call for more guards. Ovidio is killed and Luzia is recaptured, but Teoda manages to reach the coach that was waiting for them.

Meanwhile, Santángel has been stuck in a small cell dug into the earth of the de Paredes home. When he’s finally released, De Paredes chides him for trying to help Luzia escape. He tells Santángel that Luzia was captured by the Inquisition and is in Toledo. He also tells him about her failed escape attempt the night before, though he notes that Teoda managed to get free.

De Paredes says that he is now a Duke and he may be able to keep Luzia from being burnt at the pyre so he can secure her talents for himself. Santángel understands that Víctor hopes the tribunal will simply turn Luzia over to him if he convinces him that she was just a dim-witted girl who was deluded into believing that she had powers.

Víctor wants Santángel to come with him to Toledo to convince Luzia to accept a life working for him.

Eventually, Luzia is brought in front of three Inquisitors for sentencing. She sees that Víctor de Paredes is there along with Santángel. One of the inquisitors explains that Víctor de Paredes is there to speak on her behalf, amd Luzia understands that he is there to claim her. She’s encouraged to speak out against others, but she refuses to say anything against Valentina and Marius.

Santángel then speaks encouraging her to attack him instead, and she does, saying that he was the one who seduced her towards that devil. She adds that he would come to her at night and she encourages them to stab him to see how quicky he heals.

Víctor tries to get them to disregard what she’s saying, but Santángel steps forward to confirm her statements.

Víctor is furious, but Santángel says he’s fine with being burned at the pyre and seeing Luzia set free. Still, Víctor insists that he will find a way to bind her to him, and he agrees to accept Luzia into his household.

They then bring out Fortún to corroborate Luzia’s story. He confirms that he saw Luzia and Santángel together. Fortún says that they were both conspirators, but he denies Víctor’s involvement since he’s clearly angling for a new patron in Víctor.

Santángel wills Luzia to deny her part in things, but Luzia then confirms this and says that she listens to the devil. Santángel is horrified knowing that they both will burn.

When it’s over, Fortún comes to visit Luzia, satisfied with himself. He is confident in Víctor as his new patron, knowing that he has the king’s favor, and he brags that he will soon have a place at court. Luzia scoffs at the idea that Fortún believes he has won by being beholden to Víctor.

Later, in exchange for helping him with his love interest, Rudolfo brings Luzia to Santángel briefly.

Afterwards, Luzia thinks about her parents. After her mother Blanca died, her father seemed lost and became careless. People heard him speaking Hebrew. Luzia felt he was tormented by being unable to bury her mother with the appropriate customs. He stopped coming home and became a beggar, but Hualit commented that he was atoning for now burying her mother properly. When he died, Hualit warned her not to claim his body for fear of her being associated with being a Jew.

The day of the public sentencing, Marius sleeps in. Downstairs, Águeda says a prayer for Luzia’s soul.

Meanwhile, the king had arrived in Toledo the day before to see the proceedings.

Quiteria Escárcega thinks about how she’d been surprised to hear from Valentina a while back asking for her help in putting together a collection for Luzia. Quiteria Escárcega was soon surprised to find that in Valentina she found a lover who could keep up with her. Today, the two of them walk over to the Plaza de Zocodover for the auto-de-fe.

---

It’s a long day, and it’s not until the sun has begun to go down that it’s time for the heretics to be addressed.

Luzia tells Santángel that she intends to create a spectacle with her magic as long as she is going to be burned. Soon, Santángel and Luzia are tied up and the pyre is lit. Along with them is a Flemish pirate named Pleunis.

Luzia focuses on Fortún and the green emerald on his chest to use as a talisman to concentrate her power. In her mind, she recites some words.

---

According to the royal confessor, Luzia and Santángel died that night, but in truth there were whispers that their remains were not found in the ashes. The king never found out about those rumors since he was soon in bed with gout dying a slow death, just as Teoda had predicted.

After the execution, Valentina and the playwright go back to Valentina’s house in Spain together where they fill the house with their artist friends and offer other women a sanctuary.

Fortún finds that his powers have left him after that day. The emerald he’d worn to concentrate his powers had broken, stunting his powers. Don Víctor waits for Fortún’s powers to return.

Víctor’s grows fearful after the execution and he finds himself growing increasingly fearful everyday. His wife leaves him to go live with her parents.

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In Valencia, a young couple and a Flemish pirate appear on the street. The pirate doesn’t question his good fortune. The young couple finds a cheap room in an inn.

They book a passage to Holland and travel together.