The Valley towns were asleep under neon-lit darkness when we landed at a private airfield in Tlatelolco. We took a hydrofoil across the lake to the palace, and Chicomeztli had us admitted through a side entrance, Alex and I bundled up in hooded cloaks at my request. It was all suitably melodramatic, but I was relieved that Chicomeztli seemed prepared to play his part to the full.
Though there were guards on duty, they did not stop us or ask for identification. It was obvious that the palace was more preoccupied with events in New England, and our comings and goings were of no great concern to them at that moment. Besides, Chicomeztli was a trusted servant of the empire.
He accompanied Alex and me to my apartment. At the door I took him aside and said, ‘It’s better if you leave us now.’
He eyed Alex again. ‘Are you intending to keep him in your rooms?’
‘I’ll lodge him with Bevan for the night,’ I lied. ‘He’ll be safe there.’
Again the look of uncertainty. Alex himself was too disorientated to question my whisperings to Chicomeztli; either that, or he was obeying my instructions to the last word.
‘And in the morning?’ Chicomeztli said.
‘Arrangements will be made. I can’t say any more than that at present.’
He looked stiff, unconvinced. Because he was so small, it was easy to make the assumption that he could be treated like a child.. I knew better than that.
‘And what am I to do in the meantime?’
‘Nothing. Do nothing. Just keep your head down and wait. Remember, this is in Extepan’s interests.’
‘I greatly hope so,’ he said. ‘I’ve placed every trust in you.’
‘You have my undying gratitude. And Extepan’s.’
For a moment he hesitated. Then he marched off to his own quarters.
I led Alex inside. He was like a lamb. The first thing I did was to creep across to the adjoining door. There was no sound from beyond. I checked that the door was securely locked, then removed the key and dropped it in a vase.
Alex was still standing there in the centre of the room. He looked fearful, unsure of himself.
‘It’s all right,’ I whispered. ‘You’re safe here. Motecuhzoma will see you in the morning.’
‘I’ve never met him,’ he remarked.
It was obviously a source of regret on his part. I wondered if this was what had finally persuaded him to accompany me – the opportunity, at last, to meet the emperor himself.
‘He’s kind,’ I said. ‘More considerate than I’d ever imagined.’
He was eager to agree with me. ‘They’re not such bad people, Kate.’
‘I know he’ll be happy to see us reunited again.’
What pleasure I took in seeing him squirm! I went forward and put my arms around him. He responded as a husband might.
‘Alex,’ I breathed, ‘I’m so happy to have you back. Nothing else matters.’
He smiled. I think he was pleased that I was so rewarded by his presence. The old vanity. Again he leaned down to kiss me on the lips, and this time I did not stop him.
I responded as fully as I might have done in the past, feeling the unfamiliar abrasion of his shaven face, the strength of his arms enfolding me, his sheer bulk – even more ample now. Inside I remained cold, unrelenting, determined to avenge myself on him.
Alex had always been easily aroused, and quite soon I could feel him responding, an obligatory kiss giving way to a familiar need which I knew he would want to satisfy, despite the uncertainties of the situation. And I was not going to deny him: in fact, this was what I intended – the final consummation of my betrayal. I had pledged myself to Extepan, but he would never have me now.
‘We’ve got all night to ourselves,’ I said softly into his ear. ‘No one will disturb us here.’
His eyes were filled with desire. It was lust rather than love that had always made him want me, I knew that now. But I was ready for it, ready to make a calculating submission to him. He could have me one last time if it meant his damnation.
‘The bedroom,’ I murmured. ‘It’s through there.’
The door was already ajar. As he had done so many times in the past, he lifted me up and carried me through.
When it was over, I lay in silence while Alex smoked a Xitli and told me how he had survived after the attack on Ty Trist by hiding out in deserted towns and villages further down the valley until he was finally picked up by the Aztecs. I was certain it was a lie, just as I was certain that all his expressions of pleasure at our reunion were fake. I gazed idly around the room, wondering whether anyone was watching us even now through a hidden camera. Of course I had no concrete evidence that my apartment was under surveillance, but it was unlikely that foreign guests would be allowed complete privacy in the very heart of the empire.
Who would come to arrest us? Chicomeztli, possibly – I was certain he would check my story as soon as he was able – or, more likely, some anonymous minion of the empire. It didn’t matter to me either way; I no longer cared about destroying myself if I brought disgrace on those who had betrayed me.
I thought of all the mornings, in exile in Wales, when I had looked into Victoria’s room and seen tousled sheets and smelt body heat. Alex was up early most mornings. I thought of how solicitous he had always been to Victoria, taking her bilberry-picking in summer, visiting her when she was confined to her room with a migraine – just pretexts, I saw now, for adultery. I had wilfully blinded myself to all this, unable to credit not simply that he would seduce my sister but that she would let him, perhaps even encourage him.
There was much I still didn’t know about the circumstances of his ‘death’. Who had organized it? And had Victoria known all the time? Was her supposed part in the bomb plot simply a ruse to ensure that she could be reunited with Alex in Mexico? Somehow I found this hard to credit. It was easy to imagine them as illicit lovers, harder, with Alex’s fickleness and Victoria’s lack of moral fibre, to imagine them in a long-term partnership. But it was possible. It was possible they had fallen in love so deeply with one another they had indeed risked everything.
I let Alex murmur his endearments and promises, soothing him with my own platitudes in return. He looked drained by the day’s events, and eventually he fell asleep. I smiled, satisfied that for once I had played the game far better than he.
But then he began to snore. It was a sound I had always found endearing in the past, but it was louder, more raucous than I remembered, and in my bitterness it became positively irritating to the point where I would have liked to press a pillow to his face, to end it all, then and there, by suffocating him. Of course, this was not practicable, and besides, I had already committed my crime. Now I simply had to wait and let the consequences unfold.
After a while I crept from bed and put on a pair of jeans and a cotton blouse. Then I returned to bed, pulling the sheets up to my neck. I wanted to be ready to face my accusers. Beside me, Alex slept on, satiated, cheek pressed to the pillow. His mouth was slack and his incipient double chin sagged. I began to long for the soldiers to come, to burst in and arrest us. But nothing happens quite as we plan it, and as the quiet night wore on, with no hint of disturbance, I, too, exhausted, slept.
In the morning I woke to a room filled with sunlight. Alex was still profoundly asleep beside me, as if he had not moved at all throughout the night. I was surprised to find that I felt no shame but was simply amazed that both he and I had slept without interruption.