Dolores listened closely as she weaved her way to the courtyard inside the Madrigal home, listening to see if anyone was paying any attention to her or following her. Hearing everything made it far easier to avoid being detected. Made it easier to know how to go unnoticed wherever you went because you could simply avoid the people.
One heartbeat, strong and steady, met her ears and she matched it with a pair of softly falling footsteps that were going in the same direction she was. Perfect, she almost hummed but managed to squash it while passing where her Abuela was locked in conversation with a few of their neighbors. It wouldn't do for her to notice one of her nieces leaving with a certain bachelor following her out, especially when it was not the niece she was trying to set up the engagement for.
The air was cool, and she found the space much quieter as she rounded a pillar to hide. She made a mental apology to her little brother for sneaking away during the celebration of his gift, though she knew he would understand if her ears needed a break. (That's not what this was, but that's what she would later claim if anyone wondered where she was.)
The person who followed her leaned up against the railing on the other side of the pillar. "Any followers?" the voice mumbled, knowing only she could possibly hear and understand it. "No." she whispered back eagerly, just loud enough that they would hear her. In the span of a heartbeat, they stepped around the pillar and she was tightly embraced in strong arms, lips only centimeters away from her own, waiting for her to tilt her head enough that they could gain access to them. Fingers pressed against the back of her head as she easily accepted the embrace, eyes closed as she sighed his name into his mouth. "Mariano." Her own fingers were featherlight on his neck, before dancing up to cup his bearded jaw in her hands.
Impossibly, he pulled her closer with each second that he kissed her until she was so secure in his arms, she should have felt trapped. She should have, but she didn't. Finally, he released her lips and her head tilted back down so it wasn't leaning back. Their breathing was quiet, even while it was hard and Dolores wondered if she would ever catch it before she nearly melted from the kiss placed on her forehead. Then his strong fingers took control of her head, tilting it himself as he kissed along her cheeks, nose, and even pecked once at her lips before he began kissing along her neck.
A sigh escaped her and she clutched at his shirt when the sensations made her curl her toes. "Out of sight." she murmured slowly, remembering where they were right now, "We should get out of the courtyard."
"Yes," He agreed, his lips still on her skin, "we should." Standing tall he glanced around before whisking her across the balcony hallway and into the safety of her bedroom. Once inside, her back hit the closed door and she gasped as he reclaimed her mouth, his fingers tightly gripping her head to hold her in place. With a soft moan into his lips she pulled his body closer to her own and hooked a leg around one of his. "Dolores." he groaned her name and it sent tingles racing through her body. One of his large hands left her face and instead grabbed her thigh, hooking her leg much higher on his hip even in her long skirt.
Heat flared wherever he touched her, and Dolores knew if he kept kissing her like this they were going to do something they couldn't take back. They both knew what was being planned behind their backs, thanks mostly to Dolores's magical gift. As with many things Dolores heard, it wasn't something they were supposed to know. They had tried to distract Dolores whenever they made plans, giving her task after task, but she heard regardless of what she was doing. They forget, it's not something she can typically tune out when it's convenient for her. She didn't have an off switch, at least not one that she'd found anyways, but that didn't stop her from trying to find one once in a while.
Suddenly her feet left the ground as he lifted her into his arms, moving them away from the door. Her back hit the plush mattress and she gasped into his mouth as her legs, freed when her skirt rode up when he deposited her there, easily wrapped around his waist. One arm wrapped around his shoulders, pulling his upper body closer to her while the other hand splayed across his chest, the top few buttons on his shirt coming undone in her urgency to feel more of his skin that was burning the fire within her. He let out a low rumbled moan of his own and it urged her to tighten her hold on him.
It wasn't until suddenly his weight was off of her that she realized all other sounds had become a buzz in her ears. Her mind felt fuzzy as she blinked up at the canopy above her bed dazedly wondering why he had stopped. Her breathing was labored, and she flinched at the screech of her name, her body stiff and throwing itself upright in terror. Her stomach was a pit as she finally knew what had happened.
In front of her bed, her papa stood angrily, holding Mariano by the scruff of the neck before swinging hard. "Papa!" Her voice gasped in it's quiet way- unheard by the other angry people in the room.
Wind rushed and thunder boomed in her ears as her mother stepped to her. For a moment she wasn't sure if the hissing was her mother or the weather around her. It wasn't until then that she realized how indecent she must look; her bare legs were on display almost all the way up to her hips and her skirt pooled around a way that reminded them that, clothed or not, he had just been wrapped between her legs. She didn't even register her mother's slap until her cheek burned and eyes stung.
"What do you think you're doing?" she heard her father's voice booming louder than she thought possible and he threw another punch at Mariano. He was thrown from her room and she winced as she heard her father and Tio Augustine drag him away from her. Abuela stepped into the room then and the temperature dropped, almost as if she was the one who controlled the weather and not her daughter Pepa. Dolores felt as much as heard her mother leave the room, the storm following her footsteps as she followed her husband.
"Dolores." The harshness in her voice made her wince again and she hugged her arms around herself. "Abuela." she whispered. "Silence! You don't get to talk right now. You get to listen." mutely she nodded. "You are disgraceful, shamelessly throwing yourself into bed with Mariano just to ruin your cousin Isabela's perfect engagement." Her fingers tightened on her arms as she fought back tears. "Count yourself lucky you didn't finish what you started tonight." Lips wobbled and she squeezed her arms tight, mouth opening a crack, wanting to argue the point that Isabela didn't want Mariano, but she certainly did. Before she could get a single word out she was silenced once more.
"It is clear you cannot be trusted to make decisions to help the family. From now on you will stay in your room, your only job to listen and make sure your mistakes don't cost Isabela everything I've worked to arrange for her. Am I understood?"
"Yes Abuela."
"No, you do not have the right to call me Abuela when you have disrespected me so. By your actions, it is clear to me I am not your Abuela and so you are no longer a Madrigal when you are inside these walls. It shall be Señora Madrigal to you now. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes- Señora." she managed to choke out the words, unsettled by addressing her Abuela as such.
"Good." Alma scowled down at one of her two eldest granddaughters, not for the first-time wishing Dolores had been more like her cousin, Isabela. With an angry huff she spun on her heel and left the room, Dolores's bedroom door almost slamming behind her if not for Casita catching it.
Alone now, pressure bubbled up inside of her and she found herself sobbing. It was something she rarely did, and never with such painful, wracking sobs or such volume. If she could hear anything but her heart breaking, tears hitting the blankets next to her and her own voluminous cries, she may have noticed that if you were outside her door, you would be able to hear the crushing sound of a girl's heart being torn to shreds.
The worst part of it all was that Dolores knew she, with her gifted hearing, had no one to blame. No one else but herself.