Prologue

Philippines 1831

The sound of crashing waves against boulders is one of the many things that intrigues Elena Herrera. She admired how the sea foams splashed over the summertime air as the sun glared at the white sand beach of the Límpiela bay. It sent a warm feeling down her chest, like a warm cup of chocolate during cold seasons.

Everything shone brightly under the rays of sunlight like gemstones, from the dazzling seashells of various sizes and shapes up to the broken sea glasses that had scattered across the glowing sand. However, it was no longer summertime that day, and the bay was now overcast with clouds of black smoke. The white sand of the beach was no longer white. It had been contaminated, turning the color of mud and the seawater into murky sewage filth. The only thing left from the distant memory she had were the waves that washed the shoreline.

"The sea was once clear and crystal blue but now it seemed like it had become tainted. Quite ironic for its name, don't you think?" Maria Santana said. Her gaze was on the bay as the carriage moved closer to the harbor.

Elena's lips lifted up a bit. "Yes."

The wind blew threads of dark hair across her face through an open window. The smell of fish and salt mixed with the rotten scent of oak, ditches, as well as the filthy stink of decaying bodies of some dead animal hung in the air. As their carriage grinds to a halt, the crashing waves of the pacific were swallowed by the cries of sailors and horses' hooves.

"Would you close la ventanilla, Elena?" Asked a woman beside her. Her skin was as pale as milk as she laid a hand over Elena's. Bare, bony, and frigid as ice. "Please, Hija, be careful. Stay with Maria throughout all expenses, you must not go anywhere without her. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mama." She responded, her warm palm embracing a pair of icy ones. She stroked her mother's face whilst wrapping a thick blanket over her. "You should have just stayed home, mama," says Elena. "You know papa would not mind."

As the woman leaned onto her daughter's shoulder, she let out a faint sigh. "I'm alright Hija. The truth is not seeing your father is much more painful already for he has been gone for much too long than what I expect, and I wish to see him as soon as he arrives."

Elena fixed her gaze on Maria who sat across them, her face mirrored her own distress. In the years that had passed, she and the girl had gone close to each other. Maria was a distant relative that had served their family ever since she could remember. She was like an older sister she never had.

The door was suddenly opened by an elderly gentleman, and her mother sat back up. The man extended his hand towards her, his back straight. Elena grabbed his hand in hers.

"Careful Binibini." He warned her as he assisted her in exiting the carriage.

"Thank you, Mang Felipe." She smiled at him.

She looked up the carriage and noticed her mother muttering something to Maria. Her mother quickly made eye contact with her and nodded her head. The other girl looked at her direction as well. She made a visible sigh but kept a weak smile on her face. Elena knew exactly what was going on. Maria bowed her head as Mang Felipe assisted her in exiting the carriage as well, closing the door behind her. The window was shut to prevent the chilly air from entering.

"Maria? Do you honestly believe mama will be cured?" Her voice sounded peculiar in her ear, full of uncertainty and sorrow, it pierced her soul that made her regret uttering anything in the first place.

"Elena, nothing is impossible in this world. I have great expectations, especially now that your father is arriving soon." Maria replied, glancing out into the enormous ocean in front of them, unable to meet her gaze.

"You're probably right." She sighed.

She took a glance around the harbor. Affluent men with mustaches carried suspicious looking baggage, which she assumed were smuggled goods from overseas. She had heard whispers about it from their maidservants while she hid from her tutor in one of the floor cabinets of their kitchen, it sound exactly as what she was seeing now. Vendors selling live fish sat along the dockside, attempting to attract passers' attention.

The port was what Elena had anticipated it to be. Congested with people, barrels, the smell of sewage, a hub for illicit export and import, muddy puddles almost everywhere, and the wind was strong. She grabbed her panuelo to put it in place as it slipped from her shoulder. She was grateful Maria had suggested she wear boots instead of her favorite sandals. She knew it would have been thrown away as soon as they got home; nevertheless, the dirt that soaked the hem of her saya needed to be washed thoroughly with bleach as they got home.

She looked up at the pier, where several boats had recently arrived and were already unloading their cargo. She was about to appreciate the large boats when she felt a twinge of sympathy from deep inside her as she made eye contact with a pair of sunken eyes of a boy no older than 16. He carried a barrel twice his size, but the grasp of his scarred skeletal hands remained steady. He held their gaze for a few seconds before shifting his head quickly. His dark hair fell over his face, his grip on the barrel tightened.

"Hurry up punk. There's still a load of goods in the ship! What are you gaping at?!" A guy with rotten teeth cried at the little kid.

The man's large hand fell on the boy's thin back. It startled her. The boy tumbled into the wharf, the barrel he carried rolled into the crowd of people rushing to board the merchant vessel. The man's face became brick-red in an instant, and he kicked the young boy in the stomach, causing him to groan in pain.

"Estúpido." The man's voice was thundering over the hubbub yet the people that passed by ignored them as the boy crumpled to the ground, even coughing blood. "For that, you won't be able to taste food for the next two weeks."

"How awful." She whispered.

"Elena, we best not get involved. I'm afraid we might get in trouble if we do." Maria said. She turned to face her; Maria's gaze fell on the boy who was pummeled by the heinous monster. Her expression was one of empathy, yet she remained still.

"How is it that not a single person is helping him?" She questioned.

"Everyone is terrified of Mariano." Maria said. "You see, he's an influential merchant from Spain and even your mama and papa know not to mess with him."

"Spain?"

"It's a long way away from here. Somewhere across the oceans. It is where we were born." Maria continued but Elena was no longer paying attention to her as she noticed the skinny figure of the boy crawling down on the ground as the man stormed towards the vessel out of the corner of her eye.

The young Binibini felt a pang of shame. She knew she must not feel such thing since she does not know him, but her stomach could not handle seeing the battered boy spitting up blood in the middle of the pier. She took a fistful of her skirt and walked up to the injured child. He did not deserve to be treated in this manner. No one should be punished this way except the wicked man Mariano.

The boy then stopped moving and collapsed face flat on the ground. Barely breathing. Slowly but steadily, his back rose.

"Psst," Elena whispered to the boy.

They met eyes for the second time as he shifted his head to the side. The boy's eyes swelled, as were his cheeks, and she grimaced at the evident bruises and wounds on his lip and jaw.

The boy laughed at her before grunting as the flesh on his wound stretched out, fresh blood poured down. She extended her hands to the young boy. "If you don't get up, the carriages will roll over you."

"Do I appear to be concerned anymore, Binibini?" His voice was scratchy and almost drowned out by the din of the crowd.

"But," she said, "I do." He chuckled; his eyes closed. Acting as though the agony had faded away.

In between laughter, he added, "Binibini. I am a stranger, for one, and as well as one of the nobodies in this town, no better than rodents, pests, indios or whatever you want to call us. I do not understand why you are even talking to me."

"I do not think of you that way-"

"Does it make a difference?" He interrupted. She was caught aback by the contempt in his voice. She hadn't expected it. Not a single person had ever talked to her in the manner he just had.

"However, if my dying corpse in the center of the harbor concerns you that much, I shall conceal myself away from your field of sight." He grumbled as he pulled himself up.

"We are not who you think we are, Ginoo. You have no idea what you are talking about, very much like myself."

"Oh, but I do, Binibini, and if you assume addressing me as 'Ginoo' rather than indio separates you from the rest, think again," he said as he stood up straight. He was somewhat taller than she had thought. His clothes were soiled with dirt, blood, and sweat. He reeks the stench of the sea, but she wasn't bothered. The false allegations he had dropped against her were the ones that had negatively affected her.

"Elena, do not go near him." Maria cried behind her as she grabbed her hand. "You might catch some disease."

She returned her gaze to the lad. He gave them a disgusted look.

He mumbled, "I told you so," before hobbling into the mob.

"I told you not to go near them," Maria said as she threw her arm over Elana's shoulder and led her back to their carriage. As they watched the cloud darken, the air became colder. "What happened, Elena? Did he cause you any harm?"

Maria wiped her cheeks with a handkerchief. She hadn't noticed the tears were spilling from her eyes already. "Is it a sin to be born in the way we are, Maria?"

"I'm not sure why you're speaking that way but whatever that indio told you, do not let it get into your head. He's only making a mockery out of you because you are the daughter of Tio Luciano. Give me a smile now. Your father doesn't want to see you sad."

She offered Maria a faint smile and nodded. The other girl held her and spoke soothing things into her ear, calming her down, but the boy's words resonated quietly somewhere in the back of her mind.

"Elena Hija, hurry and embrace your father." She jerked her head towards the direction of the voice. Suddenly all of the anxiety she felt evaporated, her heart overwhelmed with delight.

"Papa, you have arrived!"