The Familiar
by Leigh Bardugo
Contents
Chapter 52
Overview
Awaiting execution, Luzia is taunted by Donadei, who declares he will watch her and Santángel burn and profit from their ruin. Desperate for a final chance, Luzia manipulates guard Rudolfo with the promise of love-magic and secures a secret hour with Santángel.
In their last meeting, Luzia refuses Santángel’s earlier attempt to save her at the cost of lifelong bondage to Víctor, choosing instead to die beside him. As dawn nears, Luzia’s memories of her parents and Hualit frame their impending deaths as the sacrifice demanded by love and curses.
Summary
In her dark cell, while Neva sleeps, Luzia weighs the path she and Santángel chose, knowing he tried to save her by damning himself. Donadei approaches her before she is taken back, loudly offering prayers but privately gloating that he has "won" and will rise at court through Víctor de Paredes. Luzia warns him his ambition will bury him and begs him not to attend her auto de fe; Donadei refuses, promising to watch her and Santángel burn.
That night, guard Rudolfo questions Luzia about her claimed wickedness. Luzia leverages Rudolfo’s desire for Mariposa Baldera’s love, belittling his hope that being “fond” is enough and insisting he follow her instructions because she will die the next day. Luzia offers to teach him how to make and place a nuska, but only if he grants her demand.
When the bells strike ten, Rudolfo secretly brings Luzia to Santángel’s cell and gives them one hour. Santángel demands to know why Luzia sentenced herself to death instead of letting him save her, but Luzia insists she will not be condemned to centuries under Víctor’s cruelty. Santángel admits he believes Luzia could have bested Víctor, and Luzia asks him to trust her now, promising at least to make their deaths painless.
As they cling to each other, they share tenderness and fear: Luzia confesses she is terrified, and Santángel admits he wishes he could die unbound and free. They recall their first unseen recognition—Luzia glimpsing Santángel in Víctor’s coach and feeling lifted out of herself—and Santángel says Luzia’s power woke him back to the world. They choose intimacy over argument as dawn approaches.
Luzia’s thoughts turn to earlier losses: her mother Blanca’s death; her father’s unraveling, his dangerous slips into Hebrew, and his eventual disappearance into poverty; Hualit’s blunt insistence that his “unsettled” mind, not improper mourning, drove him. Luzia remembers trying to save him with a coat and boots, only to find him frozen to death, and she blames her loving intentions as a kind of killing. With Hualit now dead as well, Luzia accepts the old warning that all curses require sacrifice and concludes that her love will be the offering that destroys both her and Santángel; Santángel can offer only their clasped hands as “real magic.”
Who Appears
- Luzia CotadoCondemned singer-mage; bargains for a last meeting with Santángel and accepts sacrificial death.
- SantángelCaptured familiar and Luzia’s lover; argues over her choice, then shares a final, tender hour.
- RudolfoGuard outside Luzia’s cell; swayed by desire for Mariposa’s love and escorts Luzia to Santángel.
- Fortún DonadeiAmbitious milagrero; gloats over Luzia’s condemnation and vows to watch her and Santángel burn.
- NevaLuzia’s sleeping cellmate; present as Luzia plans in the night.
- Mariposa BalderaWoman Rudolfo longs to be loved by; Luzia uses her as leverage in the bargain.
- HualitLuzia’s blunt confidante, recalled in memories of Luzia’s father and grief; now dead.
- BlancaLuzia’s mother; her death triggers Luzia’s father’s decline, recalled during Luzia’s vigil.
- Luzia’s fatherRemembered as unstable and grieving; loses everything and dies of exposure after giving away gifts.
- Víctor de ParedesPowerful patron and master figure; invoked as the cruel bondage Luzia refuses to endure.