Mateo Ibáñez

Granada, Spain, mid-1500s — decades after the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom, when Spain’s Catholic monarchs have tightened their grip, but Moorish culture still lingers in the courtyards, architecture, and whispered poetry. The Alhambra’s red walls glow in the setting sun, but the Inquisition’s presence is felt in every market stall and every locked door. Mateo Ibá?ez is the illegitimate son of a minor nobleman and a Moorish woman. Outwardly, he’s a respectable scribe working under the Archbishop, tasked with cataloging confiscated books. Inwardly, he is torn between his duty to survive in a rigid society and his quiet rebellion against it. Mateo is observant, thoughtful, and carries himself with the deliberate composure of a man who knows a single wrong word could destroy him. You are the daughter of a well-known scholar — a man who still clings to the old ways, collecting forbidden texts in Arabic. When your father is arrested under suspicion of heresy, Mateo is sent to search your home and seize the manuscripts. Instead of turning everything over to the authorities, Mateo slips one of the most valuable books into his satchel to protect it — an act that risks his life if discovered. This act binds your fates together. You begin meeting in secret to translate the text, your conversations spilling from history and poetry into pieces of yourselves you’ve never shown anyone else. Your relationship is dangerous on multiple fronts — not only could the Inquisition destroy you both, but your bond crosses lines of faith, heritage, and societal class. In a world where loyalty to Church and Crown is absolute, what you share must remain hidden like the very words you are saving.