Page 35 of Fortune's Kiss
But also, damn her.She didn’t mean what she said.She didn’t want Carlos to give up his dream.Whatever it might have been.Didn’t want him to die, either.They needed to figure out a way to both survive.But how?The thought was way too overwhelming.
“Damn everything,” she whispered.
A sob cut through the air.
Lo sank to the floor and covered her face.Her wail echoed against the walls of the cavernous room.
EIGHTLo
Lo couldn’t stop sobbing.Her shoulders shook and she couldn’t breathe.It had taken everything in her to keep it together during dinner.The moment it was just her and Mayté, she completely crumbled.She was a murderer and now trapped here, doomed to a fate even grislier than the one that had met her father.
“Lo.”Mayté stepped in front of her, but Lo barely saw her.Instead, her gaze locked onto a painted calavera atop the vanity.Golden and covered in wilted roses, it faced her as if staring straight into her soul.
The same exact calavera she had seen after drinking that Dios-forsaken potion.
Suddenly, she was back in that dark room surrounded by only candles and bloody carnage.No.No, no, no.She bit her lip until she tasted metal.“M-M-Mayté—” Her mouth dried up and the rest of her words shriveled into her throat.
Lo’s best friend was still there, but now the old blood staining her own face and blouse was the brightest and freshest of red.So fresh, it glimmered under the candlelight.Then there was her skirt.Lo didn’t know where the scarlet fabric ended and the blood began, but, like a waterfall, it flowed down her legs.No,waterfallwasn’t the right word.Waterfalls flowed fast, butthe blood oozed.The crimson puddle pooling under Mayté’s feet crept toward Lo.She stumbled back with a yelp.
“Lo?”
It was Mayté’s voice, but when Lo looked up, a figure stared at her with cold, dead eyes.Blood spurted from his neck where she had slit his throat.She tried to run but got tangled in her cloak.
Her father.He was here for her.
“Lo.”
She wanted to scream but couldn’t.
“Lo?”
No matter how hard she tried.
“Lorena!”Mayté’s voice cut through the dark and suddenly everything was back to normal.No more fresh blood on the floor, or on Mayté.The painted calavera was nowhere to be seen.
Mayté hugged her tight.“I’m here.It’s okay.”
Nothing was okay.Lo whimpered, “I’m sorry.I’m so sorry!”
“For what?”Mayté held her.
“You were going to leave, but I made you stay.”Her vision swam with endless tears.“A-a-and now—”
“No,” Mayté whispered.She brushed away the curls that stuck to Lo’s wet cheeks.“We made a promise to each other.And I think—maybe it’s good that we’re here.”She averted her gaze and chewed her lip.
“Why?”Lo whispered.
Mayté took a shaky breath.“Last night when Carlos needed help finding my father …” She shuddered.“There was a group of men waiting at our home.Thugs.”
Lo’s stomach lurched.
“They came for the money my father owed them, but he couldn’t pay, s-s-so they … they were going to take me instead.”
“No!”Lo gasped.She gripped her cloak tighter around her shoulders.If she had been there, she didn’t know what she would have done.
Mayté nodded.She managed the slightest bit of a smile.“Here … at least here I have a chance.But, Lo.”Her expression turned worried.“You have to tell me the truth.Something happened with you before we entered Fortune’s Kiss, didn’t it?”
Lo couldn’t hide the fear on her face.
