Page 21 of Mortal Desires

“You tell me.” I nodded to the bouquet. “They smell like ghost tears. What a great omen for our wedding.”

For the first time, I saw surprise in his features. His forehead creased when he looked down at the flowers. Shrugging his big shoulders, he masked his reaction quickly. “Night-blooming jasmine is common in the gardens.”

“You have gardens?” I perked up.

He narrowed his eyes at me, suspicious of every sentence out of my mouth.

I rolled my eyes. “Relax, big guy. This still feels like punishment for me. I’m not happy.”

He never replied, deciding to move away. Of course, I was upset. I couldn’t imagine how worried my sisters were, and I was in the underworld marrying someone who hated me. I didn’t forget my predicament for a second, but tears weren’t going to fix anything.

I cried my share, and it didn’t help. What I needed was to be clever like Marnie, strong like Elisa, capable like Lucia, ingenious like Elena, patient like Emilia, and brave like Florencia.

Basically, I needed to be nothing like myself.

I chanted the names of the women who came before me under my breath and joined my future husband at the edge of the dais.

With my chin held high, I stared at him, not moving a muscle while he called an old man who stumbled over as quickly as he could. I expected the ceremony to start right away. I mean… no time like the present. But Bessie came to me, grabbed me by the hand, and took me away from the throne room.

When the door closed behind our backs, I breathed easier, but my relief quickly evaporated into a creepy sense of uneasiness when I realized we were again in a completely different room. Even though I kept going through the same door, the room I entered changed each time.

“What. The—” I couldn’t stop the curse coming from my lips. “Hell?”

I was in hell, wasn’t I?

“The rooms move,” she explained.

“I noticed.”

“Only if you belong to the underworld can you find your way. That’s why the Brumas had to escort you.”

I sighed and sat down in an armchair close to us. “Well, I don’t belong here.”

“You will soon,” she said, coming up behind me and fussing with my hair again.

“Bessie?”

“Yeah?” she replied, distracted.

“Who am I marrying?”

“The Lord.”

“Vicious.”

Her fingers stilled, but with a fortifying breath, she returned to her task. “Death has many names.”

“I get that’s the company line,” I murmured under my breath.

I let my eyes wander the windowless room, my hands fidgeting with my bouquet while Bessie fixed things that weren’t messy.

“He’s the personification of every belief,” she whispered when I had already given up on answers.

“What does that mean?”

“Every religion has a story of death and the one who guards the spirits. Every culture has a legend. He’s all of them. The Christian’s devil, the Greek’s Hades, the grim reaper. He’s them all. They even say…” She lowered her voice even more, and I turned my head to face her, eager to keep listening.

“Tell me, Bessie,” I urged her.

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