Page 8 of Mortal Desires

“I don’t know if I can say it,” Marnie replied with a soft quality in her voice, a blush covering her pale cheeks.

I remember like it was yesterday the horrifying time when Marnie revealed her gift. Seeing soulmates was a horrible revelation for a family of cursed witches.

While our coven was the most powerful in history, we carried the burden of being alone. It was a maldición. We were the backbone of magic, the beginning and probably the end. But we were cursed to never trust a partner.

It wasn’t just a case of relationships not lasting among the Morales. It was way worse than that. Generations and generations of women in our coven dealing with supernatural beings and all the darkness out there and still, the most dangerous thing we could do was fall in love.

I didn’t know much about my grandad, but I knew enough about my father. The stories about the women of our coven always ended the same—humans couldn’t keep up with the knowledge about the supernatural. And getting involved with other witch families was the worst thing we could do. Look what happened to Mami.

Having a partner seemed like a lot of work and no reward. Wasn’t the whole point of love to trust and be trusted? To have your heart beat outside your own body? The movies and books showed me that way, but I knew it was never happening to any of us.

I didn’t want a soulmate. I had no use for one.

And yet, Marnie looked at all of us one by one, with only fear and pity in her eyes, confirming our fate. She was the only one excited to have a soulmate. I could see she resented her own gift, not for herself but for us, who refuse to ever fall in love.

I wasn’t surprised when Elisa announced from the head of the table, “Sisters, it’s time for Marnie to share her gift.”

Fear made us gulp, barely holding ourselves together. We all knew this day would come and Marnie wore her feelings right on her face. She couldn’t hide anything.

“The glimpses I saw of each one of you weren’t of your soulmates, but what you were wearing on the day you met.” Marnie started with Elisa. “I saw your dress. You were wearing it in my visions.” And then she turned to Elena. “Yours too.”

I never once saw Elena scared. I remember her stony expression when we killed our father. The way she dismissed every single thing thrown at us, but today I watched as she paled. Her eyes doubled in size and she worked a lump down her slim throat.

Marnie wasn’t done. Her visions showed the flower Lucia held and the parasol Emilia carried.

She laid our destiny in front of us, carved in stone. Without meaning to, my eyes filled with tears and my mouth worked independently of my will.

“We can’t keep humans alive. They die. They always die,” I croaked.

If anyone would understand death, it was me. The fear that gripped me wasn’t only for the soulmate I’d have to keep alive but for the dead, I’d have to guide. I selfishly looked around the room beyond my sisters, thinking of all the times I saw more than them.

I had memories they wouldn’t understand. A woman with ripped clothes holding her own insides with her hands begging for help when I was only ten. A man, who kept himself in the dark and watched us eat every day until the ground opened itself up and swallowed him whole. A child younger than me asking for his mother. A woman who could only cry and scream until she was finally gone, her screams so powerful I still shook with the memory.

The idea of carrying that burden was more than I could take. What if they all died? If all seven of our soulmates died and it was my job to cross them to the other side? What if my sisters wanted to talk to them, wanted them around, and I had to explain to them that no one could stay?

“They might not be humans.” Elena’s voice cut through my thoughts. “There are no guarantees they’ll be humans.”

“Grayson is human,” Lucia interjected, talking about Marnie’s soulmate.

“I don’t know what they are.” Marnie sighed. “I know things about Grayson because he’s mine. I don’t know about—”

“Our husbands?” Flo hiccupped.

“We don’t need to marry them, right?” Emilia argued, turning to Elisa for guidance.

Lucia looked exhausted beside Elisa. “What else do you do with a soulmate, Mia? You marry them.”

“I don’t want a soulmate,” Florencia whispered, her eyes in shock.

“You shouldn’t want one,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying. “It’s not good.”

Marnie looked hurt by my statement, but I was in shock, only speaking the truth. The words sometimes came to me in a flood, coming out of my mouth before I could think them through. My sisters didn’t understand what it was like to spend days with people whispering in my ear, preventing me from keeping a train of thought.

“Ok, ok. Everyone calm down.” Elisa took a breath and grabbed the chair in front of her, dragging it away from the table.

We followed her lead and sat as well.

“So you’ve seen my dress, Elena’s dress, and Lucia’s flower?”

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