Page 105 of Fortune's Kiss
Lo looked calm.Bored, even.
“Do you remember all the times we would play Lotería with your abuela?We’d beg and beg Carlos to play with us.He never would.”Lo sighed, her eyes never leaving Mayté.“I’m glad we finally got the chance.”
She spoke so calmly.It made Mayté sick.
She slid into a seat between Lo and Carlos.What horror would await them next?She studied her board.Only a few more beans left.El Beso de la Fortuna would appear soon.Could they survive that long?
The Banker drew the next card.“El Espejo,” he called out.
Loretta and Misterioso grinned, but the Banker’s voice was devoid of any emotion.Like Lo’s.
Mayté thought of Alejandro.He had told her this place hardened a person.Made it so they couldn’t feel anything at all.
The card glowed and morphed into a full-length mirror.The reflection inside showed Lo, who smirked, pressing her palms against the inside of the glass.
“Lorena, El Espejo has chosen to challenge you,” Misterioso said.“Let us see if you can best it.”
Matching the smirk of her reflection, Lo stood and approached the mirror.
“You must face yourself, Lorena de León,” the reflection purred.“Do you have what it takes?”
“Of course I do.”Lorena stopped in front of the mirror.
“Very well,” the reflection replied.“Everything here comes at a price.And yet you kept pushing your will onto the house.”
“I know,” Lo said, voice dull.“The price was more than worth it.”
“Are you so certain?”Smirk growing, the reflection pressed both hands against the glass and leaned close.“You found your mother and gained the secrets of the house, yet you lost your dearest friend.Now nothing will ever be the same.She’ll never love you again.”
Mayté’s chest tightened.
Lo turned to her, eyes wide, and for just a moment she looked like her old self.Mayté quickly looked away, her own heart pounding.Lo did destroy their friendship.It had begun crumbling when she used El Cotorro on her, but the final blow was when she plunged that dagger into Alejandro’s heart.Everything the both of them shared: hardships, hopes, dreams, wishes, memories.All of that was dead.
“I’m not sorry,” Lo whispered.“And I never will be.It was the only way to save her.”
What?
“Lo!”Carlos jumped from his seat.“Watch out—”
Lo shrieked.
Mayté turned back just as the reflection reached through the glass.It pulled Lo inside the mirror and disappeared.The real Lo pounded against the glass.“Let me out!”But a moment later, she stopped.Placed her hands at her sides.Her face impassive.Mayté’s breath caught in her throat.She had accepted her fate.
Mayté expected the mirror to vanish.Or glass shards to brutally cut into Lo, but she remained in place.Trapped.Would she stay that way for the rest of eternity?
She deserved it.Lo was a murderer.She claimed to have done this to save her, but how could Mayté believe that?She was a liar.She’d ripped out Mayté’s heart and stabbed it just like she’d stabbed Alejandro.
Mayté scoffed.The mirror.In her head, she knew it was a fitting punishment.
But her heart … Her heart couldn’t bear it.
Carlos pounded his fist against the table.
“What a shame,” Misterioso sneered.
“Truly,” Loretta agreed.“She had so much potential.”Her eyes narrowed, becoming almost as sharp as her smile.“You must be relieved, Misterioso.”
Misterioso sputtered.“That conniving girl wanted to bring down the house.I find solace that she is no longer a threat.”
