Page 92 of Forbidden Fate
Finality.
The end of this nightmare.
Maybe that’s all it means.
But as soon as the thought of home forms, another one follows.
Going home means leaving here.
Leaving Cruz.
Why does that make my chest ache?
Ugh.
No.
Absolutely not.
I do not have feelings for Cruz Moreno.
I have complicated emotional baggage from a terrifying experience involving a physically attractive man who saved my life after participating in the system that endangered it.
That is not romance.
That is not destiny.
That is not the Ace of Hearts doing whatever the hell Mercedes thinks it’s doing.
“What else?” I ask.
Mercedes blinks. “What?”
“You said it can mean finality. Change. What else can it mean?”
Señora Valentina again says something under her breath in Spanish.
Cruz leans forward. “Robin—”
“No.” I keep my eyes on Mercedes and Esmeralda. “Don’t do that. Don’t all look at each other like I’m too delicate to hear whatever superstition you’re suddenly afraid of. It’s a card. Tell me.”
Esmeralda reaches across the table and touches the edge of the Ace of Spades with one finger as if the card itself might be dangerous. “It doesn’t always mean this,” she says.
“Mean what?”
Mercedes looks at Esmeralda.
Esmeralda looks at Mercedes.
Then both of them look at me.
Their voices are hushed when they answer in unison.
“Death.”
30
CRUZ
