It was fitting.Mayté had brought the painting of La Sirena as her prized possession.Lo held her breath.
Mayté lifted her chin and sat up straighter.To anyone else, she looked confident, but Lo saw the way she fiddled with a bean as her thick eyebrows twitched.
“María Teresa Robles,” La Sirena drawled, half speaking, half singing.The sound was both enthralling and haunting.Everyone at the table fell silent.Even Rodrigo kept his nasty mouth shut.Lo’s heart pounded harder.What would she say?Could she possibly predict if Mayté would win?
Or die?
“Before your time here ends,” La Sirena’s voice rose, “your heart shall be torn in two.”
Mayté jolted.“Wh—!By who?”
With a smirk, La Sirena simply put a finger to her lips and vanished.
“Unfortunately, La Sirena finds it pleasing to be vague,” Misterioso said.“But a broken heart, hmm?Isn’t that rather intriguing?”
“Ah, young love,” Don Zelaya scoffed and Xiomara snickered.All the while, Mayté stared straight ahead, face clearly distressed.
Who would dare break her heart?The thought made Lo furious.
Could it be Alejandro?Maybe she shouldn’t have pushed Mayté to flirt with him …
“And be sure to put down a bean if La Sirena is on your board,” Misterioso reminded them with a chuckle.
“Oh.”Mayté set a bean down.
“Lotería!”Rodrigo leaned back in his chair, arms folded and smug.
What?No!Under the table, Lo grabbed bunches of her gown and squeezed as tightly as she could.It was the only thing she could do to hold back the anger bubbling inside her.The Banker caught her eye again.This time, he raised an eyebrow as if to sayI told you so.
Everything comes at a price.
The Banker turned away and checked Rodrigo’s board.He snapped his finger, summoning a bigger projection of the board for everyone to see.The four corners of his card had beans.
With a sneer, Rodrigo snatched a card from the Banker and held it up.“El Valiente!”he cheered.The card depicted a man holding a serape and a bloodied dagger.
“If you could leave the announcing to me and the Banker, señor.”Misterioso huffed and dramatically cleared his throat.“El Valiente!”he shouted and theatrically raised an arm.“This card will give the player access to El Valiente’s items.It’s up to you how you would like to use them.”
Rodrigo stroked his chin while staring at Mayté.
Lo clenched her fists.How she wanted that card.Then she would have plunged El Valiente’s dagger straight into Rodrigo’s chest.
“Don’t forget I have El Escudo.”Mayté held up her card, the shield.Her voice trembled the slightest bit, but her burning scowl spoke much louder.“You don’t scare me.”
Rodrigo chuckled.“Whatever you say, muchacha.”
No one else got lotería, though Lo was very close to getting one in a couple of spots.
“El Perrito.”The Banker held up the next card.A gray Xolo leaped from the card and ran straight for Dominic.
“Aw.Hello!”he cooed and scratched the dog behind its ears.The dog’s thin tail wagged around endlessly and it jumped up at Dominic with its bony legs, revealing its white stomach.“You look just like my perritos.”
“Ah, El Perrito has chosen you, Dominic.What do you wager?”
What kind of challenge would a dog offer?Beating it in a race?Getting it to do tricks?
“I wager one gold coin, please,” Dominic said.
“Very well,” Misterioso said.“Now, for your challenge, you must kill this dog with your bare hands.”
