The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

by Zoraida Córdova

Yo quiero luz de luna para mi noche triste, para sentir divina la ilusión que me trajiste, para sentirte mía, mía tú como ninguna, pues desde que te fuiste no he tenido luz de luna.

Four Rivers was special for reasons the living population had all but forgotten. It was, in the most general sense, magic-adjacent.

was not just important to protect it, but to hold on to it. That is why every windowpane and every door had a gold laurel leaf pressed seamlessly into the surface. Not just to keep the magic in, but to keep danger out.

The two most important moments of her life had been predetermined by the stars. First, her birth. And second, the day she stole her fortune.

There were those who felt too much, those who felt too little, and others who knew how to deal with those feelings.

What broke your heart so completely that its splinters found their way through generations?

It was a funny thing that people warned of the dangers of pretty women, that there was power in beauty. But Orquídea thought beautiful men were even more dangerous. Men were already born with power. Why did they need more?

Some people were meant for great, lasting legacies. Others were meant for small moments of goodness, tiny but that rippled and grew in big, wide waves.

“You have to focus all of your energy on that connection every family has. It’s in our bones, our blood. More than that, it’s in the questions we need answered. The secrets, traumas, and legacies that we don’t know we’ve inherited, even if we don’t want them.”