Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

Apparently, when you’re pretending to be a lesser-noble high fae attending the royal culling games, you get a goodie bag.

“Ohmygods,” I squeal, digging through the velvet pouch on my chair. “Okot, feel this,” I say, shoving the silk eye mask in his face to rub it on his cheek. “It’s so soft.”

Okot, being the good-natured bull boy he is, lets me fangirl about the swag as much as I want, because really, he knows I need whatever distractions I can get today.

“Oh, what’s this?” I ask, pulling out a glass funnel-looking thingamajig.

“A monocular.”

I turn it around in my hand and then bring the smaller end to my eye.

I gasp. “Holy super sight! I can see everything down there,” I exclaim, pointing the device towards the ground floor of the arena.

I slide the lens across, trying to find something—anything that will give away what the first culling game will be, but there’s nothing down there except hard-packed dirt.

Putting my monocular away, I dig through the bag some more. There’s a single-serving bottle of fairy wine, a small pillow to sit on so my butt doesn’t get sore on the wooden seat, and a bag of candied nuts that I inhale in about two-point-five seconds.

By the time I sit back beside Okot, I’m nearly bouncing in my seat in nervousness. Dressed in casual clothing rather than his guard armor, Okot looks good in a black shirt studded with golden buttons, his long mohawk flopped over on the right side of his head.

We’re sitting at the end of our row, about halfway up in the amphitheater. There must be at least five thousand fae here. I use my monocular to scan the royal seating box. It’s in the very center of the arena, a swathe of gold and white tapestry hanging from it. Thrones sit at the front, although they’re still empty.

“Have you ever been to a culling before?” I ask Okot.

“Once. About fifteen or twenty years ago.”

I nudge him. “And…?”

I can tell he doesn’t want to divulge, and that alone makes me bite my bottom lip with worry. “How bad is it?”

He sighs slightly. “It’s not good. It’s never good. They are designed to break, maim, and kill the competitors in the name of faked mercy. It’ll be brutal. You must prepare yourself.”

I take a deep breath and nod. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

His huge hand engulfs mine. “You are my mate, but you are also put under my protection by the princess. I go where you go.”

“I’m a fan of the buddy system.”

A huge gong rings out, silencing the gathered crowd. I pull out my monocular and whip my head toward the royal box. King Beluar Silverlash is now sitting on the center throne, and his son, Prince Elphar, is standing next to him. I can see Princess Soora sitting on the smaller throne beside the prince’s empty seat.

Prince Elphar raises his blue-tinged hand to further quiet the fae gathered in the stadium. I can see the glint of reflections off thousands of monoculars, all pointed at him.

He sweeps his hand to his throat, and I see a tinge of sparkling magic surround his throat. His voice booms out to the crowd, enhanced enough so everyone can hear him speak.

“Welcome to the royal trials of the culling. Five years have passed since twenty-five noble fae have been banished for their treacherous deeds. But we are a fair and just monarchy. So today, we give those nobles a second chance. A chance to fight to regain their respected positions, re-pledge their loyalty to the crown, and prove that they deserve to rejoin society.”

Everyone watches him in rapture. The fae girls beside me positively titter when he smiles. Yet that charming smile of his turns sinister when he adds, “However, for those who fail in the culling, their death will be vindication from the gods for betraying their sovereigns. So, let us cull the unworthy from our midst in a tradition that has spanned centuries. Let the culling begin!”

The gong sounds again and the crowd goes wild. Fae are on their feet, stomping, screaming, clapping. Celebrating a glorified death ring. I feel like I’m going to puke.

Suddenly, the empty dirt in the center of the amphitheater transforms. Four strips of vastly different terrain suddenly appear, one after the other. Lush, green grass first, speckled with trees, bushes, man-sized flowers.

After that is a hundred yards of nothing but polished, black ground that looks like onyx. Then a perfectly cut in road of calm, crystal-clear water. Lastly, a wall of unmoving fire. The flames look paused as if they’re waiting for something.

The gong goes off again, setting my teeth on edge, and then a portal appears. One after the other, the contestants step through. They all vary is size, shape, sex, and type of fae. My three guys are the very last to step through.

I keep my monocular trained on them. Ronak is one of the largest fae down there and by far the strongest-looking. Even with the last week of them not eating nearly enough, he looks formidable and capable. Evert and Sylred flank him, looking just as fierce.

“The rules for the first competition are simple,” King Beluar’s voice rings out. “All contestants must pass through each of the four elements. Contestants are forbidden from harming another contestant. If you cannot successfully pass through each of the elements and make it to the end, then you are disqualified from being reinstated into society and will thus be killed. You may begin at the sound of the gong.”

The king sits down again and all eyes swivel back to the contestants. My hand shakes on my monocular as I grip it. When the gong goes off again, all of the contestants take off running.

I watch as the first group makes it to the green patch of land that represents earth. The moment their feet touch the grass, huge arms of earth shoot out from the ground, crashing into a group of contestants and sending them flying across the stadium with a crash.

Two of them don’t get back up again.

Another group of contestants step onto the earth next, including my guys. The earth instantly rocks and rolls under their feet, knocking everyone to the ground.

Ronak is barely down for a single second before he’s springing to his feet again, pulling up Sylred with him. Evert is up a second later, and the three of them barrel past. More contestants are also running through now, and the earth takes swipes at them left and right.

Tree branches come smacking down, trying to hit anyone that gets too close. Vines seem to shoot out from nowhere, wrapping around others and asphyxiating them right before my eyes.

One fae disappears entirely when the earth just abruptly opens up and swallows him whole. Somehow, my guys make it through, along with a good number of others to the second part of the competition—air.

This section is so unlike the first. All that’s there is black stone on the ground, so shiny I can see the fae’s reflections in it. Nothing happens when the contestants step onto it. It’s not until the very last fae makes it out of earth element and onto the stone that it happens.

Powerful, violent air blasts against the contestants, knocking each and every one of them down. My guys were nearly to the half-way point, but the air is pushing at them, sending them flying right back to the beginning.

That’s when I realize that the stone ground isn’t for show. It’s there because of how slippery it is. No one can get any traction on it with the air pushing at them so violently.

Hair is whipping around, clothes are getting torn from their bodies, even the skin on their faces are being blown back. No one can stay on their feet. The second they try, the relentless air knocks them over again.

Ronak is in front, Sylred and Evert behind him, each of them flat on their bellies, digging in their heels and fingers, trying to stop from blowing further away from the end.

“Come on, come on. Do something,” I murmur.

I see Sylred reach for Evert, grabbing hold of his forearm. He pulls Evert closer, muscles bulging. When Evert’s face is right beside Sylred’s, I see the blonde-haired genfin shouting something into Evert’s ear. Evert nods and looks back at the other contestants, while Sylred grabs hold of Ronak’s foot to relay the same message.

I watch as Evert reaches for another contestant and shout something to him. Systematically, one after the other, Sylred’s message is passed on, until all of the contestants are linked together, joined by the grip on arms and legs, feet and hands.

Using the link, the fae at the very back starts to climb up each body like a ladder of limbs. When he gets to where Ronak is, he settles himself in front, and Ronak grabs hold of his leg.

I watch in complete awe as this fae chain works slowly but surely to inch forward. Every time the fae from the back climbs over the bodies and makes it to the front, the next person does the same thing, until they all finally reach the end.

And maybe some of these fae did heinous things. Maybe some of them deserved to be banished. But even when the first ones make it past the air section, not one of them moves on until every single contestant is pulled out of that treacherous air and onto solid ground again.

“They helped each other,” I say in wonder.

“They did. They acted with honor.”

I shoot a glance toward the royal box. “Prince Elphar doesn’t seem too pleased about it.”

Okot follows my gaze. “He wouldn’t. He is threatened by each and every one of those contestants. He wrongfully imprisons and banishes fae all the time, knowing that he can get away with it. It seems your genfins outsmarted him this time by acting in a way completely foreign to his way of thinking.”

“What do you mean?”

“They banded together. He would have stayed stuck in that section until the end of time. Helping others and working together never would have crossed his mind.”

Giving Sylred a mental kiss, I turn my attention back to the arena. The once still, calm pool of water is now a churning, swirling, angry mass. It’s like the most treacherous of seas in a tiny rectangular strip.

It crashes down on fae, trying to drown them, spinning them in whirlpools and spitting them back to the beginning. But whatever transpired between the contestants in the air section seems to have carried over to this element, too.

I watch as everyone once again works together to make it out of the water. Like he weighs nothing, Ronak picks up Evert and hurls him out of the water. Sylred is next, nearly crashing on top of him.

Ronak, much to my surprise, picks up another three fae and tosses them onto land before getting sucked into a vicious whirlpool.

Just as it pulls him under, another fae who’s boasting gills and webbed feet, dives back in the water after him.

I hold by breath, counting the seconds that I don’t see Ronak’s head reappear.

My chest starts to burn. I still don’t breathe.

Where is he?

The water is an angry, violent entity that crashes against the ground and sends sprays of water into the stands. My lungs want air, but I deny them. Not until he gets it, too.

Dammit Ronak, if you die…

I won’t take a breath until he does.

Resurface, dammit!

Just as black dots appear before my eyes, I see the fishy fae reappear, and then Ronak finally comes coughing and spluttering to the surface a second after.

I breathe in a huge sigh of relief.

The fae on the sidelines reach in and haul them out of the water. Ronak turns and yaks up about a gallon of water.

When he’s on his feet again, he stands in a line with the rest of the fae, all of them staring at the fourth and final part of the competition.

The giant wall of fire.

“Fuck.”