Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

In the human realm, I heard a lot of fancy sayings like, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone,” and “I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah.”

Like I said. Fancy.

But if there’s one thing I learned being an invisible cupid, it’s that people say fancy words all the time that they don’t actually mean. Like the man exchanging sacred marriage vows, only to break said vows during an employee mixer on top of his work desk the very next week.

But some words actually are genuine, and it’s those ones that seem to sink into your skin and stay with you—because you know they really meant something.

That’s how I feel when I think of every word Okot ever spoke to me. It’s totally true that we haven’t known each other for long. He just sort of bumped into my life. But I liked the bump. I want my bump back.

When he spoke to me, every fancy word he said was true. I could just tell. When he said I was his mate, he was being sincere. When he called me his beloved, he meant it.

I didn’t get enough of his fancy words. I meant it when I said I was going to keep him. So I have to get him back.

“Right,’ Evert says, staring up at Princess Soora’s open window. She’s already gone, so it’s just the guys standing around the private courtyard now. “Guess I’ll just go and steal some of her shit,” he says, starting to stride toward the palace wall.

Ronak and Sylred wait, watching as Evert climbs a tree near the wall with effortless precision, and then he leaps to the princess’s balcony.

He disappears inside and comes out a short minute later. Forgoing the tree, he climbs on top of the balcony railing and then jumps.

“Holy hotcakes.”

But he lands on all fours in a crouch, his tail upright behind him. Right. Part feline.

When he comes strutting back, he shows the sparkling necklace he has fisted in his hand. “Let’s go.”

We leave the palace grounds, walking out of the gate and into the city of Highvale. This late at night, most of the shops and eateries are closed, but the nightlife scene is in full swing. The nocturnal fae are out and about, sipping drinks in night cafes and dancing in nightclubs.

I float behind the guys, their steps clacking against the cobblestones. The guys are quiet as they make their way up the street, and they end up walking into Hellfire & Hounds Inn.

“Really? I would’ve gone with the Snug & Dandy Inn down the street, but whatever razzles your berries.”

The innkeeper practically trips over himself to welcome the infamous genfins who made it out of the culling. After a lot of blubbering, he gives them his best room.

When we get upstairs, I wrinkle my nose. “This is his best room? It looks like there was actual hellfire up in here,” I say, looking at the scorch marks and soot stains.

“Huh,” I say, studying a burned outline on the wall. It clearly shows someone’s silhouette in a compromising position. There’s also a second pair of hands above the head. I smirk. “Someone totally had hot fire sex against this wall.”

Aside from the walls that only a demon would love, the space isn’t too bad. The most important part is that there are three fairly cleanish looking beds.

I can see that the exhaustion has settled over the guys now that they’re away from watching eyes. They managed to keep their masks on all this time, but now they’ve come off.

They might’ve had their physical wounds healed, some haircuts, and a bath, but the weariness of the culling competition is still there. The guys kick off their boots and start undressing.

“Oh. Right. I guess I should turn around…?”

I keep watching. Because, yeah. I’ve been totally imagining them naked since I first saw them. Invisibility has its perks. I perch my voyeur ass on one of the beds and watch the show.

Evert is the first to lose his formal jacket and then his shirt. His pale skin is even paler in the moonlight coming through the window, but he has sculpted abs and pecs, as well as a small happy trail of black hair that leads right to the promised land.

I totally want to go to the promised land.

Leaning up, I wait for him to lose his pants. To my great disappointment, he doesn’t. “Tease.”

Sylred and Ronak have their shirts off, too. Sylred is leaner, while Ronak is all sculpted granite and bulging muscles. If I had saliva, it’d be dripping down my chin.

“My, my, my. Post-banishment looks good on you.”

Much to my disappointment, they don’t take off their pants, either. I only pout a little.

“Enjoy the peep show, Scratch?”

I jump. “What? No. Totally wasn’t watching you guys strip or anything,” I say in a rush, forgetting that they can’t actually see or hear me. Evert chuckles like he knows he caught me, anyway. “You’re such a jerk face.”

“I keep forgetting she’s hanging around,” Ronak mumbles before flopping onto one of the beds.

“Me too. Unless…maybe she didn’t follow us,” Sylred says.

Evert snorts. “Course she followed us. Didn’t you, Scratch?”

Well, since he asked.

“Fuck! Stop doing that! It was rhetorical. I know you’re fucking here,” he says, scowling at his erection.

Sylred and I chuckle. I’m pretty sure Ronak’s lip twitches, too.

Evert and Sylred settle onto the other two beds, and soon, their breathing evens out nice and slow. I lie down in the bed next to Evert. If I position myself just so, the outline of my ghostly body almost looks like we’re touching. He shifts in his sleep, flinging an arm over where my waist is.

I close my eyes, just imagining how it would feel to be held by him like this. Then I remember when Okot did.

I lay next to Evert for the rest of the night, pretending I can feel, and pretending Evert can feel me, too. What? I’m freaking lonely. Also bored. I miss sleeping. Watching people sleep isn’t nearly as entertaining as that Edward vampire dude made it out to be.

Ronak is the first to wake up in the morning. Not that it surprises me. As soon as he sits up, there must be some freaky covey alarm clock that goes off, because the other two wake up, too.

The guys quickly dress in the same fancy clothes as last night. They move nearly in sync, always aware of each other in the small space, moving aside for one to get his boots, leaning away as another puts his arms through his sleeves.

When they plod downstairs and out onto the street, the sun is barely coming closer from it’s spot high in the sky. Soft yellow and blues are forming around it in a ring, pushing the dark away like a pupil grows inside an iris.

“Where are we going, anyway?” I hate that they can’t hear me.

They walk out of the city of Highvale altogether. They’re still walking when the sun is no longer a pinprick, but a grapefruit in the sky. More fae are awake by now, so the guys get plenty of looks as they make their way into the forest that borders the city.

Almost as soon as we step under the first row of trees, there’s this ominous quiet that closes in on us. The trees are ancient looking, too, with gnarled roots and rough gray bark. To make matters worse, the bark has these black circles knotted into them that look like eyes are watching us.

“Okay so super creepy eye-trees. That’s comforting, yeah?’ The guys just keep stomping onward. ‘Gods, why are you all so quiet? Seriously, you haven’t spoken a single freaking word since you woke up.”

I don’t think that’s natural. Can’t be. It’s probably bad for their voice boxes. Or their tongues. The tongue is a muscle, right? It needs to be worked out. I bet my tongue is totally ripped. I mean, as far as muscles go, I totally win that one for sure.

I guess the guys know exactly where they’re going, because their steps never hesitate or falter. If I’d had to walk all this way, I would’ve been panting by now. And probably gotten leg cramps. Also feet cramps. And stomach cramps. Probably all the cramps. I don’t care what anyone says, walking is super hard.

We reach a small clearing in the forest and there in the center is what can only be classified as the Elder Tree. I know this because it’s larger than all the other trees around, and it looks like an old man. That…and there’s literally a sign next to it that says, “Elder Tree.” So there’s that.

“Oh. I guess we’re looking for this Horned Hook thief, huh?”

The guys look at the grotesque face carved into the center of the Elder Tree. It has those black knots for eyes. The leaves really give me the heebie jeebies. If they can even be classified as leaves, which I seriously doubt. Instead of green leaves like the rest of the grove, the Elder Tree has long silvery-white strings growing off its gnarled branches, resembling gray hair.

“Okay, do the thing, hang the object, request the meet, and let’s blow this balloon stand because this place is spooky,” I whisper. Realizing my idiocy, I snort. “Stupid cupid. Whispering when no one can freaking hear you anyway.”

I see a ghost meandering around the grove. “Well, except that guy. Hey, ghost!”

He ignores me. Figures.

Evert reaches into his pocket and approaches the Elder Tree. He hangs up Princess Soora’s ‘stolen’ necklace on a branch. When that’s done, the three genfins stand in a row, their arms crossed and scowls in place.

We wait forever.

Or, like, probably twenty minutes.

If the forest hadn’t been so silent and still, I might not have picked up on the slight movement above. One second, nothing. The next, a gray hand reaches down and snags the hanging necklace from the branch.