Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

“I should’ve heard someone approach,” Ronak hisses. “I was too distracted.”

I realize that I’m digging my nails into Sylred’s arm when he starts peeling my fingers off his skin and threads his hand through mine reassuringly. Evert steps in front of me in a protective move while Ronak goes to the door. With a look at the others, he opens it an inch while I peer out from behind Evert.

When there isn’t an immediate sound of a fight breaking out, I relax slightly.

“Well? Are you going to stand there all night flicking your tail, or are you going to move aside before the whole inn comes to the hall and sees me standing here?”

I quickly move around Evert. “Duru?”

She pushes past Ronak and he shuts the door behind her. The guys look at the short brownie woman with distrust. “This is Duru, Princess Soora’s handmaiden. She kept me hidden in the palace,” I explain. “We’re besties.”

Duru rolls her eyes. “We are not.”

“Eh. We are, though.”

Duru’s attention is already off me. She’s now staring with distress at the dirty dishes strewn around the room. She starts tidying up immediately.

“What’s up, Duru? What’s with the pre-dawn house call?”

She’s piling all of the uneaten food on a tray while she starts stacking the dirty dishes and silverware in neat piles. “The princess sent me, of course.”

“What did she say?”

“Your lamassu mate told her you’d returned. She wanted to warn you. Come morning, there will be an active search of the city. There is a planned sneak-search at dawn. Every building in town will be raided, portal shops closed, and the skies will be watched. You need to leave immediately.”

She says this all in a matter-of-fact tone as she pulls out an empty sackcloth from her apron pocket and starts dumping all the uneaten food in it. Once she’s done with that, she pulls out a cleaning rag and starts shining the cleared plates. All the four of us can do is stare. She’s practically buzzing with cleaning power. Her frizzy hair even crackles a bit.

“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“Hmph.”

“You can stop cleaning now.”

She doesn’t even spare me a glance. “Don’t just stand around. Get moving. Dawn is only a few hours away.”

The genfins, clearly chastised, spur into action. I’m impressed with her ability to boss them around. “Nice. I always have to blow Lust in their faces if I want to get their attention.”

She ignores me as she starts making the beds.

“Can you tell the princess something for me?”

She fluffs a pillow. “What’s that?”

I move close to her. “I don’t know if Okot mentioned it, but I think I might be able to turn invisible voluntarily now. I’ll start practicing so I know for sure, but if I can, I’ll be able to help her with that thing she wanted help with,” I try to say it quietly, but of course the genfins hear.

“What thing?” Ronak frowns.

I straighten up from Duru and pretend to help her by yanking on the corner of the blanket. She slaps the back of my hand and fixes it again. “Oh, nothing much. She just wants me to help her. Remember? Spy stuff?”

“With what?” Evert persists.

I cough and speak as quickly as I can. “Shewantsmetosneakontothesupersecretweaponislandtoseewhattheprinceishiding.”

“I’m sorry? What was that?” Sylred asks.

I sigh. “She wants me to sneak onto the super-secret weapon island to see what the prince is hiding,” I repeat. “Then we can know what he’s up to.”

The genfins glower at me.

“Absolutely not.”

I roll my eyes at Ronak. “I’ll be invisible. It’ll be fine.”

He crosses his arms. “If you can even do that again. And what if you can’t turn back? Or what if you turn back while you’re still there and someone spots you? You’re not exactly trained for this. Spying takes finesse and training.”

“I’m totally finessed.”

Evert snorts.

“I’m gonna be an awesome super spy. Like, the best. She’s gonna give me spy awards when I’m done.”

Ronak draws a hand over his face.

“It’s dangerous, Emelle,” Sylred says gently.

“I know that. But she saved me and hid me from the prince when she didn’t have to. This was the deal, guys. She helps me, I help her. She’s more than kept up her side of the deal. I gave her my word that I’d help her with the rebellion.”

“Shh! Not so loud,” Duru snaps from her spot at the window where she’s currently dusting.

“Sorry,” I whisper-yell. I turn back to the genfins. “I’ll be careful. Believe me, I don’t want to get caught. The prince is a total tool. But I can’t go back on my word. Besides, I want to help.”

“We need to discuss this as a covey,” Ronak says. ‘That is how we make decisions. Together.’

“Yeah, and we’ll do that after our mating ceremony,” Evert interjects.

“We should leave. Get to our island now. Emelle isn’t safe here,” Sylred says.

Duru, looking around for anything else she can clean, straightens up. “Yes. Hurry and leave. I will visit you at your genfin island to check in.”

Stacking the dishes in her arms, she turns and waits for someone to open the door for her.

“You could leave those here,” I say. She looks at me like I’m an idiot.

“Leave them—? No. No,” she shakes her head adamantly, as if the very thought abhors her. “You’re the ones that should be leaving. The last thing we need is for you to be imprisoned again and able to be questioned. Besides, the genfins’ continued presence on the kingdom island has not gone unnoticed by the prince. Stay much longer, and he will grow even more suspicious. You need to return to your island.”

Before she can leave, I stop her. “Wait, what about Okot? Where is he?”

“Her majesty had an errand for him.”

“What errand?”

She looks at me with irritation clear on her face. “I don’t presume to question my princess. She sent him to do something, and he left to do it. That is all I know. Now stop being idiots and leave before all of you are captured and I have to tell my princess you couldn’t follow simple instructions.”

Sylred opens the door for her and she sweeps out without another word. After she leaves, the four of us exchange glances. Initially, our plan was to wait for Okot to return so I could fly on him. We were going to meet the genfins later on their island since neither of us can be seen in town and take a portal. But now, that’s obviously not going to work since we don’t know when Okot will be back and the raid is set for dawn.

“She can’t fly on her own all that way. It will take days as it is, and she’s not the strongest flyer,” Sylred says.

“She’s not flying alone. Way too dangerous,” Evert insists.

“Can you try and turn invisible just while we go into town? Then we can hire a portal first thing and you can turn back for that part,” Ronak says.

“I don’t know. Let me practice.” I blow out a breath and scrunch my eyes closed, concentrating. I whisper under my breath. “I’m invisible, I’m invisible, I’m invisible…”

Peeling open one eye, I look at the genfins. They stare back at my still-solid body. “Dammit.”

“You thought you could just repeat, ‘I’m invisible’ and that would work?” Evert asks with a grin on his face.

“It’s called speaking something into reality, Evert,” I snap.

“Mmmhmm. And how’s that normally work out for you?”

“Well, this was my first time trying it, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna work.”

He barely holds in his laughter. “Then by all means,” he waves his hand out. “Please continue.”

I scrunch my eyes closed again and visualize myself popping back into the Veil. “I’m like the wind. I’m Invisible!”

When I check my body again, I’m still solid. “Gods dammit!”

“Should we order you some more food? See if we can induce you into invisibility with some more hiccups?” Evert teases.

“Ha ha,’ I say dryly.

“I think we’ve determined what you’re doing is not going to work,” Evert drawls.

I puff out a frustrated breath. “Well, I don’t know how to do it,” I snap. “Why don’t you try turning invisible and see how easy it is?”

With his shit-eating grin still in place, he does a terrible impression of my voice as he calls out, “I’m invisible like the wind!”

I glare at him. “I don’t sound like that.”

He lifts a shoulder. “I think it was a good impersonation.”

“Do that again and I’ll be impersonating kicking my foot into your ass.”

He just laughs. I need to work on my threats.

Ronak flicks his gaze to Evert and then suddenly comes forward. He takes hold of my arms and forces me to look at him. He blocks out everyone else, probably so I don’t throat-punch Evert.

“Focus, little demon,” he says quietly.

“I am,” I retort.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t call me out for acting like a five-year-old. “Close your eyes,” he says soothingly. “Good. Now picture your body slowly fading,” he says, his tone steady and soft. “First you feel it in your feet, as they start to go. Then it spreads up your legs, your stomach, your chest, your shoulders.”

His voice calms me completely and pulls me into an almost trancelike state. “Your head is last, and now everything is light and insubstantial. Your whole body is invisible. Your body knows exactly how to fade into the Veil. Trust it.”

I feel weightless. For a moment, I’m positive it worked, but before I can open my eyes to confirm, I hear Ronak curse under his breath. I barely hear him whisper Evert’s name, and then…

Lightning-quick, someone snatches me from behind and yells, “BOO!”

“Ah!” I jump about three feet in the air from Evert scaring the absolute crap out of me. I also think I peed a little? But when I land…I don’t land.

I whirl around to see a cocky looking Evert. He’s looking at the spot I disappeared from. “Well, that worked.” Ronak scratches the back of his head. “I guess she has to be startled into it.”

“You assholes!”

I blow Lust into both of their stupid faces and enjoy the matching growls that follow. It’s half-lust crazed and half-irritated.

“We helped you,” Ronak feels the need to point out.

“Come on, let’s go now before she sneezes herself back into visibility,” Sylred says cheerfully, opening the door.

“Sneezing doesn’t happen in the Veil, thank you very much.”

I float after them as they hurry downstairs. The sky outside is already lightening, the horizon like a dark bruise.

“You’re sure that high fae female will be there?” Sylred asks.

“She’d fucking better be. I paid her triple what a portal is worth,” Evert says.

“We’re paying for her discretion. Not just for her to open a portal,” Ronak tells him.

“Yeah, yeah.”

We pass by all the closed shops on the quiet street. The guys keep their eyes peeled. According to Duru, the palace soldiers should be making their way into the town soon.

We make our way to the end of the main road and then the guys divert into an alley. They stop in front of a tiny two-story house made of stone that has bright white shutters. Ronak knocks on the door. Even though the place is completely dark, the door swings open immediately. Not creepy at all.