Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

I fake being sick when Duru comes to my room to fetch me. I can’t exactly clean with only one hand without her noticing, anyway.

When the last bell rings for the night, bringing the servant’s dinner to an end, I leave my room and head for the kitchens to meet Mossie.

It’s obvious that she’s prettied herself up more than usual. She’s wearing a clean dress free of soil stains, and her flowers are newly pruned.

“You look super nice.”

Her sunflowers practically preen. “Thanks. You too.”

I didn’t do anything except re-braid my hair, but I smile anyway.

She picks up a basket of food and hands me a stack of wooden trays. “You can take these. Ready?”

“Totally.”

Instead of leading me outside, she takes me down a dark corridor off the kitchen and leads us into a cellar.

“Where are we going?”

She casts a look over her shoulder. “To the prison tower’s entrance of course.” “So it is underground,” I say more to myself than to her.

“Of course.”

When we get to the cellar, she pulls open a door in the floor and we descend a narrow set of stairs. Underneath the palace, the corridors are dark, damp, and musty.

I sneeze repeatedly before Mossie tells me to please stop, like I’m doing it just to annoy her. At least she’s polite about it.

After a while of going along the same narrow corridor, we come to a room where three guards are sitting around playing cards.

One is a fire fae, with smoke for hair and skin that glows like embers.

“Whoa,” I say, before I can stop myself. “Smoke hair. That’s awesome. You don’t even have to brush it, huh? I hate brushing my hair,” I confess, pulling my braid forward. “It takes forever. Plus, I have a sensitive scalp. It gets very tender up there, you know? I’d love to have smoke hair, though. Talk about volume! But what about when you go to sleep? Doesn’t your pillow combust? Ooh, I bet hats are real tricky, too.”

All three guards stare at me.

The fire fae makes a face at me and then turns to Mossie. “What the fuck?”

Mossie waves a hand and laughs, although it comes out a bit hysterically. “Oh, don’t mind her. She’s new here. Hasn’t seen many other fae except her own kind.”

She shoots me a wide-eyed look over her shoulder that says, ‘shut up and stop being an idiot.’

I clear my throat. “Sorry, I guess I’m just a little bit nervous,” I say, going closer to their table.

The fire fae shakes his head and goes back to his card game. “Get on with it.”

Mossie hurries forward, motioning for me to do the same. She sets up the basket of food on a long table beside the door and I help her divvy up portions on the trays I carry.

It’s not that easy to do with one hand. She hasn’t noticed yet, so there is that, at least. I hold my arm awkwardly under my apron, trying to make it look like my hand is simply in my pocket.

As we serve up the small trays of food, my stomach clenches. Every tray only gets a tiny hunk of hard bread alongside the worst looking soup I’ve ever seen. Besides the grossness factor, it’s not even enough food to sustain a child.

“What is this?” I hiss.

“It’s the prisoner’s food,” she replies as if I’m an idiot.

“This is disgusting. And not enough.”

“They’re prisoners. You think the royals really care? We feed them what we’re ordered to feed them.”

I’m furious. So much so that I’m seeing red, but I swallow it down.

“Which one is Blix?”

The guards are talking amongst themselves, totally immersed in their cards, but Mossie points out the object of her desire. He has deep blue skin and eyes that look like the ocean.

“A water sprite?” I ask.

She nods. “Yeah, and my flowers could use a little watering, if you catch my drift.”

I snort out a laugh. The third guard looks like a cross between a goblin and a giant. He’s all bulbous and clunky. Not a looker, that one.

“Let’s get Blix to notice you then, shall we?” I whisper, making her grin in response.

She adjusts her boobs in her dress and the flowers on her head to her satisfaction. And because I’m a cupid of my word, I approach the table to where Blix is sitting, pulling Mossie with me.

I pretend to trip, bringing her down with me, and practically shove her into Blix’s arms. I immediately blow a hit of Lust into his face and then straighten up.

I watch as the Lust hits his system and he stares down at the girl in his arms like he’s seeing her for the first time.

One second they’re staring at each other, and the next, the sprites are making out like they’re trying to suck each other’s faces off. It’s awesome.

The other two guards stare in shock for a moment before clunky guy starts laughing. Fire dude reaches over and smacks the water sprite on the back of the head. “Blix. Knock it off, and put her tongue back in her own mouth.”

Blix rears back, panting slightly. He looks at Mossie and then to his comrade sheepishly.

“Sorry,” he grumbles.

“You can be the one to serve the prisoners,” the fire fae sneers at him, making Blix groan in response.

“Sorry, gotta go,” he tells Mossie, lifting her out of his lap and setting her on her feet. “Duty calls.”

Mossie still looks dazed from the kiss, but she manages to give him a nod.

Crap. I thought when Mossie said she served the prisoners, she really meant served them, not just brought up the food. I have to get in there.

“I could help you,” I blurt out a little too loudly.

All four fae look over at me. “I mean, it was my fault, I tripped and shoved Mossie into you. I could help you serve the prisoners if you’d like.”

My heart pounds in my chest. I really need to see my guys. I’m close. So close.

Blix opens his mouth to answer, but fire fae beats him to it. “No. Only guards are permissible in the towers. Run along now,” he says condescendingly. “I’m sure you have a stone to polish or a rug to beat somewhere.”

I glare at him. “First of all, you don’t polish stone, you scrub it. And second, beating rugs is harder than you think. So if you’re one of those assholes who don’t wipe their feet before they walk inside on the carpet, I hope a kelpie kidnaps you the next time you take a bath.”

He scowls at me and his fiery skin glows a deeper red. His hands erupt into flames. Whoa. Guess I pissed him off.

“She’s kidding!” Mossie says quickly with a nervous laugh, coming up beside me. “We’ll be going now.”

“Yeah, we’ll let you get back to your super hard job of playing poker,” I taunt. I don’t even know why I do it. My brain certainly isn’t happy with my behavior. It keeps yelling at me to shut the hell up.

Fire fae guy glares at me some more, and yeah, with his flame hands he looks pretty scary, but clunky guy breaks the tension when he rasps, “What’s poker?”

Right. Human card games aren’t exactly common knowledge around here. Mossie doesn’t let me answer. She simply gives Blix a wave and pulls me out of the room.

She doesn’t let go of my arm until we get all the way back to the cellar, and then she whirls on me. “What the hell was that?”

“Sorry, I know. That fire guy just really irritated me.”

She rolls her eyes. “Ferno irritates everyone. But he’s powerful, and you don’t want to get on his bad side, trust me.”

“Noted.”

“But Blix…” she sighs and her eyes go all sparkly as she gazes off to the side. “He was a wonderful kisser. He tasted like a lake.”

I scrunch my nose. I’m not sure I’d think a kiss was wonderful if it tasted like pond water, but who am I to judge?

“Thanks for your help. Good idea with that push.”

“Any time. Matchmaking is my thing.”

When we make it to the kitchens and go our separate ways, I can’t help the disappointment clawing at me. This endeavor was a total bust. If the guards are the only ones allowed inside the towers, how am I going to get to my guys? Will I wake up in the morning with more of my body missing? It’s not a good thought. What if my lips disappear? Or my boobs? I need those.

When I open the door to my room, I nearly jump out of my skin to find that I’m not alone. “Holy balls of hellfire, you scared me.”

Princess Soora turns around from the window to face me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

I quickly close the door behind me and stand before her, keeping my missing hand hidden from view. “What are you doing here?” I cringe at how that sounds. I probably should be more eloquent when I’m talking to the freaking princess of the realm. “Sorry, I mean, how can I help you, Your Highness?”

She clasps her hands in front of her all regal-like. She’s super good at being regal. I wonder if she ever doesn’t look regal? Maybe when she gets the stomach flu? It’s gotta be hard to look regal when you’re puking your guts out. Although, if anyone could do it, it would be her. She’s even a regal crier. She was all cute sniffles and pretty, purple cheeks.

“How have you adjusted here?” she asks. “Any trouble?”

“Everything’s been fine,” I tell her.

I wonder if she knows about my trip to the towers? But how could she have found out so quickly? Maybe I’m in trouble. The thought doesn’t sit well. I need at least one royal on my side.

“You told me that you were here for the genfin prisoners.”

Shit. She does know. “Yeah. I mean yes, Your Highness.”

“I made some inquiries after you told me that, and I discovered that there are only three genfins that we have in the towers right now. The noble house of Covey Fircrown.”

“Yes.”

She starts walking around my small space, but her movement just makes me nervous. Is she going to throw me out? Maybe put me in a cell, too?

Ugh. I’m just not made for jail. I’m pink, for crying out loud.

“Unless you knew the covey from many years ago, which I think is not the case since you’ve only just become corporeal, that means that you met them just recently. Which means you somehow breached the barrier over their banishment island.”

Oh. So this is what she’s here for. Still, I don’t know what she’s getting at.

“Yeah, I did. It’s like the glamour. Some magic doesn’t work with me.”

“But some magic does?”

“The guys, I mean, when the genfins used magic on me, it worked.” I’m not going to mention the potion Arachno had me drink.

“Hmm. Well, regardless, it seems our most powerful barriers have no effect on you. You can simply pass through them.”

“I guess so.”

She stops walking and faces me again. “I want you to fly to an island, pass through the barrier, and gather information for me.”

“What island? And what kind of information?”

“One of my informants gave me information on an island that the prince is using in secret. We don’t know what he’s using it for, but there have been whispers of him building some kind of weapon. I need to know what’s on that island, and you’re the only one who can access it without raising alarms by lowering the barrier.”

“But if it’s that secret, it’s probably protected with more than just a barrier,” I point out.

“That’s true. Which is why I’ll lend you one of my personal guards to take with you in case they have a protection perimeter set up around the barrier. He’ll also act as your guide. He has the rough coordinates of where this island is supposed to be located.”

Crap. This all sounds way above my pay grade. Wait, do rebels get paid? Something tells me no.

“I want to help you, Princess Soora, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for this kind of thing.”

She comes forward and takes my hand. Thankfully, it’s the one that’s still there. That would have been awkward.

“I need you to do this, Emelle. If the prince is building some sort of weapon, I need to know what it is, and what his plans are for it. There have been talks of him using it to take out entire islands of the fae who have been most vocal about dissention and calling for change. If he succeeds, he’ll not only be killing thousands, but he’ll squash the rebellion as well. Many good fae will die.”

I blow out a breath. I know I have to help her. Not just because I owe her, but because I don’t want the prince to get away with this, either. There’s just one problem…

“Umm, okay, I want to help you, but there’s a little bit of a problem.”

She looks at me curiously, and I raise my other arm and hold it out to her. She looks down in confusion for a moment before she realizes what’s missing. A gasp escapes her purple lips. “Your hand! What happened?”

“I’m sort of…turning invisible again.”

Her eyes meet mine. “You can’t control it?”

I shake my head and come clean. “It has to do with the genfins. Apparently, because they were the first fae to make skin-to-skin contact with me, they also became my anchors to this world. Whatever magic Prince Elphar smacked me with wasn’t permanent, but the magic leeched onto the guys and made it so that I can stay as long as I keep close to them. If I’m apart from them for too long, or too far away, well…” I motion to my hand to show what happens.

“Can you come back?”

“Right now, I’d get my arm back if I touch all of them. If I turn all the way invisible…I don’t know. I don’t think so,” I bite my lip.

“This is very troubling, Emelle.”

I snort. “Yeah, understatement of the century. Believe me, I’m not in any rush to go back to the Veil where no one can see me. And even worse, once the genfins take a mate, the magic binding me to them will most likely dissolve, and I’ll be screwed. And not in the good way.”

She frowns and starts walking again. “This is problematic.”

“I know. I tried to sneak into the towers tonight to see them but it didn’t go as planned.”

“No one can get in there except for the guards. Not even me,” she admits.

I make a disappointed sound. “More of me will disappear the longer I’m away from them. And if I travel to that island, I’ll be gone for sure. It’s too far away. I don’t know if I can come back from turning totally incorporeal, even if I get back to the guys.”

Princess Soora sighs and rubs her eyes. “This changes things. I need to think. It will be no use sending you if you cannot relay the information back to me.”

“Plus, you know, I’d really like to stay alive in this realm and all.”

She smiles slightly. “Indeed. Do they know? The genfins?”

I shake my head and her smile turns sad. “Someone did tell me there may be a way to anchor myself to something or someone else. If you can find me a way to do that, then I’ll help you and fly to the weapon island.”

“Do you know how this can be done?”

I shake my head. “No clue.”

“The culling trials start soon,” Princess Soora points out.

“Yeah, and I need to be there with them.”

She nods once. “Alright. Let me think on this, and I’ll contact you again tomorrow. Will you be okay until then?”

No idea. “Yep. Totally.”

“Okay. I will leave you now. Rest, and stay in your room tomorrow. I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”

“Sure.”

When I’m alone in my room again, I undress and pop out my wings before lying on the bed. Maybe with the princess’s help, I can find a new anchor. Let’s just hope I don’t disappear before then.