Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

We get to the stone door that Belren used his fancy magic on earlier to move the stone away, but instead of heading toward the barrier door, he starts heading down to the mountain towards Arachno’s side, and pops his wings out of his back.

They look like moth wings. Slightly fuzzy, but with beautiful hook-like shapes in the centers. “Horned Hook makes more and more sense,” I tell him. “But what doesn’t make sense is why we’re walking toward the crazy cannibal spider fae who tried to eat us.”

He continues making his way down the mountain, moving rocks out of his way as he goes, making it look like he’s gliding down the damn thing. When he gets to some of the larger rocks, he simply jumps into the air and flaps his wings to speed his way over them. I, on the other hand, slip, slide, and scrape my way down until giving up trying to do things as gracefully as him. I fly the rest of the way down and land beside him huffing and puffing.

He looks over at me. “On second thought, maybe you should just…stay here. If you had that much trouble just getting down the mountain, I’m not sure how much help you’ll be.”

“Shut up,” I whisper-yell. I seriously don’t want Arachno to hear us. Even with the gross serpent-fae skin stuff, I’m not convinced she’ll be distracted enough not to notice us now that we’re no longer protected by his hideout’s cloaking magic. “Will you please tell me what the heck we’re doing over here? I thought we were going back to the kingdom island?”

“Well we can’t very well go there yet,” he says, striding forward. He’s still heading toward Arachno’s caves.

“What? Why not?” I say, rushing over to catch up with him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be Princess Soora’s operative?”

“If you mean her super awesome spy, then yes.”

“For a spy, you’re not very…adept.”

“And what the hell do you mean by that?” I snap. First the gag reflex, and now he’s questioning my spy skills. I don’t appreciate it.

“That prison tower is not just impenetrable from the exterior,” he explains, never slowing his stride as we walk through the rocky, sparse ground. There are a few trees here and there, and a low, thick fogs covers the entire island making it look extra creepy. All of the trees resemble massive, spiky skeletons rather than plants.

“I know,” I tell him, as I try not to pant to keep up with him. I miss my guys. They totally would’ve carried me. I fly for a bit to give my legs a break.

“But,” he goes on. “It’s also protected by magic. Magic that will tear apart any fae that attempts to escape its walls.”

I picture Princess Soora walking out of the tower and getting shredded into a thousand little pieces. I wince. “Well that…isn’t good.”

“Indeed,” he agrees. “Which means we need to find a way through that magic,” he turns to look at me. “And how do you break into an impenetrable prison tower that will turn you into a thousand pieces should you try to escape?”

Is this a trick question? “Ummm…I don’t know.”

He smirks at me. “You don’t.”

He turns around again and hops over a huge rock before landing nimbly on the dirt about three feet away. When I try recreate the move, I don’t stick the landing. The landing sticks me.

“Ouch.” I land on my butt in a pile of dead, sharp sticks and pull the twigs out of my rear end.

Belren takes my arm and pulls me to my feet. “So, if we can’t get through the magic that’s been put on the prison tower, how are we going to get the princess out?”

He starts pulling me forward again, and I do my best not to stumble over the rocks at his hurried pace.

“The prison tower’s magic is being supplied through one source. The King. And do you remember what King Beluar’s magic does?”

I think back to the culling, when my genfins were forced to fight to the death. The scene of the trial where they were forced to wield swords that had minds of their own comes clearly into my mind. And so does the way Ronak went animalistic and cut down every last opposing fae. The thought makes chills break out over my body. “Yeah, umm, King Beluar’s magic somehow controlled the swords so that they had a will of their own.”

“That’s right,” Belren says, helping me past another rocky area. Arachno’s mountain is looming closer and closer.

My mind scrambles to keep up. “Wait. You’re saying that he did the same thing to the tower? That he somehow…gave it a mind of its own?”

“Not a mind. A will. The walls of that prison tower have one purpose. To keep its prisoners inside. The prison will destroy any who try to escape.”

My brow furrows in thought. Not only do we have to figure out a way to get Princess Soora’s cell open and get her past the guards, but the entire prison itself will be fighting us. The odds don’t sound good. Then a thought hits me. “Wait,” I say, huffing and puffing. “The guards. They’re able to go in and out, and the prison doesn’t harm them.”

“Very good,” Belren says. “The guards have a magical stamp put on them, so to speak, that the king himself puts on them so that they can enter and exit freely.”

“Well, since the king is a giant douchefunnel, I doubt he’ll do that for us.”

Belren pulls us to a stop behind a scraggly tree to peer behind it at the entrance to Arachno’s caves. “No,” he murmurs. “He won’t. At least, not the real him.”

I look at him like he’s crazy. “What were you smoking in that pipe? Stop talking in riddles. And could you please tell me why we’re going toward the crazy fae-eating spider villain’s lair?”

After his gray eyes scan the surroundings for a beat longer, he continues to pull me forward, his grip firm on my arm. “Because, little Veil female,” he begins as we start quickly climbing the mountain. “Arachno has a taste for parodworms. She always has a stash of them.”

“Parodworms?”

“Yes, the writhing, wriggling worm-like creature that feasts on equal amounts of soil and animal dung.”

I wrinkle my nose in disgust. “Eww.”

“Yes, I’d rather feast on mutton and pie, myself,” he says. “But, do you know what the parodworms are known for? Do you know why Arachno has such a taste for them?”

I’ve never heard of parodworms before, but… “Well, when she eats, she’s also eating their power. So I’m guessing they’re powerful in some weird wormy way?”

“Very,” he says, pulling me up to the lip of the cave entrance. We crouch down, listening and scanning the surroundings for a beat. Nothing is moving anywhere that I can see through the fog and rocks, but every shadow cast on the ground gives me the creeps and makes me look twice.

“And what can the parodworms do?” I murmur.

He looks over at me. “Oh, the usual worm things,” he says quietly. “They break down organic matter in the soil, for one.”

Well, that doesn’t sound that impressive. I open my mouth to say so, but he stops me when his lips curl into a smile and he says, “Oh, and they’re imitators.”