Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

I remember immediately why I hate going through portals. They make me feel like I’m falling up and then down and my stomach doesn’t know which way to settle for gravity.

I land on all fours, the breath stolen from my chest as I gasp for air.

“Wow, you just went right down on your knees. This must be my lucky day.”

At the mention of luck, my eyes burn slightly and then a handful of coins drop down from nowhere, landing at his feet.

I lift my head up and sit back on my ankles, looking around at all the shiny coins now mocking me from the floor. Pushing the hair away from my face, I meet the eyes of an orange-skinned high fae standing over me. His hair looks like marigolds and his eyes are the same bright hue. “Throwing money at me?” he says with a teasing lilt to his voice.

“Lucky pennies,” I say lamely, and then move to scramble to my feet. Before I can straighten up, Princess Soora comes through the portal, bumping into me in the process.

I was halfway up, so the movement makes me stumble face-first into the orange guy’s crotch. He catches me by the elbows while my nose gets acquainted with his orangesicle.

“Sorry,” I mumble against his crotch.

He chuckles and helps pull me all the way up to a respectable distance from his groin. His orange eyes twinkle with amusement, but then his gaze locks onto the princess, and he moves over to her, instantly wrapping her into a hug.

“Soora!”

I straighten my dress as I get my bearings, while the princess and orange slice have their moment. We’re in some sort of luxurious sitting room, with five different seating areas, a harp, and windows from floor to ceiling that make white tiles sparkle.

When I make my way over to the window, I look out and see a gorgeous view of quaint cottages winding around a dirt road and wooden bridges set over a rushing river. The land looks lush and untouched, except for in the far distance, I can see an area that’s been cleared of trees and looks like there are dots of temporary housing.

When I turn back to the princess to ask where we are, I catch her wiping the corner of her eye as he kisses the top of her head. A huge smile spreads over my face.

“So you’re the lost lover!” I say excitedly as I rush over to them.

The two of them break apart from their hug to stare at me.

I clasp my hands together in front of my chest as I beam up at them. “I can totally feel the love between you two,” I say with a sigh.

Princess Soora gives me an indiscernible look. Is it embarrassment? I quickly rush in to reassure her. “Oh, don’t worry princess. I’m a cupid. Love is totally my thing. There’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. You guys look super cute together. I bet you could make some really cute fae babies,” I squeal a little just picturing it. “Oh, with your purple and his orange, your babies would look like a sunset!”

The guy snorts, but tries to cover it up with a well-placed cough. Princess Soora smiles lightly and says, “Emelle, let me introduce you to my brother, Zalit.”

My eyes dart between them. “Oh.” This just got awkward.

Princess Soora obviously picks up on my train of thought from the expression on my face because she quickly shakes her head. “Not lovers.” She clarifies. “Just siblings.”

“Oh. Okay, good. Because that actually would be something to be embarrassed about, and then I would’ve been made a liar since I said there was nothing to be embarrassed about,” I tell her seriously. “Glad we got that cleared up.”

Zalit lets out a laugh. “But you can feel the love, eh?”

I narrow my eyes at his teasing tone. “I can’t always tell what kind of love it is. Just that it’s there,” I defend.

He laughs again before turning back to his sister. Now that I know they’re related, I can see some similarities in the shape of their faces. “Thank the gods you’re free. We thought you’d—”

His words cut off, and his orange throat bobs.

Princess Soora puts a gentle hand on his arm. “I know. It’s alright, Zalit.”

A fiercely protective look comes over his face. “Now that you’re home, he can’t touch you. We’ll take the asshole down.”

“Then we have a lot of work to do,” she replies. “I need to get caught up on what the rebellion is doing. Where is Belren?”

“Belren was in a bad way. I had him taken up to the infirmary so a healer can tend to him. He was quite drained.”

“Thank you. I’m sure he just needs some rest,” she says. “Which Emelle and I should get some for ourselves.”

He nods. “I’ll see that she’s taken care of.”

Princess Soora leans over to peck a kiss on his cheek. “She has four mates, brother, so don’t take too good care of her.”

He just laughs, but a pang of sorrow slices right through me, my mind immediately going to Okot. The way that he looked at me, like he hated me. I swallow down the sob that wants to come up and shake my head to clear it.

Princess Soora seems to catch what she said, and a regretful look crosses her face as she makes her way over to me. “I take it you saw him?” she asks quietly.

I nod miserably. The last thing I want to do is cry in front of her and her brother, so I take a moment to compose myself before answering. “Yeah,” I answer. “How did you know?”

“He’s the one who escorted me to the cell.”

I shake my head in shock. “How could he have tricked both of us? I just don’t get it. His…loyalty felt so real.” I want to say love, but if I do, then I really will lose it.

Princess Soora rubs a finger over her tense brow. “Loyalties can change. People can be tricked.”

I look down at my feet. She may have been tricked, but I was gutted.

The princess surprises me when she puts her hands on my shoulders and kisses me on the cheek. “Thank you for helping to rescue me, Emelle. You’re far too good for this realm. More than you realize.”

I try to give her a smile. “I’m your spy. I got your back,” I promise her.

“I’m sorry about Okot.”

“Me too,” I say thickly.

She drops her hands and with a nod goodbye, she sweeps out of the room. I take a shaky breath before I turn expectantly to Zalit. “So where exactly are we?”

“This island is our home. It’s been in our family for generations. It’s about thirty islands north of Highvale, the kingdom island.”

“Hmm.”

He crooks his arm and holds it out to me. “Allow me to escort you to your rooms? The manor can be a bit of a maze if you’re not used to it.”

“A maze? Just how big is this place?” I ask as I take his arm and start following him out.

He doesn’t answer me, because he doesn’t really have to. As soon as we walk out of the room, we’re in an open hall on the ground floor, where I can see another three stories above. The corridors on each floor are open, showing off beautiful archways made of glass, with suspended flowers inside of them. Everywhere I look, there are embellishments of Princess Soora’s family crest—the violet.

I whistle under my breath. “Wowzers. This place is super nice.”

“Our family home has been here for centuries. We take great pride in it, along with the rest of our island and our people.”

As I look around at all the purple and gray accents, I can’t help but be impressed. “A manor,” I snort. “Why don’t you just call it like it is? This place is a freaking ginormous palace.”

He makes a sound of amusement beside me as he leads me out of the huge open hall and starts taking me up the marble staircase. There are glass chandeliers hanging above and servants bustling around, the gossip probably already spreading that the lost princess has come back to life and returned home.

Zalit drops me off at a door at the end of the third-floor corridor. The balcony is only about waist high, so I can look out and see the entire hall below. “Here you are. If you need anything, call for a maid, and she will be more than happy to serve you.”

“Thanks.”

Zalit leaves me with a little tilt of his head, and I disappear behind the door, closing it behind me.

The inside is just as expensive and purpled out as the rest of the manor. A nice sized bed with periwinkle blankets is calling to me, but I don’t answer its siren’s song. Not yet.

Instead, I walk over to the exterior balcony, turn invisible, and fly due north.

I get back to Highvale and into the castle in record time. I already have the rooms memorized, so I don’t hesitate to find him.

It’s still early, so when I get to his room, I find him passed out on his back. Asleep like this, he looks like my Okot again. My loving, gentle, adoring Okot. Longing that I’ve never felt before fills me, and I swear, my heart hurts so much that it feels like it’s fatal.

Still invisible, I creep up onto the bed and then carefully settle myself above him. It takes extra concentration to hover just right, but when I’m settled on the crook of his shoulder, I look up at his sleeping face, watching his even breaths and wishing I could bury my face into his neck and feel him pull me close.

I pretend to graze his cheek with my fingers, lightly tracing over his septum piercing and his troubled brow. I want to kiss it away, to hear him call me his beloved and for everything to go back the way it was.

“Why don’t you love me?” I whisper miserably.

Even in my non-corporeal form, I swear, I can feel the heat of tears sting my eyes.

“I love you, Okot,” I say with a shaky breath.

I bring my intangible lips to his, and gently press a kiss against them. I close my eyes, pouring in all the love and heartbreak into that one kiss as I can. Maybe like the stories, he’ll wake up from his sleep and a curse will have broken. He’ll be the Okot who loves me again.

But he doesn’t wake up, and there is no curse. Only me, a broken-hearted cupid trying to stay with him the only way I can.

I don’t know how long I lay with him, but I stay curled up against his side, watching him sleep, realizing just how awful it really is to have a broken heart. No wonder those humans were always so miserable. I don’t blame them a bit for cursing my efforts at love. I’m quite sure this is the worst I’ve ever felt in all my lonely existence.

When Okot starts to stir and the sunlight grows brighter, I know I need to get back. I give him one last lingering kiss on his lips. Just as I sit up to leave, I see him bring his hand up and run a thumb over his lip.

I freeze and a choked sob noise escapes me. “You can still feel me?” I breathe. “How can you, of all my mates, feel me, when you were just faking it?”

It isn’t fair.

Feeling worse than before, I jump out of the bed and rush for the wall, floating straight through it and outside. I fly all the way back to Princess Soora’s family’s island and back to my room. As soon as I go visible and collapse on the purple sheets, tears take over my body, and I drown in them.

Only when I’m neck-deep and gasping do the tears let up just enough for me to fall into a wretched sleep.