Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

The four of us just stand there for a moment, staring at the hands that I still have in front of my face.

“You done?” Evert asks, the humor evident in his voice. He leans down to press his mouth against my ear. “Because if not, I have other places you can lick instead.”

He backs away, his dimples showing while my face burns with embarrassment. I quickly let go of their hands and shove mine under my arms. “Sorry…I…umm…”

Yeah, I don’t have a good segue out of the licking incident. But I’ve staked my claim, so I can’t be totally sorry about what I did. At least the female genfin isn’t throwing out such intense longing anymore. They are my genfins, after all. See, now I’m defending the licking thing. Having mates is weird.

The female clears her throat. “What are you doing here?” she asks, her eyes flicking over me before returning to Evert.

“Hi Viessa,” he greets.

My brows scrunch together in concentration. Viessa…Viessa… Why does that name sound familiar?

“Evert,” she replies, looking quickly away.

Then it hits me. Back on the banishment island with the guys, I remember Evert talking about her. About the one who got away. This was the female he chose to bond with, before Ronak rejected her and decided it would be better to mate with high society Delsheen instead.

My heart gets stuck in my throat at the realization, and I inadvertently take a step back. Does Evert have the same longing that she does? I steal a look at him, wondering if I’ll be able to pick anything up, but I find that he’s looking right at me.

“Scratch, this is Viessa. We grew up together.”

“And almost bonded to her,” I mumble under my breath.

The corner of his lips twitch, and I feel his tail snake around my waist. “Viessa, this our mate, Emelle.”

Her eyes flick to his tail that is now possessively wrapped around me. I see a flash of pain cross over her face before she covers it up. “Hello,” she greets.

“Hi,” I say back. I’m also tempted to lick them again. I stop myself because I’m an adult.

There’s a pause between all of us, and it’s more awkward than the time I accidentally made a guy jizz his pants at the supermarket. Poor guy. They had to announce a cleanup on aisle three. I didn’t even mean to Lust Breath him that much. I just thought it would be funny to make him launch a lap rocket while he was holding a particularly large cucumber. The memory makes me chuckle, but I quickly cover it up with a cough. Evert gives me the side eye.

Sylred clears his throat. “Viessa, we’re sorry to bother you, but word is your covey is in charge of the portal today.”

The two genfins inside the cabin come up behind Viessa, one of them putting a hand on her shoulder. She looks up and gives him a smile, but I can tell it’s forced. They all have their wings, so they must be bonded, but I sense that it isn’t a love match.

“That’s right. We are,” the male confirms. “How can we help you?”

“We need to get on that list today and travel through the portal.”

The male frowns. “Didn’t you just get back?” he asks Sylred. “Besides, the list is full today. You’ll have to wait and try to get on it for next week. You know we have to limit it. If too many people go through at one time, the other high fae that work for the prince will feel the rift and be able to track it.”

Evert tenses beside me. He goes to open his mouth, which I’m sure will just be a lot of swearing and threatening, but Sylred shoots him a look. Evert’s jaw ticks, but luckily, he remains quiet.

“Look, we understand,” Sylred says, his tone considerate. “But our mate just came back to us, and we need to go to Ronak. She’s the only one that can help him.”

My head whips in his direction, and although I see his tail twitch from my attention, he doesn’t look at me.

“Now wait just a hot heart second. What’s going on with Ronak?” I demand.

All five genfins do some twitchy, guilty movement that gives them all away. A darting look, fidgeting, shuffling their feet, or a twitch of their tails tells me something is very wrong.

I put my hands on my hips and stare down Sylred. He can’t help but look over at me and give a sheepish look. “What’s going on?” I demand.

He doesn’t answer me, but I see him and Evert exchange a look.

“If something is wrong with Ronak, you need to tell me,” I persist, feeling the panic rise in me.

I hear Viessa gasp, and I follow her wide-eyed gaze at my hands. In my panic, I started wringing them a bit too enthusiastically, so of course my cupid boss mark is glowing again.

Evert and Sylred stare down at it, too, but I just snap my fingers in front of their face. “Ignore the glowing arrow through the heart. It’s my boss mark and it likes to glow. It’s just a thing. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

The three of us hold an intense stare off, and I get angrier and more worried with every passing second that they don’t say anything.

Finally, Viessa interrupts. “We’ll take you.”

Her male starts to argue, but she cuts him off. “No, it’s fine. We can fit them in. This is important, and I’d want to go if it were me.”

The male doesn’t look happy, but he gives a terse nod. “Fine.”

Viessa sighs. “We might as well get going now. The portal is due to open soon. You’re lucky you caught us in time.”

We make our way through the camp, but instead of walking between the guys, I stay a few steps ahead of them this time as I follow behind Viessa’s covey. I’m upset that the guys are keeping something from me, and worry claws into my insides.

Viessa leads us all the way to a huge circus-style tent erected in the middle of camp. There are rebel guards standing around the perimeter, and a line of rebels waiting at the entrance. Viessa and her covey speak to the guards at the door, and then with a nod, me and the guys are led straight through. Inside, there is a female high fae with yellow coloring, waiting with more guards in an otherwise empty space.

We wait off to the side, and I cross my arms in front of me. “I can’t believe you guys won’t tell me what’s going on,” I hiss at them.

Evert sighs and runs his hand through his black hair. “Scratch, it’s complicated.”

“I’m gonna complicate you in a second, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. He’s my mate. I deserve to know.”

“We think it’s best if you just come with us and see with your own eyes,” Sylred says gently.

I huff out a breath of frustration and turn my back on them again, instead opting to pay attention to Viessa, who is speaking with the high fae female. “How many portals can you open?” Viessa asks her.

“Four. I’ll open each one for three minutes. You can have as many as you want go through, but I’m closing when that three minutes is up,” the yellow high fae answers.

Viessa nods. “Very well.”

She turns to one of the guards, and he passes her a list. She and her covey study it for a moment, speaking quietly. Coming to a decision, she then tells the high fae which four islands to open portals on, including the genfin island.

“Alright,” the female says in understanding. “I’ll open the portals in five. Get your people in here and ready to go. They have an hour until I reopen it.”

Viessa nods and then walks back to the three of us, where we are waiting in awkward silence. With Viessa and her covey overseeing all the fae, they start allowing people inside the huge tent, splitting them up depending on which island they need to visit.

When the islands are announced, and it’s declared that only four portals will be opened, a lot of grumbling and complaining erupts. “I was told there would be a portal to Dalry today!” a particularly furious fae shouts from the line. “I’ve been signed up for two weeks!”

“We apologize,” Viessa states calmly, looking over all the disgruntled fae. “But you all know that the islands we visit is not guaranteed until that day.”

Several of the fae curse and complain, but Viessa’s mates along with the guards keep them all back. “You will automatically be put on next week’s list if your island was not chosen today,” Viessa ensures them.

The discontented fae continue to give them a hard time, causing both of Viessa’s genfin mates to growl. The other fae allowed inside the tent keep shooting nervous glances at the disgruntled fae, but it’s not until one of the most vocal of the unhappy fae points at me that I start to feel nervous.

“Hey. That’s the cupid,” he says with a tilt of his head in my direction, his dark, bark-like skin dripping with sap. A few of his buddies, all of them with the same tree-like bodies come closer.

I feel Evert and Sylred step up closer behind me, each of them pressing into my wings with their chests.

“The prince hates her,” one of them says.

“Yeah, I heard she attacked the fucker,” bark boy says, crossing his branchy arms in front of him. “Did you?”

All of the fae swing their heads to look in my direction, and all other voices die down in order to hear what I have to say. Nervous at the sudden attention from the hundred or so fae gathered inside the tent, I shuffle slightly on my feet. Of course, whenever I feel put on the spot, I tend to ramble.

“Oh, no. I mean, kinda. A little bit. I attacked him with some arrows. They were my pink arrows, though,” I explain, motioning to the quiver full of Love Arrows at my back. “He totally overreacted in my opinion. He just made me mad, you know? He’s really greedy. Also, a cheater. If you’re going to have multiple romantic partners, there has to be an agreement you know? That’s just good manners.”

No one agrees with me about the manners, so I just clear my throat and keep going. “Anyway, he attacked me right back. The whole thing could’ve been dropped right then and there. But oh no. He just had to keep going with it.” I start ticking off my raised fingers. “He broke the princess’s heart, hit me with magic, captured and had me beaten, threatened my males, oh, and the war. He’s a total jerk for causing this whole thing to pop up,” I say, motioning at all of the rebels as an example.

“Your rebel outfits are super rad looking, by the way, so you have that going for you. If I had to vote, I’d totally side with you guys based on looks alone. The leather really works with every skin tone,” I say with a nod.

Crickets.

I look around curiously at everyone, but it seems I’ve struck them all silent. I hear a soft snort behind me, and know that Evert is about two seconds away from laughing at me. I’d elbow him, but my wings are in the way.

Viessa clears her throat. “Ohhkay. Let’s get this started, shall we? Stand in your appropriate lines for each portal please. Everyone else not going through one of the four portals today, please make your way out of the tent.”

The tree bark gang grumbles under their breath, but they turn to depart without giving her any more trouble.

Sylred grins. “Another one’s been Emelle’d.”

I look up at him. “What?”

“Emelle’d,” Evert explains. “It’s when someone gets struck silent from the crazy ass words that come out of your mouth.”

My brow furrows. “I don’t say crazy ass words.”

Evert pats me on the head. “Keep telling yourself that.”

I open my mouth to argue some more, but Viessa comes up, interrupting me. “You can go through first. Remember to be back at the same spot in an hour.”

She shoots Evert one more look of longing before walking away, and I unintentionally bristle.

“What’s wrong?” Sylred asks, picking up on my tenseness.

“I’ll tell you later,” I mumble, before walking over to where the high fae is working her magic. Before my eyes, I see her wave her hands and she creates the first portal. A swirling whirlpool hovering vertically in the air, it’s plenty big for even the tallest of the fae in the room. No wonder they need such a huge space.

Immediately, Viessa’s mates start ushering people through, while the high fae walks over to another part of the tent to open up the second portal. We wait patiently with a couple dozen other genfins until she makes her way over to us to make the fourth portal.

As soon as it appears, she gives me a nod, and I start walking forward with the guys right behind me. When I land on the other side, Sylred helps me to my feet immediately, and I thank him before dusting off my dress as I look around.

We’re right in the center of town, not far from where I talked to the genfin male about what the date was when I first returned. The street is full of genfins working, shopping, talking, and walking around. Just like all the buildings on this island, everything is made of shiny, smoothed wood and shaped into domes that go deeper into the earth below.

The portal dropped us off in a small side street, and Sylred pulls me onto the main road as Evert comes out of the portal next.

I take a moment to just look around the bustling town, and it becomes immediately obvious that their race does in fact, lack females. I don’t see a single female as we begin making our way down the street, but genfin males of all ages turn to look at me as we pass. Evert keeps his black tail wrapped possessively around my waist, while Sylred threads his fingers through mine.

“Where are we going?”

“Just up ahead,” Sylred says, pointing to the big, wooden egg-shaped building.

I frown. “Isn’t that where the genfin elders are?”

“Yes,” Sylred says simply.

Uneasiness churns in my stomach, but I continue walking, even as more and more genfins stop to look at us. It’s a strange thing, to be stared at like this, and I’m not sure I like the attention. Sylred seems a bit nervous too, and he keeps running his hand over his pink hair, which the genfins are also eyeing.

“Achoo!”

I jump from Evert’s sudden and super loud sneeze. A big puff of Lust escapes his mouth when he sneezes a second time, making a giggle burst out of me.

He shakes a hand in front of his face. “Fucking Sex Breath,” he grumbles.

This just makes me laugh harder. “Oh my gods, you’re sneezing Lust!” I cackle.

“Like you can talk,” he shoots back at me. “You leak this shit all the time.”

“Hey, I haven’t leaked a single time since I’ve been back. And for the record, I’m not even malfunctioning anymore, since I’m now the Head of all of Cupidity.”

The guys both stop walking, yanking me to a stop as well.

“You’re what?” Evert asks, looking down at me with bewilderment.

“There was a scuffle,” I explain. “My boss tried to poof me. So I turned corporeal and poofed him first.”

“That better not be a sex term.”

I roll my eyes. “No, poofed as in terminated. I guess since I poofed him, the boss title passed directly onto me,” I hold up my wrist where my ML mark is, and show where the heart and arrow now accompanies it.

“So that’s what happened to you?” Sylred asks, taking my wrist and running his thumb over the white tattooed mark.

“Yeah. As soon as I left to go spy on the princess and find out what was going on, I was yanked back to Cupidville. I got in trouble because they knew I was somehow going in and out of the Veil, and my cupid performance was somewhat below par.”

Evert smirks. “Just somewhat?”

“Don’t make fun of me. I can be a super good cupid sometimes.”

He pats me on the head. “I’m sure.”

“I want to hear more about what happened to you and why you were gone for so long, but for now, let’s go inside so that you can see Ronak,” Sylred says.

“Yeah, I’d just have to tell the story all over again to Ronak, anyway.”

“Believe me, he’s not in the mood for talking,” Evert mumbles.

Before I can ask what the hell that’s supposed to mean, Sylred starts pulling me toward the huge egg building.