Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

The liquid hits my system even as I choke on it, sputtering and coughing as it trickles down my throat.

Everyone watches me, totally horrified. Except for, you know, the bad guys.

Eyes wide, I wait for the tea to take effect on me.

I wait, and I wait, and I wait.

But nothing happens.

Oh shit! It doesn’t work on me! I really want to give the prince the finger and brag about my awesome cupid shield or whatever it is that makes some magic useless against me, but I realize that would be a dumb move. Instead, I quickly school my features and force my body to relax. I put on that same blank expression that all of his soldiers are wearing.

“The cupid looks better when she doesn’t have a thought in her head, doesn’t she, dear?” Prince Elphar asks his wife.

Soora looks miserable, but I don’t feel the least bit sorry for her. She betrayed me, Belren, Duru, Okot, the rebellion…everyone.

“You will follow my every command,” Prince Elphar says to me. “Your loyalty belongs to me now.”

“I’ll fucking kill you,” Evert threatens the prince, thrashing against his iron chains and the guards holding him back.

The prince ignores him and looks at me calculatingly, so I quickly nod. Crap. Do mind-controlled people nod? I don’t know.

I guess he’s satisfied with my response, though, because he goes on. “The first thing you will do is use your cupid powers on my soldiers here. I want each and every one of them to love and respect me. Once you’re done with that, you can move on to every fae on every last island.”

Gods, did this guy not get hugged enough as a kid, or what?

The prince turns to address his men. “Take them all to a cell. Except the unconscious one. He can be locked up with her while she works. Keep a sword trained on him at all times.”

I clench my teeth together but keep the empty look in my face as Sylred, Evert, and Belren are dragged away. Evert manages to kick one of them in shin, but the guy barely flinches. When two soldiers move to pick up Ronak, I see him crack open one eye to look at me, before feigning unconsciousness again. Hope surges through me.

Elphar speaks to Gammon. “Start lining up fae to bring to her. Bring the ones whose tea administration is due to wear off soon.”

Gammon nods and marches off to follow his bidding. The prince looks to Okot. “Lamassu, show your mate to her new room. Remember, she is your enemy. You are loyal to me. If the genfin tries anything, take him out.”

Okot nods and stands up from the table to make his way over to me.

I grit my teeth. It takes everything in me not to tell the prince to fuck off. He took my mate from me. He reduced Okot to this shell of a fae, angry and empty inside. I hate him for it, and I’m going to make sure he pays.

Okot stomps over to me and then takes my arm to start leading me away. Ronak and I are dumped into an empty building across from the pavilion. It smells of leather and sweat. Ronak is shackled to a hook on the wall, while I’m left standing in the middle of the room, and I do my best impression of a mannequin. It’s surprisingly easy to stand there and look like no thoughts are going through my head.

Okot goes to the door, facing out, and my eyes dart to Ronak, who once again peels his eyes open. Making sure no one else is looking, I shoot him a wink. Surprise crosses his face, and it’s then replaced with a look of pride before he pretends to be unconscious again. Now that he knows that I’m not mind-controlled, and I know that he’s aware of what’s going on, I let my mind race with the plan that I’m formulating. It’s a long shot, and it depends on outside sources, but if it works, we may just make it out of this alive. Maybe. Probably. Fuck, I really hope so.

I watch as soldiers line up at the doorway in front of Okot. Unlike the blank stares and mechanical movements of the others, these soldiers are clearly distressed. Some of them are jerking awkwardly and some of them keep pulling at their hair or ears, or hitting their heads, like they’re trying to silence the voice that is controlling them. Others are yelling or blinking around in confusion, but many seem angry and agitated—just like Okot was when I found him pacing his room. It’s obvious that the tea is wearing off of them.

While Okot is occupied, I quickly call Lex. She appears immediately, and before she can even say hello, I’m already ripping her bow and arrow off her back. “I need these,” I whisper, quickly strapping them on my own body.

“…Okay.”

“Quick, back to the Veil. It’s not safe,” I whisper-shout, shooing her away.

With a nod, she disappears, and not a second too soon, because as soon as the twitchy soldiers are lined up, the prince strolls past them and comes inside to join me.

Two guards behind him carry a throne-like chair and settle it in the room for him to sit on, before taking their places to stand watch over Ronak. The prince sits down with a flourish, looking like quite the asshole when he starts to drum his fingers impatiently. He flicks his icy eyes up to me. “For your sake, cupid, you’d better hope you can succeed in this endeavor, or things are about to get very, very bloody.”

Gulp.

I turn and watch as Okot brings the first fae forward. She must be a stone fae of some kind, because she has geodes and gems growing out of her scalp.

She looks around wildly, clearly distressed. Okot stops her in front of the prince, and I take up my spot behind her.

“What’s happening? Where…where am I?”

The prince just stares dispassionately back at her. I notch a Love Arrow in my bow. I don’t want to shoot her, but if I don’t, then I have no doubt that the prince will kill Ronak right here, right now. It’s made pretty obvious based on the sword being pointed at him.

Remembering how the fire fae Ferno reacted when I shot him, I aim for a non-lethal part of her body and let it fly. It hits her on the arm, and I cringe on impact.

She jerks in a hiss of pain. But I rush forward and make sure she stays facing the prince. A plume of pink seeps out of the Love Arrow, along with her blood. I wish I could go into the Veil and do this properly, so the arrow wouldn’t actually wound her, but the prince would never let me, and besides, I can’t risk Ronak going feral and never coming back. I got lucky these past two times. I’m not willing to chance it again.

The female stumbles a bit as she clutches her arm, the Love Arrow still sticking out of her. I stand at her side, not really sure what to do. Should I pull the arrow out? Should I let it ruminate? With Ferno, his loving adoration seemed to kick in almost immediately.

She jerks her arm away from me when I touch her. She looks down at the arrow numbly, seeming more confused than ever.

“Well?” the prince says, watching intently. “Did it work?”

Shit. How should I react? Should I say something? Should I fall at his feet in prostration? I don’t know how mind-controlled people should act. I wish there was, like, a manual for this sort of thing. I end up just nodding with my mouth gaping open like a suffocating fish.

I come around to face the female, and she scrapes her hand across the geodes on her head, scratching certain crevices. “Erm…Do you love the prince?” I ask dumbly in the most mechanical voice I can.

She tilts her head at me. “I…arm…hurts.”

Right. Maybe I should be answering in monosyllabic one-words? Looking back at the prince, I turn my head stiffly left and right, not moving my neck. My shoulders are practically up to my ears. I don’t know why. It just seems like the thing to do when mind-controlled.

I wish the fae could somehow fake love, but she’s not even capable of sentences, so I’m forced to confirm what he already surmised so that he doesn’t get suspicious. “Not. Working. Prince.”

There. That answer seemed like legit mind-puppet stuff. Maybe the prince will realize this is a stupid plan that in no way is going to work.

“Send in another,” the prince barks.

Dammit.

The fae female is dragged away, the arrow still stuck in her arm, and another fae is brought forward. This time it’s a broad-shouldered male with a face on each side of his head. He keeps knocking his fist against the face in the back, agitated with whatever is going through his befuddled mind. Or is it minds—plural? Does he have two? His skull is slightly large.

“Do it,” the prince orders impatiently when I continue to stand there.

Whoops. I really should try not to get distracted when my arch nemesis is around. I notch another arrow and hit this fae in the same spot on the back of the arm. The guy doesn’t even flinch. There’s no reaction whatsoever. It’s like he doesn’t even realize I just hit him. And there’s definitely no love coming from him.

When the prince looks at me for confirmation, I shake my head, still without moving my neck. Admittedly, it’s weird. I just sort of turn my entire torso left and right.

The prince looks at me like I’m the biggest idiot he’s ever had the misfortune to deal with.

“Another,” he says.

I shoot Love Arrows four more times, all with the same result. No love. Not even an inkling of like. There’s just…nothing. I even try to blow some Lust a few times. If they want to jump his bones, that might buy me some time, but nope. That doesn’t work either.

By now, there’s a puddle of blood collected on the wooden floor from where all the poor saps keep getting shot.

“Are you completely useless?” the prince asks me when the sixth person gets dragged away.

He slowly stands, and I automatically take a step back from him on accident. If he catches the non mind-controlled movement, he doesn’t say anything.

As he stalks toward me, I can feel his magic simmering under his skin right beside his irrational fury. He’s powerful and unhinged. It’s not a good combo. I wouldn’t order it off the menu.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ronak lift his head up, watching the prince’s every movement, just waiting to spring into action if he hurts me. I can’t let Ronak intervene. They’ll kill him in a heartbeat.

The prince gets in my face, intimidating me with the magic that now crackles around him like lightning. “You have one use to me, cupid,” he says, raising a finger in case I didn’t know what number one looked like. He’s such a douchecrown. “Make them love me as a prince should be loved, or I’ll rip out your heart and feed it to your lamassu mate. If they don’t love and respect me, then I will kill every last one of them, and the blood will be on your hands.”

I blink back the terror I’m feeling, trying to keep my face neutral. “Apologies, Prince.”

Just when I think he’s about to melt my face off with his scary raw magic, a huge boom sounds outside, and the prince’s attention is wrenched away. He whirls on his heel and heads for the door, pushing Okot and the other soldiers aside. I follow behind, hearing a roar of commotion.

What I see makes my heart nearly jump out of my throat. Genfins.

Hundreds of genfins, and more still coming.