Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

There are soldiers everywhere. Doing sweeps in the air and on the ground, they’re alert and all over the place. It looks like they’re ready for a war. Trepidation fills me, and the urge to hurry takes over. Ignoring the magical barrier around the palace walls, I float straight through and into the palace.

If Princess Soora really did betray me and the guys, I want to know why. I head straight for her chambers, but the place is empty, and as I search through the rest of the castle, I realize that it’s oddly quiet. I only see a couple of servants hurrying past; nothing like the usual bustle and activity. None of the lamps are lit on the walls, only the dawning light is coming through. Usually, at this hour, the servants would be busier than ever to get ready for the day. But everything is abnormally empty.

I turn and start floating toward the prison tower. If my guys are here, there’s a good chance they’ll be in a cell. If someone hurt my guys, I will use my new hybrid powers to rain down hell on them.

I float through the walls and straight into the ominous prison tower. It’s huge. I don’t know if magic is in play, but I didn’t expect the triple spiral staircases or for it to look like it’s ten stories tall. It’s going to take me awhile to search all of it, but I start at the bottom and systematically start going through the cells.

The prison is exactly the way you’d expect. Dark, dank, and depressing. I search the cells and see decrepit fae inside each one. It seems like the prince has been busy. The prison is filled to capacity. Some cells even have two or three prisoners inside, and the squalor they’re kept in hurts my heart. Where the hell are my guys?

After searching the lower levels, I go further up. I’ve searched nearly all of them, and there’s still no sign of my guys. Frustrated, I’m about to turn around when I notice movement in the cell in front of me that I thought was empty, and I pop into visibility.

“Princess?”

My shocked question bounces off the prison walls and leaves an eerie echo to slither along the stones. I wince, but the purple-faced fae doesn’t move. She has her back to me as she lies on a pathetic pile of straw, her body curled up to keep warm.

Checking to make sure there are no guards around, I step forward and grasp the iron bars. “Princess?”

At my whisper, the form rouses, and I watch in the weak lantern light as she turns over and sits up.

“Princess Soora,” I breathe, covering my mouth with my hand.

She looks bad. Like, really, really bad.

Princess Soora has always been the epitome of grace and beauty. Never a strand of hair out of place, even when she was asleep. Never ruffled, never weak. But the fae in front of me looks broken.

Deep circles cling beneath her eyes, and her lavender hair is in dirty, matted knots. Her skin is covered in scrapes and bruises, and her once beautiful silk dress is now in stained tatters.

She blinks a few times and then stands, wincing as she gets to her feet. “Emelle?” she whispers, and her voice breaks, like she hasn’t spoken or had water in days.

“It’s me.”

“Thank the gods,” she breathes, and I see her eyes turn shiny with unshed tears. “I knew you’d come.”

Aww. She had faith in my spy-ness.

Princess Soora begins to rush over to me, but when she starts to sway on her feet, I immediately pop invisible, fly through the bars, and go visible again, catching her just in time. I set her down carefully on the straw and sit beside her.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I go into the Veil and float straight through the walls and into the palace kitchens quick as lightning. I grab two loaves of bread and two jugs of water, and then go to her rooms, grab a new dress, coat, thick socks, a towel, and then rush back downstairs. Luckily, anything I’m holding comes in and out of the Veil with me, so I’m able to carry everything while staying invisible. It doesn’t work on living things, though. I’ve tried. It did not end well for the butterfly.

When I turn visible back in her cell, the princess flinches in surprise at my return. I immediately set to work. I gently strip off her filthy gown and wash the grime off of her skin. We don’t speak, but I methodically wipe her down, and she lets me, helping to lift an arm or shift a leg as I do so.

Once I’ve wiped away as much grime as possible, I help her into her new clothes and get her shivering body bundled up in her thick fur coat. I carefully break pieces of bread and pass each bite to her, while giving her water to drink between each mouthful.

There’s something to be said about the silence of camaraderie. It fills the space more than any amount of meaningless voices could. We’re quiet as I tend to her, when she finally gestures that she’s eaten and drunk as much as she can handle, I finally set everything down and speak. “What happened?”

She sighs, and it’s a tired, defeated kind of sound. Not the sound I’m used to hearing from her.

“He outplayed me.”

She means the prince, of course.

“He does like his games,” I mumble, picking at my dress.

She nods and begins to clean out the dirt from under her fingernails. “He found out that I’d been working with the resistance. He brought me here…”

She trails off, dropping her gaze in shame.

“Soldiers were sent to ambush us. Your soldiers,” I tell her.

Her eye ticks in irritation. “He’s gotten to just about everyone.”

Hating the defeated tone to her voice, I look around the dank cell. “I need to get you out of here.”

She shakes her head. “You can’t get me out.”

“What about your power? Aren’t you super good at glamouring? Maybe you can trick the guards into opening it.”

She waves a hand at the surrounding bars. “The entire cell is fortified with iron. I’m completely drained of power.”

I bite my nail in thought. “Okay. Maybe I can wait until one of the guards comes in and opens the cell? I’ll turn visible and beat him over the head,” I say hopefully.

But she just shakes her head. “They never open the door. Stay here with me,” she says, grasping my hand. Her fingers are ice-cold. “Don’t leave.” Her purple eyes look desperate as she clings to me, and I feel another surge of pity.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to get you out of here,” I promise. “But me staying here isn’t going to help,” I say gently. “Maybe if I find my guys, they can help to bust you out. But then again, I really need someone who has a little more finesse…” Inspiration strikes, and I snap my fingers excitedly. “The Horned Hook! I’ll get him to help.”

She shakes her head. “No. I don’t want to get him involved.”

“Don’t be silly. He totally warned us about the prince searching the island. I think we can trust him.”

Princess Soora looks near panicking, so I quickly squeeze her hand in what I hope is a reassuring gesture. “Don’t worry, he’ll help, and then we can get you out of here. Now, do you have any idea where he’d be?”

“I can’t ask him…” She trails off, her voice wavering. My cupid senses are suddenly tingling with some seriously intense love vibes.

I stop short, blinking at her.

Does she have a thing for Belren?

I remember the way she recommended him to the genfins when I was stuck in the Veil. I remember how he hates the prince. How he seems to know everything, and is always in trouble with the monarchy. How he was banished. Maybe it’s not just because of his thieving ways. Maybe the reason that he always seems to want to stick it to the prince is because the princess was stolen from him.

I thought that when he showed up at the den, right before I mated with the genfins, that he’d been flirty with me, but maybe I’d read it all wrong? Maybe he came to warn me that day because he’s the one Princess Soora has been in love with, and they’ve been working together all this time. But if that’s the case, why hasn’t he tried breaking her out already?

“If anyone can get you out of here, it’s him. Now where can I find him?”

She lets out a shaky breath. “He’ll have left the kingdom island and gone underground at the first talk of trouble. He’ll go to the last place the prince will expect him to be.”

“And where’s that?”

“The island where he was banished. Arachno’s island.”