SWNOVELS For the Love of Cupidity: Chapter 3
When we finally make our way out of the bathroom, dawning sunlight kisses the sky, basking our den in a lavender glow.
Sitting at the table, Okot serves me up my breakfast, which I inhale in about two point seven minutes.
I’m wiping my lips on a cloth napkin when the rest of my family comes barreling in from outside.
“Mommy! I flew! I flew!”
She races up to me, hopping up and down on her bare feet excitedly.
I beam, watching as her curls bounce with her movement, her cheeks flushed with excitement and the kiss of cool air outside.
“Already?” I ask, impressed. “That was fast.”
She runs over to Okot next, who’s at the stove, cooking everyone else a “normal” breakfast, as they call it. I really don’t know why they refuse to eat the limes and garlic toast. It’s delicious.
“Daddy! Did you hear? I flew!”
Okot sets the utensil down and lifts her up. “I did hear. I am very proud of you,” he says, his voice filled with pride.
I swear, every time I see my mates with our daughter, my ovaries start to throb. When we first had Amorette, I was worried that there would be jealousy, but that hasn’t been the case at all. It was never even an issue of exactly which genfin is her biological father, and Okot doesn’t see her as any less his just because she has a genfin tail. In their eyes, they’re all her daddies, and they work together as a perfect unit. Of course, she’s had them wrapped around her little red tail since birth.
She climbs up Okot’s arms to his shoulders. “Yep! I did this!” she says, spreading out her arms and red wings. “Daddy Ro frew me in the air, and I fly-falled. Daddy Ev catched me.”
I shoot a look at Sylred, and he scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “They were being careful.”
“Then, Daddy Ev let me climb on the roof and jump off!”
None of my genfins will look me in the eye after that one.
“Is that so?” I ask dryly. I’m not even surprised, to be honest.
“Let’s eat before you get the genfins into any more trouble,” Okot tells her, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
Amorette climbs down, and Okot starts loading everyone up with pancakes, which I politely decline. Pancakes for breakfast? Gross.
I get up to pee again, and when I toddle back, I notice my cupid boss mark start glowing.
“Again?” Sylred says, tilting his head at my arm when I return.
“Yeah…”
My mates all shoot me looks that I promptly pretend to be oblivious of.
“You said you’d take time off,” Sylred reminds me.
“I know, but I can’t just leave them hanging.”
Guilt claws at me. Now that I know more about my cupid boss powers, I know that my mark starts glowing whenever there’s an issue in Cupidville.
The only problem? I can’t actually go to Cupidville. Firstly, because I’m pregnant, and we don’t know how that will affect the baby. Secondly, we can’t have Ronak turning feral and not being able to snap out of his animal-state.
I’ve been working remotely when an issue crops up. Usually, that’s okay, because I can call Sev here and delegate to him. But the mark has been glowing more incessantly lately, and Sev isn’t the most reliable or the most driven. He gets distracted by his dick a lot. Honestly, we’re probably two of the worst cupids in existence. And we’re in charge. It’s been a long three years.
“Why don’t you take care of whatever it is that they need this time, and then tell them you’re on a break until the baby comes,” Sylred suggests.
“Yes, my beloved. We want you relaxed,” Okot adds.
“I’m totally relaxed,” I insist as I bite my nails.
“You barely sleep more than two hours at a time,” Ronak rumbles, looking displeased.
“That’s just because I have to get up to pee.”
“You keep a pile of heart-shaped cupid paperwork shoved in the pantry, and you sneak in there to work when you think we aren’t looking,” Sylred says.
“Umm…I’m just getting snacks?”
They roll their eyes.
“You’re scratching. A lot. Which you always do when you’re stressed,” Evert says, looking pointedly at my hand that’s…yep, it’s scratching my old itch. Dammit.
I throw my hands up in frustration. “I can’t help it! I’m the boss. I have to, like, do stuff.”
“How about asking Lex to help?” Sylred suggests.
My stomach plummets at the thought of Lex, and I immediately start to shake my head. “She’s not my assistant anymore, you know that.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t accepted another assistant, either. Besides, I’m sure she could help,” Sylred tells me gently.
I sip on some spiced buttermilk that Okot made for me, watching as the five of them devour a huge stack of pancakes.
“I know,” I say, looking down at my mug and picking at grains in the wooden table. “I just…I know it hurts her to come here. She tries to put on a good front, but I can tell. Plus, I can feel it. Her heartbreak. It makes me feel so bad, because it was my f—”
“Don’t say it was your fault. The Horned Hook’s death was not your fault,” Evert glares at me. “The prince attacked, and Belren chose to take the hit.”
It most decidedly was my fault, but this is an argument I’ll never win. We’ve had it for years.
I sigh. “I don’t want to make her keep reliving it.”
Ronak leans back, placing his arm over the back of my chair and toys with the ends of my pink hair. “It’s been three years,” he points out.
“Yeah, and she’s still not okay,” I remind him. “She changed after Belren took the blast that would’ve hit her. I thought things would get better with time, but now I’m thinking that she’ll never be the same.”
Amorette’s eyes bounce between us from her wooden highchair. “Whatcha talkin’ about?” she asks around a mouthful of food.
“Don’t talk and chew,” Sylred reprimands, directing her attention away from our conversation by launching into the importance of keeping her wings clean.
Ronak’s attention moves back to me. “Then maybe she doesn’t need time. Maybe she needs something else to keep her mind off it.”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’ll let her be for a while longer.”
“Well, you’ve got to do something, because you’re working too much. That mark is gonna keep glowing at all hours of the day and night unless you get a better handle on things,” Evert says.
Damn meddling mates. I’d argue more…if they weren’t right.
Not that I’ll tell them that.