Signs of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 1)

The problem with finding out something as intense as my very existence hinging on the lives of three other people is the conflict that goes along with that knowledge. Tomorrow, their five-year banishment ends. The barrier will drop and they’ll be taken to the kingdom island where they’ll be faced with fights to the death.

If the fates smile down on them, they will survive and all counts against them will be wiped away. They’ll be restored to their previous positions of nobility and power, and their lives will continue.

If they fail, they die.

So, I’m nervous enough as it is. I’m worried for their wellbeing and for their futures. Add that worry to the fact that my life literally depends on theirs, and that leaves me in a mess of thoughts and emotions.

No matter the outcome, I’m up Cupid’s Crap Creek without a freaking physical body to paddle.              

If they lose in the culling, they die, and I lose them and myself. They might be asshole genfins, but I’ve come to think of them as my asshole genfins. It would kill me if anything happened to them.

But if they win, then they’ll go back to their lives, choose a new mate, finish their genfin power ceremony stuff, and I’ll lose the only anchors that are keeping me bound to the physical world.

As I look around at the guys as they eat around the dining table, I know I can’t tell them the truth. It wouldn’t be fair to them. Which is why I lied and told them that Arachno hit me with some strange invisibility spell before I left.

As much as I want to break down and tell them everything that Arachno said, everything that I’ve figured out, I can’t. I can’t guilt them into changing their plans for me. It wouldn’t be right. If I told them the truth and they chose a mate anyway, it would wreck me, in more ways than one.

If I told them the truth and they decided to not choose a mate in order to help me stay, then they’d eventually end up resenting me, maybe even hating me, and that would wreck me, too. So I can’t tell them. I just can’t.

Not that I want to fade back into the Veil. Hell no. I’m just going to have to find a different way. I just have no idea how the hell I’m going to do that.

“Emelle?” I hear Sylred’s quiet voice and it breaks me from my thoughts. I look up from my place on the ground, finding that all three guys are watching me.

“Yeah?”

“You’re quiet.”

I try to put a smile on my face, but I know it’s forced. “Sorry.”

“Did something else happen on that island that we should know about?” Ronak asks, his black eyes cutting a hole through me.

“No.”

Sylred tilts his head in thought, as if he’s trying to figure me out. I can see the concern in his brown eyes and in the way he combs his hand through his blonde hair. “Are you okay?” Sylred asks.

No. I am definitely not okay. “Mm hmm. Yep. I’m fine.”

“Scratch.”

My eyes dart to Evert. His blue eyes narrow on me and he has his serious face on. “Yeah?” I ask, trying to sound innocent and casual.

“You didn’t eat,” he points out, looking down at my still full plate.

“Oh, umm. I’m not hungry.”

“Exactly,” Evert replies. “You’re always hungry. You’re hungry even after you just ate. You’re hungry first thing after you wake up. You even get up in the middle of the night and start digging through our food stores like a little mouse searching for crumbs. So, we’ll ask you again. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m just tired.”

The guys share a look. I wish I knew what they were communicating with each other when they do that. It’s like they can carry an entire conversation without uttering a word.

“Are you worried about tomorrow?” Sylred asks gently.

I pounce on that. Partly because it’s true, and partly because I don’t have any other excuse to give them. “Yes. Very.”

You don’t need to worry about the culling.”

He sounds so sure. Cocky and confident.

“It’s called a culling, for gods sakes. That’s not good.’

Evert chuckles and rolls his eyes like I’m being ridiculous for worrying about them. “Scratch. Come on. Give us a little credit. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re fucking badass.”

“Hmm. Can’t say I noticed that, no.”

He smirks at me, and seeing his dimples makes me wants to burst into tears and throw myself into his arms, because I really am terrified of tomorrow. I’m terrified of them leaving me behind in one way or another. I wish I could hit pause and keep them all here with me on this island, where nothing exists except the four of us. I know that this island has been their punishment, but for me, it’s been a gift.

When the first tear escapes out of my eye, it’s like it snaps something inside me and before I know it, they’re flooding out of me. I cover my face in my hands, unable to stop the miserable sobs that escape me.

“You made her cry,” I hear Ronak mutter.

“What the fuck? What did I do?” Evert asks.

“Just shut the fuck up.”

I feel a body move next to me, and I know it’s Sylred as soon as I feel the up and down motion of his hand as he rubs my lower back where my wings would normally be. It’s strange to feel him touch there. “It’s okay,” he whispers soothingly.

I nod and get myself under control. I drop my hands away from my face and take the offered cloth that Sylred hands to me so I can wipe my eyes and nose. “Just…win. Okay?” I plead, looking at each of them. “You have to win.”

“We will,” they all say.

I take a shaky breath and stand up with Sylred’s help. I stand on my tiptoes and give him a kiss on the cheek above his blonde beard. I move around to Ronak and lay one on his cheek before he can resist, teasing his hair before I walk away. When I get to Evert, one side of his mouth is tilted up in a smirk. “Trying to have your way with all of us, eh Scratch?”

“Do you ever shut up, Third?” I reply.

I lean down to plant one on his cheek, too, but he turns his head at the last second, forcing our lips to meet as he steals my very first kiss. I’m so shocked that his lips are on mine that it takes me a few seconds to realize that we’re kissing. His tongue teases my lips, wanting entry inside, and of course I open like a burst dam, because…dayum.

The second his tongue is inside, he takes over like he owns the place. Swirling, sucking, nibbling—my brain can no longer form coherent thoughts, and heat shoots right down into my core. My tongue takes on a life of her own. She doesn’t just dance with his, she bumps and grinds like she’s a drunk chick in a nightclub. Finally, after what feels like years and years of the most amazing first kiss in history, I feel his mouth pull away from mine, and I mewl—freaking mewl!—like a pouting kitten when his lips leave mine.

I snap open my eyes—when the hell did I close them?—and stare at him in surprise, my lips swollen from the assault. The bastard grins at me. Smugly. “Who you calling Third?” he asks with a wag of his eyebrow. “Looks like I just won first place.”

All I can do is stare at him. It’s embarrassing how much self-control it takes to not launch myself at him and make him kiss me again. “I think you broke her,” Sylred says with a quiet chuckle. Ronak smacks Evert on the back of the head, but Evert just laughs.

I have to shake my head and clear my throat in order to form thoughts and be able to respond again like a functioning person. I yank on the hair on his beard, making him grimace. “That was a naughty trick.”

“Oh, believe me, love. I have much, much naughtier tricks than that.”

Sweet cupid’s bow, my lady bits are dribbling.

Okay, so he kisses like a kissing god, but I really want to knock that cocky look off his stupidly sexy face. Two can play at this game. I lean down until my lips are grazing his ear, displaying my cleavage at just the right angle in front of his face and whisper, “So do I.”

With that, I straighten up and walk away to my spot in front of the fire, leaving the guys chuckling at a flushed-face Evert who stares after me with hunger, his scent filling the air. “Something wrong?” I hear Ronak jab at him. Evert stands, fixing the front of his pants, and grumbles something about taking a walk out in the cold night air.

I laugh as I lay down on the furs, burrowing myself inside their warmth. I just had my first ever kiss, and it was amazing. For now, I’m one happily stupid cupid. For now, my guys are safe. For now, they are my solid anchors keeping me here. For now, everything is okay.

Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow is a different story.

            End of Book One