Signs of Cupidity, page 15
“So when you did your duty as a cupid, you … spread love?” Sylred asks.
“You make it sound like a disease. The god Eros created cupids to do his dirty work. He doesn’t want to keep up with everyone these days, so we’re his minions. But it’s not just about ‘spreading’ love. That’s the goal, but everything that comes with desire—flirtation, longing, craving, anticipation, lust, sex … It’s all important, and I cultivated it all. Well, for the most part. Sometimes. Usually.”
“Unless you were too bitter and jealous, you mean?” Evert asks.
I shrug. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“You wanted in on the action, Scratch?”
I narrow my eyes. “You would too if you had to watch people for as long as I did. I had no one to talk to, no one to touch, no one to touch me …”
I feel the sexual tension rise in the room as my words taper off. My talk of intimacy sets them off, and it’s awesome. I like to get reactions from them. I’m reaction-deficient.
“Anyway, as soon as I strengthen my wings, I’ll be on my way and get out of your hair. I’ll go find love, make some friends, eat as much as I can, because food is seriously amazing, and I’ll do … whatever else people do when they’re alive. So … are we good here? I’ve told you everything,” I say, starting to walk toward the door.
I really want to escape Evert’s suspicious anger and go explore their garden more. I could look for that Red Wings plant Sylred told me about. That stuff is super yummy. “Prove it,” Ronak says, stopping me in my tracks.
I look over my shoulder at him. “What?”
“Your story doesn’t change anything. You’ve had plenty of time to come up with a story. Just because you’ve told us, doesn’t mean we believe it. We need proof.”
“You want me to prove it to you?”
“Yes. Unless you can’t.”
I look at him warily. “Fine. But you can’t get mad.”
I turn and walk toward him slowly, my bare feet soft against the wood as I take deliberate steps. My long pink hair is in soft waves over my shoulders and reaches to the small of my back.
I’m still in Evert’s shirt and nothing else, and I’m acutely aware of my bare back and the way my cleavage can be seen from the top of the loose ties of the tunic. My blue eyes lock onto Ronak as I prowl closer, because for once, he’s not the predator. He’s the prey.
I stop when I’m right in front of his chair and position my legs between his. I lower myself onto his lap and lift my hand to stroke along his cheek and jaw, finally touching that scruffy beard I’ve longed to feel.
Slowly, I allow shivers of flirtatious desire to escape from my fingertips. The power comes out of my fingers in silvery wisps, nearly translucent. Ronak freezes, reacting just like he did when I hugged him. But this time, I can see smoldering embers in his black eyes. I lick my bottom lip, and he follows the motion, making heat boil in my belly.
I lean in closely, our mouths nearly touching. It’s so quiet that all I can hear is my own drumming heartbeat. Then, with exquisite slowness, I loose more power in one long, sensual Lust-Breath. It steams out of my mouth in pink tendrils that wrap around him and then disappear.
The embers in his eyes instantly erupt into hot, out of control flames, and I feel his erection spring to life beneath me. The intense smell of arousal floods my nostrils, making my own eyes dilate with yearning. He makes a low, guttural groan that turns my insides into putty. But I wait, not once breaking eye contact with him. I feel the heat coming off of him as his cock grinds into me.
Then his mouth comes for mine. But just before he can make contact, I jump out of his lap. He’s out of his chair so fast that it knocks over and falls to the floor with a crash. He reaches for me, but I anticipate the move, so I leap out of the way before he can grab me.
“Uh uh uh,” I reprimand him, wagging my finger coyly. “You’re still Not-First, remember?”
I hurry to the other side of the room so that the table stands between us. I can see that it takes everything in him not to chase me down. I have to hand it to him. The guy has self-control—I gave him quite a bit of Lust.
I quirk a brow at him and put my hands on my hips, just because I know it’ll infuriate him. Ronak is breathing heavily, the evidence of his desire obvious in his pants. He’s trying to control himself, but I can see how … hard it is. Ha!
“You asked for it. Lust-Breaths. Flirt-Touches. And if I still had my bow and quiver, I could shoot you with a Love Arrow, too, but I wouldn’t do that to you. Anyway, there’s your proof,” I say sweetly, waving a hand toward a very lustful Ronak from across the room. “Have fun with the aftereffects of that.”
Evert laughs at Ronak’s expense. “Oh, shit. No, you never did that to me. I would’ve seen it. Your power is visible,” he muses, more to himself than to anyone else.
“I told you.”
“That was awesome. How you feeling, big guy?” Evert taunts.
“I’ve heard a cold bath will help,” I tell Ronak with a wink.
With that, I turn around and saunter away, swaying like a badass with a nice ass. I’m so caught up in my hip action that I forget I’m not incorporeal anymore and I can’t go through walls. I smack face-first into the wood.
“Ouch,” I say, rubbing my face.
Totally embarrassing. What a way to ruin my exit.
I dart to the door, throw it open and flee outside. As soon as I reach the garden, I hear the guys start laughing hysterically.
I soothe myself with the knowledge that I’ve left Ronak with a raging hard-on that won’t wear off for a good while, not to mention a good knock on his pride. That’ll teach him to mess with this cupid. Plus, it showed Evert that I haven’t been using my powers on him. I can’t help but smile.
Cupid: two, Wall: one. Cupidity at its finest.
CHAPTER 19
I’m up a tree, watching the sun fade. I went through my flying exercises nearly all day. Okay, that’s a lie. It was just for an hour, and then I mostly lounged around and ate fruit from the garden. What? I got tired, and my muscles are still learning how to do this whole walk and move thing. But hey, baby steps, right?
The guys were off doing their own thing, so I had the day to myself. After practicing flying, I decided to climb up here and watch the sun fade away. It’s different from the human realm. In the human realm, their sun lowers in the sky, taking all the light with it. Here, where there’s not just one sphere of earth but a ton of floating islands, it works differently. The sun sort of drifts further and further away, until it’s just a pinprick in the darkening sky, and then the stars peek out and the moon comes closer and closer. It’s like a dance where one partner moves in as the other glides away.
It’s peaceful here on the island, but I can’t help but wonder again why the guys were banished. I want to ask them about it, but with the way Evert reacted, I know I need to tread carefully. They may not want to kill me anymore, and they may believe me about what I am, but I don’t have their trust. Not yet.
“Have you learned nothing about climbing up trees?”
I look down and see Evert and Sylred looking up at me through the branches. I hadn’t realized before how far up I am, but they’re quite a ways down from me. “But it’s such a nice view from up here,” I tell them. “Don’t worry, I promise not to fall this time.”
Evert rolls his eyes. “Come down, Scratch. It’s time to eat.”
They know I can’t resist food, even if I did gorge myself on fruit for most of the day. I quickly get up and launch myself off the branch. I hear a shouted curse below me. A rush of air greets me as I fall, and I flap my wings three times, landing on the ground in front of them with a soft thud.
“Fucking hell, female, don’t do that.”
I point my thumbs over my shoulders. “I have wings,” I remind them.
“Which you just confessed to never using before this,” Sylred points out.
Evert points in the direction of the house with a scowl. “Go.”
I roll my eyes but do as I’m told. I like food too much to stand around and argue. When we get inside, Ronak is already there, sitting at the table. I haven’t seen him since this morning when I used my powers on him. I pick up a plate and fill it up with food with a smile on my face. Ronak is doing his best to ignore me, but I’m not going to let him off that easily.
“So. How are you feeling?”
Ronak pins me with a murderous gaze. I smile back.
Evert laughs and sits down next to Ronak. “Don’t worry, Scratch. We all believe you now.”
When I’ve piled on as much food as I can fit on my plate, I take my seat on the floor and start digging in. Between mouthfuls, I ask, “So, now that you realize how wrong you were, not to mention rude, assholish—yes, I’m making up a word—unkind, arrogant, thickheaded—”
“That’s enough adjectives,” Evert cuts me off.
“Anyway, now that you realize how terrible you were to me at first, when I in no way deserved it and am in fact completely innocent of all idiotic accusations, are you going to tell me what the hell you are and why you were banished on this island?”
The guys exchange a look, but it’s Ronak who answers. “That’s not your concern.”
“Well, that’s hardly fair. I told you mine, so you should tell me yours. What exactly are you? You’re not like any other fae I’ve seen since I’ve been here. And if you tell me you’re some sort of demons, I am seriously going to throat punch you.”
Sylred and Evert laugh. “We’re genfins. Not demons. This island is demon-free, apparently,” Sylred says. “Well, unless you count those devil-spawned beasts that attacked us.”
I give an involuntary shiver. “Those things were horrible.”
“Yeah, the island used to be filled with them. We were nearly mauled to death the second we landed on this island, but luckily, we managed to thin their numbers down substantially over the years. We usually know where their dens are, too, but that pack caught us off guard. They aren’t normally so close to the cabin.”
“What if they come here?” I ask, trying to keep my tone calm and cool but failing miserably. I can’t help it. Those things nearly killed me and took my foot off.
“They won’t. Ronak took care of them. We’ll be eating the bastards from now until we leave.”
I wrinkle my nose at that but can’t ignore the relief that floods through me.
“So … genfins. I don’t know anything about that type of fae,” I say, fishing for answers.
Evert crosses his big arms in front of him and leans back in his chair. I see his black tail swishing behind him. “Not surprised. You wouldn’t see many of us. Our population is pretty pathetic. Plus, we tend to stick to our main island, which is about thirty islands that way,” he says, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.
“I can’t imagine why; you’re all so friendly to outsiders.”
Evert uncrosses his arms and leans forward, his blue eyes alight with mischief. “I’ll show you exactly how friendly I can be.”
Good gods, I think my lady bits just rolled over and drooled. Down, girl.
I eye him appreciatively. “So … does this mean sex is back on the table?”
Sylred starts choking on the water he’d been drinking, so Evert slaps him on the back, which doesn’t help at all.
“I’m good with sex on a table,” Evert says with a smirk.
I laugh throatily. Now, this is fun. This is what I’ve been waiting for since … always. Flirting, playing, desiring. My skin tingles with delight, and I can feel my cupid powers hovering just beneath my skin, begging to be released. My feathers ruffle, drawing Evert’s gaze.
“Maybe you are,” I say, “but I’m not on the menu yet.”
Evert’s lips spread out into a wide, wolfish smile. “Hmm. I’ll have to remedy that.”
I shrug a shoulder. “If you can.”
He points a finger at me. “But no cupid magic.”
“Psh. Like I even need to use it.”
Ronak shakes his head and stands up. “Enough.”
Evert snorts. “Please. Like you don’t want to tip her over? She’s hot as hell, and you know it. But if your limp dick is too hung up to perform, I’m happy to take one for the team.”
He thinks I’m hot. He’s totally in first place now.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Ronak says. He’s such a cock block. “Just because she’s not a spy doesn’t mean we can have anything to do with her. We don’t risk our covey link.”
“Oh, fuck the link. We’re talking about breaking it anyway,” Evert snaps.
Ronak’s jaw grinds, and the room grows tense. They’re trying to break their covey link? What does that mean?
Ronak finally turns back to him. His eyes are black with anger. “Yeah, but not until after the culling, Evert. We need our link to get through them, and you know that. Which means we can’t fuck it up yet. Which means you can’t fuck her. Neither of you can.”
I bristle and get to my feet to face him. “Excuse me, don’t talk about me like I’m not here. And did you not hear me? I’m not on the menu!” I retort haughtily.
I’m totally on the menu. I’m just not going to make it that easy on them. “I haven’t waited over fifty years to just sleep with someone who doesn’t deserve this,” I say, motioning up and down my body with my hand.
All three sets of eyes follow my hand, taking in the curves hiding behind Evert’s shirt. “And you guys definitely don’t deserve this yet. You shot me and tied me up, remember?”
Evert gets hung up on one word. “Yet?”
I blow out a flustered breath, making a strand of hair move out of my face. “Are genfins known for being thickheaded?”
Evert cocks a brow. “Depends. Which head are you talking about?”
I try to fight the laugh that wants to break through, but a smile slips out despite my best efforts. “You’re a pig.”
“You like it.”
I really do.
“Evert, enough,” Sylred says. “You know Ronak’s right. We need our covey link intact if we’re going to survive the culling.”
Evert rolls his eyes. “Fucking royal culling. I can’t wait to be done with this shit.”
They all nod at that. It’s the first thing they’ve all agreed on.
“What exactly is the culling?”
Surprisingly, it’s Ronak who answers. Probably so he can make sure no one says more than he wants me to know. “The culling trials are a series of public competitions against other banished fae. We’ll fight to the death.”
My mouth drops open. “To the death?” I squeak out. “But why?”
“You aren’t the only one who’s pissed off the high fae,” Evert says, glowering at Ronak.
“So that’s why you were banished here?”
“Yep.”
“Why not just kill you? Why banish you and then send you to fight?”
Sylred looks at Ronak, maybe for permission, and then back to me. “Ronak would’ve been executed, and possibly the two of us by covey association, but high-ranking members of fae court cannot be put to death outright. Fae laws protect those in leadership positions.”
I look around at this ill-fitting group of guys. “And you three are in a high position?” I ask dubiously.
“Yes. Our covey is set to be leaders for our people.”
I just look at them.
“What? We don’t look noble enough for you, Scratch?” Evert taunts.
I press my lips together, refusing to let a sarcastic reply fly out. He likes it too much. I look back to Sylred. “So there’s more than one covey that’s in charge of the genfins?” I clarify. “Yeah. One other. A group of elders.”
I tilt my head at them, taking in their appearances. Two of them shirtless (I’m not complaining), all of them with thick, scruffy beards, a shaggy head of hair, dirt under their fingernails, hardened features, sunned skin. They don’t look like members of the fae court at all.
I watched members of the fae court. For the most part, they were soft, pristine prats drunk on power and enamored with political games. These guys in front of me are anything but soft and pristine. They are rugged and wild. They don’t look pretentious or snobbish. They just look … hot as hell. I clear my throat, realizing I’ve been staring.
“So … uh, you did something to piss off the high fae, and instead of executing you, they committed your covey to be banished for five years and then set you to fight in the culling,” I summarize.
“Yep, that’s the gist of it, Scratch. Now, if we’re done with story time, I’m going out to train. Any of you assholes coming?” Evert asks, getting up.
Ronak stands up, too. “We all need to train all day long from now on. We need to be prepared. The culling will be here before we know it.”
“Can’t come soon enough,” Evert mumbles, stalking outside.
I would’ve missed it if I hadn’t already been staring at Ronak—hell, I almost missed it, anyway. But I saw it—the flicker of pain in Ronak’s expression as he watched Evert walk out. It was there for an instant, and then he closed it off, fitting his usual cold and expressionless mask over his face once again. But it was there. I have no idea why Evert hates Ronak so much, but based on what I just saw, it hurts Ronak immensely. I wonder if Evert knows. I wonder if he cares.
“You can come with us to the training yard. You wanted to practice flying, right?” Sylred asks.
“Right.”
“Come on then,” he says, leading the way.
I follow the guys outside. We walk behind the garden and head into the forest. After a few minutes, we reach a clearing, and I stop in my tracks, my mouth hanging open. I thought their handmade cabin and furniture was impressive. But this is just …
“Whoa.”
Sylred turns back to look at me and then looks at the training yard, trying to see it through my eyes.
He scratches the back of his neck and shows a sexy smile, bringing the eye crinkles out to play. “Yeah. We train a lot. Being banished gets boring.”
