For the Love of Cupidity

by Raven Kennedy

  He snatches his hand away, and I rush to explain. “I was gonna say the bug was as big as Ronak’s foot!” I say primly. I turn to glare at Ronak for making it seem worse than it was. “I wasn’t gonna say it was as big as your as your co—”

  He clamps a hand over my mouth again.

  That time it was justified. Whoops.

  Ronak’s fathers look like they want to crawl into a genfin cave and hide.

  Ronak leans in to speak into my ear. “Can you not talk about the size of my dick at the dinner table with our parents?”

  I nod and a muffled, “Yep,” comes out against his hand.

  He drops his hand again, and I smile sheepishly. “Words just come out sometimes,” I tell his parents.

  “That kind of thing would never happen to a nice high-ranking society girl like that Delsheen,” Resha says.

  The fork in my hand nearly bends from me clutching it so hard.

  Don’t forking stab her, don’t forking stab her, don’t forking stab her.

  I smile tightly. “Delsheen is a self-absorbed jerk.”

  Resha smooths her gray hair. “Yes, but she has excellent table manners.”

  “I totally have good table manners,” I blurt out.

  Resha cocks a thin brow and looks down at my plate. Okay, plates. Plural. I have four. And yeah, I ate most of it with my fingers, so my cloth napkin is covered in meat stains, and not the sexual kind.

  I quickly pile my four plates up on top of each other, but there’s still food on some of them, so it kind of makes this weird unsteady tower. “There,” I say proudly. “Oh, wait.” I take the gross napkin and smooth it out before folding it into a fancy heart shape. I place it on top of the plate tower. “That’s better,” I say proudly.

  “Hmm,” Resha says.

  Operation Love Me isn’t going so well.

  “Mother, just because Emelle is being so kind and forgiving about your behavior tonight, doesn’t mean that I am. If you want to meet your granddaughter, then I expect you to treat her with respect, and I don’t ever want to hear you bring up Delsheen’s name again, is that clear?” Ronak says, as his tail curls around my calf.

  “Delsheen was a nightmare,” Evia cuts in. “I’m glad you didn’t mate to her.”

  The other fathers nod. “Yes, she was quite difficult,” Sylred’s father adds.

  “She comes from good genfin blood,” Resha argues.

  “She fucked the prince during our mating celebration,” Evert says dryly.

  “Evert! Don’t swear at the dinner table,” Evia scolds.

  He just shrugs.

  “I apologize for my mother’s behavior,” Ronak says to me, although he does it loudly enough that it’s clear he wants his mother to hear. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” I blurt. “Why don’t we all go enjoy the fair? It’ll be fun!”

  Evert’s parents are already nodding, Sylred’s fathers look a bit nervous, and Ronak’s fathers are watching Resha for confirmation either way.

  If I’m going to get her to love me, then I can’t just let the night end like this. Ronak is pissed, which means he’ll probably ban her again, and then I’ll have to wait another long stint before I get to try again. I want Amorette to be able to spend time with all of her grandparents, and I want Ronak to have a relationship with his parents again. I love Ronak for always putting me first. I love that my alpha adores me enough to cut his parents off for disrespecting me. It proves just how much he’s in my corner. But I know he misses his family, so I’m determined to change things.

  “It will be great,” I say, my high-beam smile on. “I bet there’ll be honey cakes. Will there be honey cakes?” I ask.

  “I’m sure we can find you some,” Sylred assures me.

  “I could do with some honey cakes,” Evert’s father says.

  I smile at him. “Exactly! Honey cakes are the best.”

  Sylred’s father, Perel, says, “I prefer chocolate.”

  I start gagging.

  Yep. Just the mention of chocolate these days sends me into a fit of heaves. It’s heartbreaking. Sylred had to throw away all of his old pants, since he couldn’t get the chocolate scent out of his pockets.

  Okot rubs my back while my eyes water, and I try to convince my stomach to keep everything down.

  “Was it something I said?” I hear Perel ask.

  “She can’t tolerate the C word,” Okot says politely.

  Evert snickers again.

  By the time I manage to stop gagging, I’m pretty sure my eye makeup is ruined because I have tears running down my cheeks. I pick up my soiled heart napkin and start dabbing myself. I’m pretty sure all I’m doing is just smearing meat juice on my face, though. Again, not the sex kind.

  Chapter 13

  Okot takes the gross, juicy napkin from me, and replaces it with his super clean one and uses it to dab my face. When he’s done, he leans back, his red-ringed eyes roaming over my face adoringly. “There, my beloved.”

  Gods, this guy. I lean forward and press a kiss to his lips, wishing I could run my hands through his mohawk and have my way with him. “Thank you, Okot.”

  “There she goes, using her love magic on them,” I hear Resha grumble.

  I look up, surprised. “I didn’t use love magic.”

  “I’m sure that’s how you got them to mate with you in the first place,” Resha says haughtily.

  “Nope. It was her tits,” Evert deadpans.

  His dad chuckles, his mother hisses his name, and Sylred smacks him on the back of his head.

  “I’ve never used love magic on any of your sons,” I announce. Then, thinking about that, I say, “Well, okay, I Lusted them a bunch of times, but mostly because it was funny, and—”

  “See! She admits it!” Resha exclaims, now deigning to stand like the rest of us. “She tricked our sons into mating with her!”

  I frown. “That’s not—”

  The restaurant host comes over to ask us to be quiet, but one snarl from Ronak, and the male goes scurrying away.

  “Not like that,” I argue. “I never would’ve forced them to love me. That’s not how it works, anyway. My Love Arrows wouldn’t work unless there were already some inclination there, and—”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself,” Ronak cuts me off angrily. I know his anger is directed at his mother and not me, but I still hate the direction this dinner has taken.

  “I want to,” I insist, wringing my hands. This has turned into a giant ball of shitcluster. “I’m barely even a cupid these days, to be honest. I hardly ever use my power. I’m lazy. Plus, I’m pretty sure I have some cupid PTSD from all the lonely years I was stuck on the earth realm working. But…yeah, lazy. It’s mostly because I’m lazy,” I admit. “The cupid thing? Psh. Barely do it.”

  Of course, that’s when a dozen cupids come filing down the stairs.

  Shitty heartsharts. Why do I always have the worst timing?

  Resha glares at me. “I think it’s fair to say that I can add dishonesty to your list of attributes.”

  “Did I say barely? I meant that I do impromptu cupid training once in a while,” I quickly amend.

  Sev notices me and saunters up, the trainees following behind him like little ducklings. “Hey there, boss. Fancy place, aye?”

  “What are you doing here?” I hiss.

  “Cupid shiteheads gotta eat, get it? This place looked the fanciest. Told the prickler upstairs to put us on your tab, since you’re the fooking boss, and all,” he says with a grin. “Figured, if you’re gonna teach ‘em how to shoot their fooking arrows, you can feed ‘em, too.”

  I swear, there’s no way I have proper karma or lady luck magic because this shit would not happen to me if those powers were working correctly.

  “Sev, go find a table, and make sure you and all of the cupids behave yourselves.”

  Sev buries his hands in his pockets. He’s wearing super tight leather pants, too, so it’s a feat. “I was thinkin’ I’d start a bit of an or
gy in this place. Call it homework.”

  My eyes widen. “Don’t you even think about it.”

  He laughs. “Relax, boss. I’m only yankin’ ya.”

  “Don’t yank my mate,” Evert snaps.

  I clap my hands to disrupt them before Sev can spout off something else that will piss Evert off. “Okay! This is fun. Let’s all go to the fair. I’m ready, who’s ready?”

  I start hefting myself up out of the seat, but Ronak takes over and lifts me with one arm. This time, he doesn’t even let me try to walk the stairs by myself. He just scoops me up and carries me up, and doesn’t set me down until we’re out of the restaurant and on the street.

  I catch a whiff of something that smells sugary and delicious, and see that now that night has fallen, the street fair is in full swing. There’s music echoing around us, lanterns, genfins buying trinkets and watching street performers, and more delicious food smells that keep wafting toward me.

  “I love street fairs!” I beam.

  “The last time you went to one, you drank too much fairy wine, and you tried to do something called twerking on the knife-throwers stage. You tripped, and when the knife thrower tried to catch you, he ended up with a blade in his neck for his troubles,” Sylred reminds me, his brown eyes sparkling with humor.

  “The stage was slippery,” I defend.

  Evert snorts. “That’s because you grabbed a full bottle of wine and dumped it on the stage, claiming you were “marinating the wood.’”

  Yeah. I did it.

  “Maybe the fair isn’t such a good idea…” Sylred’s father says, looking worried.

  “Oh, don’t worry. No wine for me until after the baby is born. Let’s go!”

  I start leading the way, and to my surprise, all of the parents follow, even Ronak’s. It’s the longest I’ve been around Resha to date. I hang back and loop my arm through hers. She tenses at the touch, but doesn’t immediately fling me off, so I take that as a win.

  Ronak looks at me like I’m crazy, but I just wave him off. My other mates start talking with their parents, and pretty soon, we’re right in the thick of the fair, surrounded by genfins.

  Lined up and down the street are food carts, trinkets for sale, dancing, acrobatics and flight shows, fortune tellers, and some genfins putting on a magic fire show.

  “So. Resha. How many years have you been mated?” I ask, going for friendly conversation.

  “One hundred and seventy-three years,” she answers.

  “Wow. That’s a super long time. How’s that going?”

  “My covey is honorable, and all of my mates have high ranking genfin blood. My parents arranged us, and it was the perfect match.”

  My mouth drops open, and I yank her to a stop. “Oh my gods. That’s why you’re so grumpy. You guys don’t love each other!”

  She scowls at me and disentangles my hold from her arm. “Do not start spouting off things that you know nothing about.”

  I’m kicking myself right now for not realizing this sooner. Now that I’m mindful, I open up my cupid senses, and immediately, I can feel the shift. Resha is totally thirsty for some lovin’.

  “Don’t you worry, MIL. I got you. I just need to round up my cupids and grab a few Love Arrows,” I explain. “We’ll get this sorted right away.”

  Resha’s face scrunches up real tight, until she looks about ready to explode, but instead of yelling at me, she just spins on her heels and marches away.

  “Okay! We’ll do it later, then!”

  She ignores me.

  “What was that about?” Okot asks, coming up beside me.

  “I totally figured out how to get Resha to love me,” I say smugly.

  Okot looks at me curiously, but before I can explain, I get distracted by a stand selling glass dildos. I must say it out loud, because Evert is suddenly at my side laughing. “Those aren’t dildos, Scratch. Those are rolling pins.”

  I squint around people the get a better look. “Oh. You’re right. That’s boring.” I cock my head in thought. “I bet you could use it as a dildo, though.”

  “For the last time, you don’t need any dildos. You have four fucking mates.”

  “Yeah, but these ones have glitter, and they come in different colors. Ooh! And that one has magic fire inside of it!”

  Evert quickly steers me away. We come up to a game tent next, and Ronak wins a handmade doll to give to Amorette. Next, we hit the fortune teller, the fire show, the flying genfin acrobatics, and of course, the honey stand. No one gets chocolate.

  Okot buys me a crown of flowers to wear, and Sylred dances with me on the dancefloor while the fae band plays music. My feet are killing me, and I’m so tired I’m pretty sure I can fall asleep standing up, but one of the elders intercepts us as we’re on our way back to the carriage.

  He’s balding, with one last patch of hair hanging on for dear life at the top of his head.

  “Elder Mortel,” Ronak says with a respectful nod. “How can we help you?”

  He turns to me. “Emelle, there are cupids in my restaurant,” he says, sounding unhappy.

  Cupid crapcakes. I think I’m in trouble.

  Chapter 14

  I go for innocence, and I twirl my hair around my finger. If he is mad about me brining cupids here, maybe I can distract him long enough to waddle away.

  I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Oh, do you own that restaurant, Elder Mortel? It’s super nice. The stairs were kinda scary. The lighting was good, though. And the meat. The meat was extra juicy.”

  I don’t know what it is with me and meat juice tonight.

  “Was I supposed to get, like, a cupid permit? A realm Visa? I’m not sure how this works, but I’m sorry if I was supposed to get your permission first.”

  Elder Mortel cuts me off. “I actually have a request for you.”

  I blink in surprise. “Oh. Okay.”

  “There are three mating ceremonies taking place in two days. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of our genfin mating nectar. You remember?” he asks. “The chalice you drank out of with the blood added?”

  My cheeks instantly warm at the memory of my genfins and me in heat. It was…intense. But…wait. “What exactly is genfin nectar?”

  Sylred cringes. “You don’t want to know.”

  Okay. Moving on.

  “Without that nectar, genfins don’t go into heat. And without going into heat, their bond won’t properly form, and if the bond doesn’t form, then their covey magic doesn’t connect.”

  I’m pretty sure he’s asking me to make a bunch of genfins horny for each other.

  “Please,” he says, when I don’t answer right away. “Our resources are low, and the nectar won’t be ready for another month.”

  “Of course I’ll help,” I say, putting him at ease. “This is actually perfect. I’ll bring my trainees with me, and they can do it as their assignment. It’ll be excellent practice before Valentine’s Day.”

  He has no idea what Valentine’s means, but he rolls with it and gives me a smile. “Perfect! The ceremonies will take place in the pavilion at nightfall. I can trust you and your cupids to be there?”

  “Totally.”

  The elder pats me on the shoulder and mutters something about, “Helpful cupids,” before walking off.

  I instantly turn to my mates with a beaming smile. “Did you see that? Your genfin elder totally just asked me for help.”

  “We saw,” Sylred chuckles.

  “That was so awesome! And now I’ll get to give my cupids some real-life experience.”

  “Was that…Elder Mortel?”

  I turn to look at Resha as she comes pushing through the other parents.

  I nod. “Yep.”

  “He’s the most prominent member on the elder council. Why was he talking to you?”

  “He asked me for help,” I say proudly.

  She frowns.

  “Ready to go?” Ronak asks me.

  I nod as a yawn overtakes me. “Yep. Someone ca
rry me, though. I’m too tired to walk. Also, my feet hurt. Also, I want another honey cake for the road.”

  “Already got it for you,” Sylred says, handing me one.

  “Gods, you’re just the best,” I say, taking it.

  We say our goodbyes to the parents, and then I look between Ronak and Okot as I bite into the cake, waiting to see who will take me. Ronak rolls his eyes, but he scoops me up bridal style and starts heading away.

  When we’re back in the carriage, I rest my head against Sylred’s shoulder. “That was fun.”

  Sylred kisses the top of my head. “It was.”

  “Resha totally almost likes me,” I say around a yawn.

  “You have nothing to prove to my mother,” Ronak says with a frown.

  “Yeah. She’s a bitch. She calls her housekeeper, Housekeeper. The male has worked for her for fifty years, and she still can’t call the fucker by name. Don’t kill yourself trying to impress her,” Evert says.

  “I think she’s just unhappy,” I admit. “I realized that I don’t pick up any love mojo coming off of her.”

  I peek up at Ronak to see how he receives this news, but he just looks resigned.

  “You know that your parents aren’t in love?” I ask, surprised.

  Ronak just shrugs. “Most genfin mate matches are arranged. The males put in a request for a mate, but it has to be approved by the elders. Since there are so few genfin females, it’s usually multiple coveys vying for the same female. The one with the highest social standing gets first choice.”

  “Huh. That’s sad.”

  “It’s just the way things are.”

  “Love isn’t guaranteed just because people bond as mates. We got lucky,” Sylred says.

  My eye twitches with power, and a pile of four-leaf clovers land on our laps out of nowhere.

  We stare in surprise for a beat, and then my guys just simply dust themselves off, shoving the clovers to the floor. They’re used to my weird magical bouts by now. Nothing really phases them much.

  I spend the rest of the carriage ride mulling over the conversation. Now it all makes sense. Why Viessa, another genfin female, asked me to help her to love her mates. Why Ronak’s mother doesn’t seem happy. How genfin mate matches are made. It’s sad to me knowing that most of them don’t even love the genfins that they’re bonded to.