Naughty Cupid Trilogy

by Pillow Michelle M.

  Rhiannon smiled up at him, her eyes heavy with longing. Ilar moved to kiss her, whispering, “Now you are as bound to me as I am to you.”

  Ilar lifted their tunics enough so they may join together, and still preserve some of his mate’s endearing modesty. Rhiannon didn’t care who saw them. She was only happy to be in his arms.

  Epilogue

  “Are you sure you wish to do this?” Ilar asked, doubtful, seeing what his wife’s sister looked like. Agrona was positively horrible in her yards of white silk. He looked down at Rhiannon from where they hid, surprised that such two different creatures could be related. Cupid was bound and gagged behind them, squirming to be free.

  “Yes, my love,” Rhiannon said. “Just because she lacks beauty, doesn’t mean she should lack love. Besides, this little troll owes us a favor.”

  Cupid grunted in protest as Rhiannon poked him in the ribs.

  “What says you, Cupid? Do you help my sister or do you take a bath?” Rhiannon asked.

  Cupid made a grunt that sounded much like ‘help.’ Rhiannon nodded. Slowly, she stood, walking across the hall in her draping tunic attire to where Agrona sat. Agrona blinked in surprise to see her sister and quickly dashed at her teary eyes.

  “Rhian?” she breathed. “We thought you were dead!”

  “No, I’m well. Better than well.” Rhiannon sat on the bench. Lightly stroking back Agrona’s wild hair, she plaited it for her as she spoke. “I’ve come to wish you happiness on your wedding day.”

  “It was very wicked of you to leave without sending word,” Agrona said, her voice soft. They’d never been close. “I tried to tell father that you’d run off with one of the knights because he refused to let you marry.”

  “My absence couldn’t be helped,” Rhiannon said, her voice wry in its tone. She looked sidelong at Cupid. The troll’s face was red with anger.

  “I’m glad you’re here, sister,” Agrona put forth, truthfully. “I think you should marry this man in my place. He’s handsome and wants nothing to do with me.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Rhiannon said standing. She smiled down at her sister’s face. “I have to go now. Tell father I am well.”

  “But, you have just arrived. Where have you been?” Agrona looked confused. Rhiannon handed her a missive.

  “Here, give this to father,” she said. “I’m sorry I can’t stay to see you wed. But, I’m happy, ever so happy.”

  “I’m just glad someone finally let you out of the tower.” Agrona’s face shone with her sincerity.

  Rhiannon motioned to Ilar. He stood beside her, his body also strangely attired to the gaping Agrona.

  “This is my husband, Ilar,” Rhiannon said, her love shining on her face. “With him I’m whole. Tell father when you see him. Don’t let him worry. I am safe with him, but I may not be able to return again.”

  Agrona nodded dutifully. Rhiannon rushed forward to hug Agrona tightly, before letting her go. Agrona grunted in surprise. When Rhiannon pulled back, a pink liquid soaked into the back of her sister’s head. She smiled a secret smile. Agrona trembled, unaware.

  “Come,” Ilar said, pulling his wife away. “It works fast. We must be gone.”

  Rhiannon waved at her sister. Ilar grabbed up Cupid and carried him hanging from one hand. Agrona was too dazed to notice the troll. As they rushed through the front entryway of the castle, a big man brushed past them, not seeing anything but his beautiful bride.

  Cupid grumbled. The human knight rushed forward to press his future wife with kisses. Agrona gasped in amazement, but melted easily into the man’s arms. Cupid couldn’t bear to watch as his Agrona was claimed by someone else.

  Rhiannon smiled brightly, hugging herself to Ilar’s waist. Her eyes shone with love for him, as did his for her. Without thought as to who watched them, she lifted up on her toes and began kissing him freely. Cupid grunted in disgust. Glancing down at the mournful Cupid, before turning her lips to Ilar’s once more, she said, “Now, open the portal, troll, and take us home.”

  The End

  Cupid’s Revenge (Naughty Cupid)

  Michelle M. Pillow

  Cupid’s Revenge (Naughty Cupid) © copyright 2005 - 2013, Michelle M. Pillow

  Second Electronic Printing July 2010, The Raven Books

  First Electronic Printing September 2005

  Cover art © Copyright 2010, Natalie Winters

  ISBN 9781452490021

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  All books copyrighted to the author and may not be resold or given away without written permission from the author, Michelle M. Pillow.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence. Novel intended for adults only. Must be 18 years or older to read.

  Published by The Raven Books

  www.RavenHappyHour.com ~ www.TheRavenBooks.com

  Raven Books and all affiliate sites and projects are © Copyrighted 2004-2013

  Cupid’s Revenge (Naughty Cupid)

  By

  Michelle M. Pillow

  Cupid’s Revenge

  Paranormal Historical Romance

  Naughty Cupid Book Two

  Cupid's livid. It's bad enough he made two people fall in love, but now thanks to King Larus, the whole Immortal Realm knows about it. There's only one thing a troll can do. Get Revenge.

  Lady Mina and her sister, Sophia, are impoverished, starving and their castle is crumbling around their feet. Their father is dead, the servants are gone and it's the dead of winter. Could things really get much worse?

  After Cupid caused a great disruption amongst his lycans by bringing a human to their world, Larus has had to meet with the Council of Elders. He's made sure it will never happen again. Or so he thought. Hearing two women scream-one whose enchanted to be madly in love with him and one who wants nothing more than to claw his eyes out-he's quickly learning not to underestimate a troll bent on revenge.

  Prologue

  Curse the lycans anyway!

  Cupid’s little black eyes flashed with an inner fire. And damn the council of immortal elders! So what if he took his vengeance out on Ilar by entrancing the whole Lycan Guard at Lycaon to one mortal woman? It’s not like anyone had gotten hurt. Besides, Ilar, Commander of the Guard, deserved it for making fun of a noble troll--just as he deserved being forced to lifemate to an ugly human woman.

  Cupid shivered in disgust to think of how his plan had backfired. Ilar had fallen in love with the hideous mortal and they were living their fairy tale, happily ever after. It was disgustingly romantic. It was hideously repulsive. It was unbearable to think about.

  Bah! Ach!

  Now he had to listen to the other trolls tease each time he saw them. They called him a cherub, a matchmaker, a rosy-faced babe who spread love and goodness throughout the two realms. If he had another basket of love darts left outside his cave door, he’d scream so loud the whole realm of magic would collapse in on itself.

  Bah! Bah! Double bah!

  Cupid hated the elders. He hated goodness and happiness. He hated Ilar and Rhiannon, his ugly human lifemate. He hated the council. He hated the realm of magic and the realm of mortals. He hated everyone and everything.

  And, above all things, he hated love!

  His humiliation wouldn’t have been so widely known if the council of immortal elders hadn’t been called forth. He blamed Larus, the elected king of the lycans, for that one. It was Larus’s court at Lycaon that had been affected by his small enchantment prank. He merely made the mortal woman irresistible to the lycan kind and brought the whole court howling to their knees with lust.

  But, could the lycan king let it go? No! He had to draw attention to the fact that Cupid had found love for Lord Ilar and Lady Rhiannon. He had to tell everyone who would listen to him that Cupid was personally responsible for Ilar’s eternal happiness.


  Now he’d never live his reputation down. First, he accidentally hit a man instead of a goat with a love dart, causing one couple to fall in love four hundred years ago, and now this. He was going to be branded for his immortal life as a matchmaker. It was beyond torture, beyond fair and right, beyond tolerable.

  And, as far as Cupid could see, it was King Larus who needed to pay for that!

  Chapter One

  Lycaon Castle, Realm of Magic

  King Larus watched Lady Rhiannon with her lifemate, Lord Ilar. They seemed truly happy together and he was happy for them. Ilar was his best soldier, a great leader, and a true friend. He deserved happiness. But the fact that Rhiannon was human still made him uneasy.

  Even though he liked Rhiannon, Larus hoped she would be the last human he saw in his eternity of living. Humans had killed his family--his parents, his brothers and sisters and cousins, until all he had left was his duty to his people. He did his duty with pride and dedication. For nearly a hundred and fifty years he’d been their ruler and, so long as they willed it, he would remain their elected king.

  “Did the elders decide what to do with Cupid?” Ilar asked, coming near the head table of the empty council hall. “Will he be punished for opening a portal?”

  King Larus looked up, gazing past the giant circular pit of flames that lit the room. He sat atop a long stone table, scratching thoughtfully at the back of his head. Slowly, he lowered his arms to lie on top of his crossed legs. He came to the hall often, especially when he needed to be alone and think. When it was empty, the room was complete silence, aside from the soft rustling of the fire pit.

  “Naturally, they aren’t pleased with what he has done,” Larus stated after a time.

  Cupid was a squat little troll and like all of his kind he had a horrible temper backed by extreme power. Trolls had no real allegiance to anyone, let alone mortals, and only used their magic for self-gain or mischief. They wouldn’t open the portals to humankind just so the mortals could flood into their world. No, they’d only open them for their own selfish reasons. Their stupid, narcissistic ways could end up being the downfall of the entire realm of immortals.

  Larus had been outraged to discover Cupid had opened up the portal between the mortal realm and the magic realm. He didn’t want to relive the wars between the mortal and immortal. They’d fought once, long ago, and there’d been much death on both sides. In the end, it was decided the realms should be forever separated. That was why the portals had been sealed. That was why they had to remain sealed.

  Only a few natural portals remained, as they couldn’t be destroyed. The doors on the mortal side were locked with the strong magic and charms of all immortal races. The only way the portals could be opened was from their side. But once opened, the realms could merge freely.

  Cupid had broken the pact of the covenants that protected the magic realm from human greed for the last three hundred years. The risk of humans wandering back through was too great. It was a risk none of the elders were willing to take.

  The lycans weren’t the only ones to leave the world of mortal men. The vampires, who were also hunted because of their ‘unnatural’ ways, had come with them. As did all things of magic--elves, fairies, even the goblins and dwarfs. They left the humans, tired of being trapped and forced to use magic for mankind’s gain. Then it was believed that humans would kill themselves off. It wasn’t to be so. To everyone’s amazement, the humans thrived. And, until Cupid’s little play of revenge against Lord Ilar, the realms had remained separated.

  Larus glanced at Lady Rhiannon and smiled faintly. They were the only three in the hall and he knew, since she was lifemated to Ilar, he could speak freely before her. “Though, the outcome is good, what could have been is beyond forgiveness. Cupid risked too much over a petty insult.”

  Lord Ilar had drunkenly offended Cupid one night by calling him a rosy-faced cherub. That in and of itself was comical, as Cupid’s wrinkled face was anything but rosy and, with the horrible smell he emitted from his foul, unwashed body, he didn’t come close to reminding them of a cherub.

  Cupid, however, obviously didn’t see the humor in the jests. So to get even, the troll had gone to the realm of the mortals, doused Lady Rhiannon in lycan pheromone to magically enchant her, and brought her to their world. The mere smell of her had sent the entire unmated population into a desperate, lustful frenzy.

  The males of the Lycaon court had fought like madmen to possess Rhiannon and the women had fought to kill her. Because of the raging emotions, their telepathic mind link had been blocked. The mind link was the only way the lycan could communicate in their shifted form and they used it often to warn of attacks. Without it, their defenses were left weakened. Both Ilar and Larus had feared they were under magical assault until they discovered the real reason.

  Knowing it was only a troll’s petty revenge that opened the portals and caused the disruption in his guards, Larus frowned. Cupid risked too much, but then trolls weren’t known for their consideration of consequences. As king, he’d been honor bound to report Cupid’s actions to the council. The troll was in some serious trouble.

  “Death seems too harsh of a punishment and yet I feel, with Cupid, anything less would fail to make an impact on his troll brain,” Ilar said.

  “Well,” Rhiannon offered softly, pushing her long, curly blonde hair over her shoulder. She looked more lycan than human as she wore the comfortable gown of his people--a large square piece of cloth that was wrapped around the body and secured with a brooch at the shoulder. Though, instead of leaving her body bare beneath, she wore an undergarment with long sleeves. Being human, the slight modification allowed her extra protection against the elements. Her wide blue eyes looked first to her husband and then back to Larus. “At least he won’t be opening the portal again, will he?”

  “The council has ordered him not to bring back any more enchanted humans,” Larus said. “Although, they’re unsure what to do with him otherwise. Because no troll sits on the council, we can only do so much.”

  “Then, he’s agreed not to enchant any more humans?” Ilar asked, his dark eyes steady.

  “Yes, he’s agreed,” Larus answered. “I believe him. I think Lady Rhiannon’s and your happiness is punishment enough. By the time I got done telling the council, and everyone else who would listen, about his ‘good’ deed, he was thoroughly mortified. Word of your love has even leaked to the trolls. If I know that race, they will persecute him enough to ensure he never does anything so foolish again.”

  * * * *

  Wessex, Realm of Mortals, Winter 1407 AD

  Cupid looked out over the ruins of an empty human keep and frowned. Winter snow lay thick and white over the crumbling walls of the castle, blanketing the abandoned bailey yard. A battering ram had decimated the iron bars of the front gate, and by the holes in the high towers it could be assumed a catapult had flung boulders at the stone. This place had been attacked.

  Why would his magic bring him to an abandoned mortal keep? Cupid frowned, slowly scratching his backside in thought.

  “I don’t want to hear it, Sophia!” A slender human woman yelled, coming from inside the crumbling mortal home.

  Cupid grimaced at the sound. The human had long black hair and wide pale blue eyes that he could see clearly from his spot on the wall. He jumped down to get a closer look at her, not sure he really wanted to. Aye, she was an ugly creature--skin smooth and pale and flawless, two arched brows, and hair that shone with an inner gleam! Ach! Not a winkle or pustule to be seen and not a single mole. How was it humans could breed with such hideous creatures as these? It was a wonder the race didn’t wither away due to complete and utter repulsion.

  He knew the hideous human couldn’t see him, as he was cloaked with magic, so he crept closer. He continued to scratch his gnarled hand absently at his inflamed backside. When his short fingers didn’t quite get the itch through the filthy material of his breeches, he dug his hand beneath his pants and scraped his nails along the
sores he found there. A small sigh left his lips, even as the scratching burned.

  Suddenly, a waft of clean human flesh assaulted him and he gagged. Pulling his hand from his pants, he shoved two fingers up his oversized nose to block the nauseating stench. Shaking his head, he shivered. If he wasn’t so mad at the lycan king, he’d never be able to stay in the ugly woman’s presence.

  Ach! Revenge was ugly work indeed.

  However, remembering the fresh basket of love darts left before his cave and the bundle of sweet smelling flowers that some magical creature had thrown into his den, he stiffened his resolve. Someone had to pay for that! And that someone was King Larus.

  * * * *

  “I don’t want to hear it, Sophia!”

  Lady Mina of Aucester threw her dark hair over her shoulder and turned to watch her sister come from the castle. White puffs of air came with the words and her cheeks stung with the coldness of the winter day. She shivered, drawing her worn cloak tightly around her body. Sophia made a small sound of discomfort and did the same.

  Sophia could well have been her twin, except that she was a few years younger and instead of hair as black as night, she had locks as gold as the sun. Their faces were nearly identical, down to the shape of their pale blue eyes and the tilt of their noses. They were the same height and the same slender build. Their lips were full, the interest of many men--men who’d wanted to marry them before their father’s execution and now who wanted them as their whores after it.