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.”