Cupid’s Match

I stare blankly at Cal’s phone, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then I glance at Cupid, whose head is still lolling against the seat. His eyes are closed and his breathing is fast and shallow. My eyes find Cal’s in the rearview mirror.

“Their condition is Cupid,” I say quietly as he drives. “The Matchmaking Service is letting us go back safely because Crystal told them they could have Cupid.”

To my surprise Cal gives a noncommittal shrug.

“I thought as much,” he says as we reach the sign reading Forever Falls.

“What? You mean you’re okay with this?”

His angular features harden. “You don’t understand anything, do you? They were hardly going to let us off with no consequence. You’ve learned by now what happens if Cupid is matched, I presume? He’s been on their undesirable list for years. You should be thankful it’s not you they’re after.”

I sit in stunned silence for a moment before Charlie turns around.

“Maybe he’s right, Lila,” she says tentatively. “I’m new to all this—but if those Arrow guys are after you and Cupid because they think you’re going to get together . . . well, they’ll have no reason to try and kill you if he’s in custody.”

I open my mouth to retort but Cupid rolls his head toward me and looks at me with bleary eyes. “S’okay, Lila.”

I look at him. His face is flushed and his body is as hot as a furnace. “Cupid? What can I do to help you?”

“He’ll be fine,” says Cal. “The Ardor just needs to work its way out of his system. Crystal recovered.”

I look up at him. “Are you seriously going to let them take him? When he’s like this? He can’t defend himself. What will they do to him?”

Cal takes a turn and I realize we are approaching the hill by Cupid’s house.

“They’ll put him on trial. It’s no less than he deserves.”

Moments later Cupid’s house looms before us. Cal parks the car outside the front door.

“I can’t believe you’re even contemplating this,” I say angrily. “What’s wrong with you? He’s your brother! And he said he was leaving town after he got the Finis, anyway.”

Cal looks sharply over his shoulder. “My brother says a lot of things he doesn’t mean.”

I shake my head. “He gave me his word. He really will leave. I told him there was no future for us.”

Uncertainty flickers behind Cal’s silver eyes. We stare at each other for a few tense moments.

“Does that change anything?” I finally ask.

Cal sighs and opens the car door. “Maybe,” he says. “Let’s just get him inside and see what Crystal has to say.”

He comes around to the back and grabs his quiver, which has the golden Finis bunched in among the other arrows. Then he throws Cupid’s arm over his shoulder and hauls him up the driveway, reminding me again of his understated strength. Cupid is bigger, yet Cal holds him upright with a casual ease.

Charlie and I follow the brothers back into the house.

Crystal is sitting at the breakfast bar when we enter, stirring a mug of coffee. Her skin looks unusually pale and there are dark circles under her otherwise bright blue eyes. In front of her is a narrow, black case. Her gaze slides across all of us, lingering on Cupid, then resting on the quiver slung over Cal’s shoulder.

“You found it,” she says, her voice a little weak.

Cal nods, still supporting Cupid, whose head has drooped onto his chest.

“What happened?” he asks her.

“I told the Matchmaking Service about the Finis, and how the Arrows tortured me to gain possession of it. The Matchmaking Service agreed to pardon you and Charlie for your involvement, and they have issued an arrest warrant for the members of the Arrows involved with my kidnapping, so they should be off your case, for the time being at least.”

“But they want Cupid?” I say quietly.

Crystal turns to look at me. “Yeah,” she says. “And they want the Finis.”

Cal’s features darken. “They’ll kill him.”

Crystal shrugs. “Maybe,” she says, “or maybe not. I don’t think they want to. They’d fear a backlash if they were wrong. I think they’ll do something worse.”

“Put him in a Sim you mean,” Cal says quietly, color leaving his face.

I look at Cal questioningly, and he tries to school his features into something less horrified.

“They can sentence someone to time inside a Sim—trap them inside their own mind.”

Nausea fills me. “Look, maybe Cupid’s been selfish in coming here, but he doesn’t deserve this,” I say. “The match hasn’t been made. No harm has been done. Can’t you just let him go?”

Crystal pinches the bridge of her nose, eyes cast down to the granite breakfast bar. “Not when we can’t guarantee he won’t come back.”

“He won’t,” I say.

“And what am I supposed to say to the rest of the Matchmaking Service, Lila?” she asks. “That I let him go because his Match told me to? I’ll end up on trial myself.”

“But—”

“Tell them he escaped.” Cal’s voice is low.

Crystal snaps her head toward the two of them. Cupid groans, his face flushed, and I can’t tell if he’s trying to join the conversation about his fate, or whether he’s just in pain. Cal shushes him.

“I’ll make sure he leaves in the morning,” says Cal. “I’ll have him swear an oath on the Styx not to come back in Lila’s lifetime.” He takes a deep breath and looks uncomfortable. “Please, Crystal.”

She eyes Cupid warily. “He’ll never agree to that.”

“He will,” I say. “He was going to before.”

“Is that true?” asks Crystal.

Cal gives a stiff nod. They hold eye contact. Then Crystal exhales.

“Fine. But he leaves first thing,” she says.

Relief floods my system as Cal agrees, but it’s weighed down with sadness. It’s the right thing to do, I know that. We can’t risk developing any more feelings for each other. But the oath is so definite; if he swears it then there’s no way I’ll see him again. Ever. And that hurts.

Cal watches me for a moment before turning back to Crystal. “What about the Finis?” he asks.

“I’ve kept it hidden for so long,” says Crystal. “I never wanted the other cupids to get a hold of it because I feared what they would do with it. It’s our one fail-safe way to destroy her if she comes back.”

“Venus?” I say. “You’re worried the cupids might destroy the Finis even if Cupid and I don’t get together? “

“A way to show their loyalty—and now that Cupid has matched, who’s to say another cupid won’t one day find themselves in the same situation. Which is why we can’t give it to them.”

A half smile creeps onto her face. She opens the case sitting on the breakfast bar to expose a golden arrow that looks exactly like the arrow that hung above the reception desk.

“We’re going to give them a replica.”