Psyche's Heart : CUPID'S MATCH BOOK 3

Chapter 22

I'm not sure what to feel as Crystal and Amena head out of the cafeteria to meet Mino.

Trepidation? Darkness?

Tonight, we go to the Underworld.

Cupid, Cal, and Charlie sit around me in heavy silence – also deep in thought.

I think that ever since Valentine appeared in my dream, a part of me suspected that at some point we would go to him; just as a part of me suspected that he was never really gone.

I should be worried about this – I should be afraid.

We're going to the land of the dead; a place that could claim our lives, our souls. Cal said that if Cupid got taken there by the Furies he would, for all intents and purposes, be dead. And now Crystal wants the three of us to offer ourselves to them – without even a fight.

Not to mention that now we're going to have to face Valentine again.

But, oddly, the dominant feeling spreading through my body is relief. Relief that this is finally happening. Relief that we're going to get hold of the box before the Arrows do.

That's what I tell myself, anyway.

But a darker part of me wonders if the relief I feel is because I want this; because I want to see Valentine - the cupid I killed - in the flesh. Whether I want...

"Don't mean to interrupt all this misery and awkwardness - but don't you think we should...you know...be coming up with a plan?" Cupid's voice breaks me out of my thoughts. My eyes move to his. He holds my gaze for a moment – arms folded on the surface of the table, body leant forward. There's still a slight air of irritation about him – I see it in the hard line of his jaw; in the tightness of his broad shoulders.

But at least he's looking at me. And, as I hold his gaze, I think I catch a glint of humor in his irises.

Cal breathes sharply out of his nose – jerking his head towards his brother. "Of course we should. I was thinking."

"Think faster..." Cupid drums his fingers on the table.

"Why don't you come up with something?"

"That's not the arrangement we have here, brother. You come up with the plans, and I sit around looking ruggedly handsome. That's always been the way..."

The corner of my lip quirks up, and Cupid catches my eye again. There's something uncertain in his expression, something a little sheepish, and I wonder if Crystal and Amena telling him to cut me some slack has gotten to him.

Cal's left eye twitches, his head moving to the side so fast he looks like he could have given himself whiplash. He opens his mouth to retort.

"Are you guys seriously going to do this?" Charlie interjects before he can come out with whatever scathing comment plays about his lips. I turn to her. She's leant forwards, elbows on the tables, hand over her mouth. Her eyes are uncharacteristically serious. "Go to the Underworld, I mean?"