Chapter 3 Three

By the time I had changed into my ceremonial robes and made my way to the council doors, I was too anxious to actually go inside.

“Are you nervous?” Lyriel asked.

“I can’t stop my hands from shaking,” I whispered, and just like that, he took my hand in his, holding me steady.

Was it enough? Had I done enough to avenge my parents? Would they be proud of me? I thought, touching the amulet on my neck for comfort.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Terrified.”

Lyriel smiled. He was leaning against the wall beside me, arms crossed.

“Ever since we were kids,” he said, “I knew you were special. And I don’t mean Heartwalker special, or one billion matches special.” He shook his head. “I mean you, just the way you are.”

He paused. “I’m so proud of you, Cupid. And I know your parents would be too.”

It was as if he’d read my mind, and he knew all the uncertainties I had about my family. I was about to be given the greatest honour any Heartkind had ever received and still… I felt empty.

I stepped forward and put my arms around Lyriel, and he caught me without hesitation, his body solid and warm against mine.

He held me up, supporting me just like he always did when we were kids.

I pressed my face into his shoulder and breathed while he patted my back slowly. “Goddess, I missed you.”

Then he laughed, low and warm. “Go on. Don’t tell me you’re going to keep the Council waiting.”

I laughed too, “No.” I wiped the last of the happy tears from the corner of my eye. “Wouldn’t want to make the gods angry.”

“Absolutely not.”

I turned to the doors and reached for the handle.

“Wait,” Lyriel said. “One more thing.”

I turned back.

He stepped forward and reached down and brushed my hair back from my face with two fingers, gently, and then he kissed me softly on the lips.

I went completely red, smiling like an idiot, “What was that for?”

“The hall is full, there are no more seats, so I can’t come in with you. Go make me proud, then come back out. We’ll talk about it later.”

He laughed, scratching the back of his neck.

“I’ll take you up on that promise.” I couldn’t help but smile, with all the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I turned around and faced the doors, squared my shoulders and walked in.

Inside the great council room was vast and ancient, lit by light that came from no visible source, with massive marble statues of soldiers standing at the doors.

On one end, the gods sat at the high table above the marble floor, seven of them, ageless and enormous in presence and size.

On the other far end was the cloud border, the end of Heartkind territory, the very edge of our world. No one had ever crossed it and lived to tell the tale.

On the sides of the great hall were thousands and thousands of Heartkind, seated together, watching me with pride.

I even recognised a few of my former students grinning at me and gave them a small, shy wave.

They all broke out in thunderous applause when I came in, chanting my name at the top of their voices. “Cupid! Cupid! Cupid! We love you, Cupid!”

All of us, bringers of love and light to the human realm, using love magic in one form or another to serve, keep the hate of the evil Nexium Dragons at bay and ensure balance in the realm.

I felt so overwhelmed with their love and support; the victory was not just for me alone, but for all of us.

I dropped to one knee before the council with my head bowed.

“Cupid,” the voice came from the center and the hall went quiet.

It was Apollo, God of light and truth, “Heartwalker of the Aureate Province. Daughter of the Gilded House, Family of Eirene. Rise.”

I rose.

“I remember you, child,” he said. “Small and terrified on a battlefield, covered in your family’s golden blood. It was I who found you and protected you from certain death at the hands of the Nexium king.”

“I am forever grateful,” I said, remembering the past bitterly. “Not a day goes by that I don’t remember you saved my life.”

He nodded slowly. “Therefore, it is with great honour and pride that I bestow upon you the Crown of Eternal Ardour, in recognition of one billion acts of love, in service of humanity, unmatched in the history of Heartkind.”

He paused. “You have earned this more than anyone who came before you.”

“I don’t even know how to thank…”

“Or,” Apollo said, cutting me off.

“That is what we would have said.” His voice grew cold. “If you were actually deserving of that title.”

The entire hall went silent in shock.

“I’m sorry,” I said in confusion. “I don’t think I underst—”

The crowd started to murmur and whisper.

“We had such great hopes for you,” he said. “But you have failed us. And for your failures, you will receive no crown today.” A pause that lasted approximately forever. “Instead, you will be banished.”

“Banished?” I looked at the other gods. Their faces were blank and without emotion.

“Henceforth, you are no longer a Heartwalker,” he said. “You will be taken to the cloud border and cast out into the human realm below, where your memories and your magic will be stripped from you, and you will live out the rest of your days as flesh. As one of them.”

“Is this a mistake?” My voice sounded small and strangled. “There has to be a mistake, if you’ll just let me…”

“The gods do not make mistakes,” said the goddess to Apollo’s left.

“Guards,” said another. “Take her to the border.”

The crowd gasped loudly as the huge stone statues suddenly came to life. Two of them grabbed my arms tightly and started dragging me off to the edge.

I thrashed desperately in their grasp, begging frantically for an explanation. “Wait, what did I do? I don’t understand, please, someone tell me what I did—”

“Your matches are failing.” Apollo’s voice followed me as they pulled me backwards. “The couples you have bonded across a thousand years of service, they are separating, divorcing, breaking apart one by one as we speak. Just look at the Archers!”

A giant screen came down in the middle of the great hall, and we could all see them, the future Mr and Mrs Archer screaming at each other in the middle of an insurance office.

The murmurs grew louder, rippling through the crowd.

“I don’t believe it.” One of them gasped.

“Cupid is… losing her love magic…”

Apollo continued, “Whatever has happened to your magic, it is undoing everything you have ever built.”

“Then let me fix it! Let me go back out there and—”

“And she has trained thousands,” another god said to the table, as if I wasn’t in the room. “All of their matches are failing, too. The damage is widespread—”

“I’ll fix it,” I said. “I swear to you I will fix all of it, just please give me the chance—”

“Love is dying,” Apollo said, his voice quiet with grief. A hush fell on the roaring crowd as looks of terror crossed their faces.

“What do we do?!” one asked.

“The last time love died at such great numbers, the Nexium grew strong enough to start a war!” another whispered.

“The human world fills again with hate and conflict. They poison their own earth and attack each other with bombs and weapons of destruction.” One God continued.

“Another great war brews between our kinds, and we are not strong enough to survive it this time. We need only our best. We cannot tolerate those who drag us behind, not even you, Cupid.” Apollo continued.

They dangled me over the edge, my feet falling below the clouds.

One stone guard let go of my right arm, and suddenly, the only thing standing between me and destruction was the one hand grabbing my left arm.

My whole life flashed before my eyes, through everything I knew, everything I had seen, everything I had spent a thousand years learning, and somewhere in the blur, I had it!

A thought that was either brilliant or insane, but I had no time to decide which.

“Stop!” The strength of my own voice shocked me.

“Spare me,” I said, breathing hard. “Please. Spare me.”

Apollo looked at me from across the great marble floor. “Why,” he said, “would we do that?”

I pulled myself upright between the guards, my gold robes torn at the shoulder, hair half fallen, eyes wild with fear and panic.

“Because I know how we can beat the Dragons.”