“How do you mean?”
“Well, they’re the ones that started the fight. Riling up the Gods and Goddesses. Shitting hyped up pure glittery love with a capital L over everyone. Basically they instigated that fight, since it seems even Gods aren’t immune to the darker aspects of love.”
“So? That’s what cupids do. Although I stupidly thought they only fired off arrows. Hit by cupid’s shit doesn’t really have the same Hallmark ring to it, does it?”
“No. You don’t understand. Their arrows only open the door to true love, producing endorphins and a heap of other feel good emotions. If there’s a genuine lasting attraction involved people can choose to build on that base or ignore it. But theliquid excrement they were strafing everyone with, that was all-consuming dark Love. The kind that people wage wars over. Or happily hand over all their life savings with no questions asked. We’re talking jealousy, desperation, rage, devotion, worship.”
“Bloody Gods. How do you know this though?” Love, it always came back to fucking love. No good ever came of it.
“Canary. He ate some of the droppings, pulsed crimson red and then promptly exploded.”
“Well, shit.” It seemed an appropriate response.
“There’s something else you should know. You’ve been infected by it, dark love. Twice now I’ve seen you touch Canary and he’s glowed the same vivid crimson colour for just a nano-second. The first time was at the meeting with Aunt Lucy. The second time in Gaia’s kitchen.”
“That cursed ring. It’s typhoid Mary. So we have confirmation that everything is connected. But why did the cherubs blow up the party? Were they hoping Copper would get caught in the crossfire when they sent everyone insane with love?”
Nico was raising some good questions. Staring at him over the rim of her glass, annoyingly aware that the deepening shadows of the coming rain storm only made him look that much more erotic cover book hottie material, even in plain denim jeans and a white shirt. Hmmm, how had he managed to get out of those trousers of his she’d ruined? Nope, not going there.
Gigi pondered instead the cursed ring, if it was a handcuff and a control conduit, it was failing to deliver on Nico. That had to be frustrating for the controller.
“With Elijah and Apep hovering over her the entire time it seems foolish to hope Copper might get hurt or dead in the general melee. Kind of a waste of some assets, if you ask me.”
“Maybe Copper was never the target, maybe you are.”
“Me? I’m no one.”
“Not true. You and I both had our businesses targeted by someone who wants to distribute a deadly toxin. All those attempts to infiltrate have gone awry. But the door is still open, with you, because of the ring. Especially if whoever is behind this knows you have it, but haven’t buckled under to its call yet. What if they’ve switched things up and are now actively trying to recruit you?”
“By getting a cherub to shit high powered crazy love on me?”
“Yes! Think about it. What if whoever is using the jewellery as control conduits knows you have the ring. You’ve been infected by it, we know that much.”
“But thanks to your presence I haven’t succumbed it.”
“True. But whoever is behind all this doesn’t know about my muting affect. Maybe they think that all you need is a little push to send you over the edge. But…” Gigi tapped the side of her wine glass in thought. “That still doesn’t tell us why they let the cherubs flutter about harmlessly for a good five minutes or so before they activated them. Unless a more overt attempt failed.” Gigi pulled her phone out her pocket, tapping on the link to the camera footage from the party.
“First attempt?”
“Hold on. Just let me…” She fast forwarded, then backtracked, frowned, and then rewound fast. Finally hitting the pause button, passing her phone over to Nico. “Do you recognise this woman?”
“No. Should I?”
“She doesn’t seem familiar? You don’t recall her trying to hit on you?”
Nico shrugged. “Not especially. I was kind of distracted. Those server nymphs kept making a bee line for Dionysus and Bacchus. I had to keep a pretty close eye on them ensuring they didn’t ignore the other guests.”
“Hit play.”
Nico complied, frowning down at the screen, watching as the dark haired Goddess, dressed in an almost diaphanous toga style dress tried to get his attention. Thankfully he’d been polite, but clearly distracted as he cut her short. Hhhmmm, watching as she reached out, trailing a finger across the back of his hand. Him turning away abruptly, focusing on refilling a tray for a returning nymph. A micro look rippling across the dark haired beauty’s features. Nico paused the feed, rewinding it, this time concentrating purely upon her expression just after she touched him and he turned away. There, a ripple of shock.
“She expected something to happen when she touched me.”
“Yes. Also more interesting. When she arrived at the party, the cherubs arrived in her wake. I’m thinking they were her back up plan. Maybe the fight was incidental and you were the cherubs’ shit target all along. If her touch didn’t produce the desired results, she intended for the cherubs to love whammy you with their tainted shit. Opening you up enough to the darker side of love for her to get her controlling hooks into you once and for all.”
“Who is she? Any ideas?”
“No. But I’m sure Aunt Patricia will be able to find out. I’ll send her a screenshot and copy in Darcy and Elijah.” Gigi sent off the photo, raising her glass in Nico’s direction. “Cheers. I think we just found our first lead.”
