*CUPID'S MATCH BOOK 3* FIRST DRAFT
For the third time, follow Lila into a world of cupids, arrows, betrayal, and love, in the Watty award winning series with over 50 million reads online.
CUPID'S MATCH is published and in stores now!
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"You seem nervous, Lila," says Valentine.
His shoulder brushes against mine as we walk briskly through Morpheus's strange Underworld home – through dark dungeon like corridors lit by flickering candlelight, and extravagant castle like halls adorned with dusty gold.
We encounter no-one but shadow. Our boots click against tiled floors – the sound echoing off high ceilings before being swallowed by the darkness.
I swallow hard - refusing to look at him.
I am nervous. I'm nervous to see Cupid and Cal.
I don't know how they'll react. I don't know if they'll remember me.
I don't know if they'll take me with them.
And a part of me –
I blink, hard, through the dusty darkness. I don't know how I feel. There's something cold in my veins, something I don't recognize.
Fear? Hope? Regret? My emotions all seem to flow as one through my body and I can't seem to cling onto one. And there's something inside me that seems to respond to this place, this darkness, this...
No.
I glance up at him – heart beating loud against my eardrums.
"So do you," I say.
I'm not sure if that's exactly true; I'm not sure if it's nervousness that I sense from him. But he seems to be grappling with some form of emotion; his expression is darker, his breathing deeper. When his arm brushes accidentally against mine I feel the clench of his muscle, and his full lips are set in a hard line.
He glances down at me, catching my eye – a darker blue in the dim light. He raises an eyebrow.
"Of course I'm nervous, Lila. I can't lose the box. That doesn't explain why you're nervous though. I expect you think it's my tedious brothers come to save the day?"
I give him a look. "Yes, I think it's Cupid and Cal."
The corner of his lip lifts, his gaze fixing at the hallway ahead.
"So you don't want them to rescue you from my evil clutches," he says. "Interesting."
"I don't need rescuing."
"No. You don't," he says – his voice low. "They underestimate you."
I glance up at him, catching his eye. I'm surprised at his words. Surprised more they resonate inside me; heat something cold that's hidden deep inside my body.
Since Cupid came into my life I've been treated like some useless, powerless mortal. But I've trained, and I've adapted, and I've come through the other side of all the chaos. Yet it has never seemed enough.
