Justice Unhatched (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 5)

by Sarah Noffke

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The entryway to Cupid’s mansion was as impressive as the outside. The polished white and black checkerboard marble floor made Sophia feel like she was a queen on a chessboard. Framing the oversized foyer were two sets of staircases and a large balcony at the top where she expected to find Cupid, looking down at them. However, there wasn’t anything there except for giggling girls all dressed in mink coats and drinking martinis. The area was lit by one of the largest chandeliers Sophia had ever seen.

  Gently Wilder led her forward, straight into a ballroom where the party was going even stronger. In this room, waiters buzzed by with white gloves, holding trays high above their heads and offering artfully arranged appetizers to the guests.

  Sophia grabbed two puffed pastries, handing one to Wilder and shoving the other into her mouth, hardly chewing before she swallowed. She was famished.

  “So, what is the plan?” Wilder asked in a whisper.

  “Eat all the food and get tipsy,” she offered.

  He grabbed some stuffed mushrooms from a tray as it passed. “I’m as delighted by our change of events as you are, but unfortunately, we are here for a reason, remember.”

  She sighed, inhaling the food. “Yeah, fine. I just don’t understand. Why is Cupid throwing a 1920’s party that looks like it’s hosted by Jay Gatsby?”

  “Nice reference,” he said proudly. “I can’t think of a character who romanticized his love affair more than Gatsby, so it makes sense Cupid would entertain in this fashion.”

  “This is very weird, though,” Sophia admitted. “We had to go through the desert and fight a giant worm so we could get here. But what other people do to show up at these parties to find love?”

  “Remember what Subner said about the bow having a resonating effect that was creating problems.” Wilder led Sophia through the dancing guests to the outside area at the back. “Notice everyone here appears to be…what is the word?”

  Sophia nearly gasped as they stepped out onto the terrace. The sprawling backyard was lit with beautiful white bulbs scattered throughout, hanging in trees and draped over another dance floor and dining areas where guests chatted up close, many of them looking moments away from doing a lot more than converse.

  “They are in lust,” Sophia observed, looking around to notice it appeared more like a high school party where everyone was pairing up.

  “Yes, a malfunction of the bow,” Wilder said. “There’s no precision, and then it has a rippling effect, it seems.”

  Sophia nodded. “Causing the elves to be overly hippie-like.”

  “And who knows what else,” Wilder stated. “If so many are haphazardly falling in lust, how many aren’t actually falling in love with the right person? Are they missing their soul mate?”

  Sophia considered this, her gaze dancing around the party, the emotion of the festivities starting to sweep her away. “I’m not sure I believe in such things, but I get what you are talking about. Cupid is causing more problems than anything else. People are losing their objectivity.”

  “We might too if we aren’t careful,” Wilder warned, his face unusually serious. “It’s important we get that bow and fix it.”

  “And not get struck by it or be in the vicinity when it’s fired,” Sophia added. “I think that’s when this reverberating effect happens.”

  “What’s the plan?” Wilder asked again.

  “Well, first, I think we have to divide up,” Sophia suggested. “But you should keep an eye on me, so you know where I am and when I’ve distracted our host. I’ll get him to put his bow down somewhere and you can swoop in and fix it.”

  “How are you going to get this naked cherub to put it down?” Wilder asked, a challenging expression on his face.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll tickle his tummy.”

  Wilder shook his head, taking a step backward. He pointed at his eyes and then her, giving her the universal message for “I’ll be watching you.”

  She nodded, turning around on the terrace and looking out at the most magical party she’d ever seen.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Enchanting wasn’t quite the word for the festivities going on around Sophia. She had to check the party goers around her weren’t fae. They had a way of seducing and making those around them feel drunk.

  No, they were mortals, she realized. But they were definitely under a spell.

  Below the terrace, two stories down, beside the dance floor and dining area was a large pool with Gatorade-colored water. The swimmers splashing around in it were even wearing 1920’s bathing suits. Everything about the party was on point. She couldn’t even fathom the details paid to make this party so much like she’d expect Jay Gatsby to throw.

  Her sister Liv had left the classic book on her dresser one afternoon, hinting it would change her life if she read it. Sophia would never ignore such a subtle hint from the person she respected most. In one afternoon, she became acquainted with a work of art that forever endeared her to thoughtful and romantic prose.

  As Sophia stared around the mesmerizing party, she tried to determine how she’d distract Cupid. She was going to wing it at this point. Hopefully something brilliant would occur to her. She had a hard time picturing a little naked child flying around the elegant party, firing off arrows. Then her eyes landed on the fountain in the middle of the large lawn. It had three levels and was the size of a motorhome, but the sparkling, cascading water wasn’t what caught her attention.

  It was the man standing beside it. He was probably the most handsome man she’d ever laid her eyes on. He was young with firm skin and had a timelessness about him, with a sophisticated expression in his brown eyes. Like many of his guests, he wore a smart tuxedo, and his blond hair was gelled and pushed back from his face, which was composed of perfect features. His nose wasn’t too big for his face nor too small. His lips were the right shade of pink and his jaw was strong, making the smile that formed appear like the perfect accessory to his already polished appearance.

  Sophia wondered who the man was who had stolen her attention amid the hundreds of guests at this lavish affair, and then she saw it and knew without a doubt.

  Cupid had changed and wasn’t at all what she expected.

  Chapter Forty

  Sophia wouldn’t have believed the man standing by the fountain was Cupid if it hadn’t been for the bow slung over his back. It was a strange thing to wear over a formal tuxedo, but it made him appear more attractive if that was at all possible. He was an elegant gentleman with a warrior’s spirit.

  His discerning eyes swiveled around the party until they rose and centered directly on Sophia. He lifted a champagne flute at her, a silent cheer in the movement. She reflexively lifted her own, suddenly feeling drunk, although she’d only taken a sip.

  Cupid smiled, and the words from when the main character met Jay Gatsby came to her as if she had them memorized, although she hadn’t remembered reading the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald more than once or twice. They fit Cupid perfectly right then:

  “He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you’d like to believe in yourself, and assured you it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

  Sophia found herself descending the long staircase, her eyes pinned on Cupid as her hand glided down the banister. Party guests instantly moved out of her way, as if repelled, clearing her path. Cupid’s eyes followed her all the way down, not taking his gaze off her until she was standing in front of him.

  She’d made it to him quicker than she’d have thought, and the journey to get there had been a blur, like when commuting home through traffic and one
forgets actually driving.

  “Ms. Sophia Beaufont,” Cupid said, extending a hand to her, his tone refined. “You made it after all.”

  She gave him her hand and he lifted it to his mouth, kissing the back of it softly. “Thank you for inviting us to your party.”

  He batted his eyelashes at her. “You can thank your fairy godmother for arranging this. I don’t usually allow magicians at my parties. Their practical nature and concrete hearts usually spoil the vibe, but two dragonriders…well, how could I resist?” Cupid brought his gaze up, searching the house area. “Where did your friend, Wilder, go?”

  Sophia pretended she didn’t know and didn’t care. She shrugged.

  “Oh, there he is.” Cupid pointed toward the house. “Enjoying the company of other party guests, as I intended.”

  Sophia turned to find Wilder on a balcony, surrounded by women, his arms around the shoulders of two. She had to refrain from throwing her hand in the air and sending a stunning spell at the jerk. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on her and ready to swoop in at any moment. How could he do that if he was entertaining a bunch of bimbos?

  “Looks like he’s had enough champagne,” she said, working to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Just when they had made progress, she felt like they were taking several steps backward. Maybe that was their destiny—never to find their way to each other completely. She hoped not.

  That was the key. Hope. What we stake hope on is what is important. Everything else is the options we didn’t choose, she thought.

  “Now, Sophia Beaufont, dragonrider for the noble Elite,” Cupid began, leading her through the garden around the fountains, “tell me why you wanted to attend one of my affairs? Does this have to do with Hiker Wallace?”

  Sophia had to stop herself from yanking away in alarm. Hiker, she wondered. Why would this have to do with him?

  She was going to have to play this just right to get the information she wanted. Not only did she want to have Cupid supply her reason for being there, but she wanted him to fill her in on what he knew about Hiker. “It definitely has something to do with the leader of the Dragon Elite.”

  “You are much smarter than most magicians and definitely much more open to strategic ways than the dragonriders I’ve encountered in the past,” Cupid said, steering her to a less congested area of the party.

  “Thank you,” Sophia replied. “I feel we need to evolve our practices.”

  “Evoking love in adjudication rather than force is about the smartest thing any Dragon Elite has thought of in all my time,” Cupid commented. “Which for the record is about as long as they have been on Mama Jamba’s Earth.”

  “Yes, that’s why I wanted to meet with you,” Sophia said, latching onto the excuse he’d given her.

  They had come to a grassy knoll with a gazebo that wasn’t filled with lustful party goers.

  “What you have to understand about using love to create solutions,” Cupid began, taking her hand and spinning her about in time to the music from the orchestra by the house, “is that it has to be forced on people. Otherwise, people get inundated by work demands and daily responsibilities and dreary Mondays.”

  Sophia took a single finger and drew it down the front of Cupid’s tuxedo jacket. “Tell me more.”

  He hazarded a smile. “Well, I think the best way to explain how to employ love to solve the world’s problems is to explain how the weapons of love work.”

  Cupid took a step away and pulled the bow off his back.

  So far, so good.

  Sophia chanced a glance over her shoulder. Where was Wilder, she wondered.

  When she looked back at Cupid, his gaze was worried.

  “I was just checking that we were alone,” Sophia explained, giving her attention back to Cupid, and making his soft expression return once more.

  He nodded. “As I was saying, I can’t let you have my bow, but I can show you how to use it. Then you can find your own weapon of love and use it for your dragonrider missions. That’s what Hiker Wallace needs. He’s been in hiding for too long and is paralyzed. After the Ainsley situation, I guess I understand.”

  Cupid came around behind Sophia, holding the bow at the ready as he braced himself beside her.

  She tensed as he grabbed her arms and placed his bow into her hands. “What was the thing with Hiker and Ainsley?”

  He directed her with his fingers on hers, indicating she should pull back the bowstring. “That’s it. Get used to the way it flexes before we use an arrow. Dare I say, I couldn’t actually put one in my bow with you around.”

  Sophia didn’t know what that meant, but she had other competing worries right then anyway. “You were saying? Regarding Hiker and Ainsley?”

  He chuckled deeply beside her ears. “I wasn’t saying. You were the one trying to get information out of me about Hiker and Ainsley. I do many questionable things, but telling other people’s secrets is not one of them.”

  Sophia gulped, feeling Cupid pressing up against her. She pulled back the string of the bow, trying to focus on whatever he was directing her to.

  “Do you see how your aim needs to be on finding matches rather than judging?” Cupid asked, a soft whisper in her ear. “If you are doing your job as a dragonrider, then you no longer need to pick the right or wrong side. You don’t need to fix disagreements, but rather make everyone love one another. It’s that easy.”

  It wasn’t Sophia argued in her head. That was the opposite of what the Dragon Elite did. They created justice. They created peace, and that wasn’t about making others love each other. That was simply forcing solutions that would backfire. Making others love each other would only simmer over and erupt in their face later.

  Sophia chanced a glance over her shoulder, her attention stolen by the many arguments erupting from the party close by. She caught sight of couples bickering in the distance. One woman threw champagne on a man. Another couple looked close to pushing one another.

  Sophia held her bitter feelings inside, hiding them from the God of Love. This was what Cupid was doing with his corrupt bow, and it was wrong. Not only that, but his approach to justice would only prove detrimental. No wonder he was worried about being decommissioned. It was good Subner had made it so he could only intervene in the affairs of mortals. He was dangerous, spreading his toxic blind love.

  Love, real love, wasn’t blind. It saw the flaws in the other person and loved them still. It saw problems and decided to conquer them. It saw the debt and wanted to pay it.

  “I’m not sure I’m a bow and arrow kind of girl,” Sophia commented, pulling the instrument of Cupid’s affection out of his grasp. He allowed it, confusion in his gaze.

  “Well, that’s understandable,” he said, his eyes on her as she lowered the bow by her side. “What would work best for you to spread love?”

  She pretended to think. “I don’t know. What do you think would suit me?”

  Sophia had never done it before, but she tried to adorn her best pouty face. To her surprise, it worked on Cupid. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted it up slightly to look deep into her eyes. “I think that you, Sophia, need to employ your gaze.”

  “Like Medusa?” she dared to ask.

  He smiled brilliantly. “Like Medusa, but without the stone and killing part.”

  Sophia giggled, like the women she’d overheard that night. “I think I could do that. But how would that work for an adjudication mission?”

  “Well, eyes, like sounds and like arrows, can be hypnotizing,” he explained. “Here, let me show you.”

  Cupid took the bow from her grasp and set it down on the bench of the gazebo behind her. His gaze never left hers. Nor did his hand.

  With a force to make Sophia gasp, he tugged her back, his hand on her hip and the other in hers. “Now, to change others with magic, using love, you simply need to find a part inside of you that’s full of lo—”

  He paused. His chin tilted to the side, revolving in the direction of the par
ty where the music halted.

  “What is it?” Sophia asked, stalling. She wondered if Wilder was still on the balcony with the mortal women or what. She was going to put him in a headlock later.

  “The party,” he answered, his tone suddenly stressed.

  “Oh, is everything okay?” She tried to figure out how to stall as the sounds of crickets took over the music that had been playing.

  Cupid pushed her back and turned toward the twinkling lights in the opposite direction. “Something is going on with the party.”

  Sophia’s eyes skirted to the side. The bow was gone from where Cupid had left it. That was something, at least. Wilder had it. She glanced around the dark and didn’t see him, but knew he was close fixing Cupid’s bow.

  She grabbed Cupid’s arm. “Actually, I think it means the party is going well. Where were we?”

  He tensed under her grasp, but then seemed to think better of it. “I guess you are right. I really will enjoy teaching you the ways of love and how to use it to seduce the other side into agreement.”

  Sophia couldn’t believe what he was saying and that he thought it was okay. She covered the expression on her face and nodded, smiling. “Absolutely. Please teach me.”

  He leaned in close to her, his lips inches from hers. His breath brushed across her face. His eyes were locked on her. All she was thinking about was Wilder recalibrating the bow and fixing it so mortals and elves and everyone else were no longer affected with lustful feelings. She hoped she was playing the right part. She thought she was.

  And then, Cupid quit leaning her back and instead yanked her straight up, his chin jerking to the side. His eyes narrowed.

  “My bow!” he boomed.

  Sophia tensed.

  She prepared to see the bow still missing, but when she looked over her shoulder, Cupid’s bow was there again. “What about it?” she asked, using the giggle the mortals had perfected.