38. Broken Arrow

Chapter 38

Broken Arrow

ELIO

D evi Eros enters my study through the mirror just as Beth is about to pin my wedding boutonniere. "Elio. Dashing tux, but you look a bit drunk, my friend." She removes her ruby-incrusted mask and tucks it inside her cleavage.

A dark crimson hooded scarf covers the roots of her flaming red twists, and the long sleeves of her shirt have thumb cuffs that run up to her knuckles. Criss-crossed leather straps wrap over her chest and hold her long bow and quiver, the otherwise monochromatic ensemble hugging her curves.

"Hey, Devi," Beth says on a cringe, the two women not exactly on speaking terms.

Devi crosses her arms at the sight of my unexpected visitor. "Elizabeth Snow… I thought the seven hells would freeze over before you came home again." Her red-painted lips purse in a sarcastic grimace, the constellation of dark freckles on her youthful face bunching together. "Was being adored by the masses too hard on you?"

"Devi!" I stumble over to the fallen Queen of Hearts and peck her cheek before wrapping her up in a hug. "Thank you for coming."

"Alright. No more Nether cider for you," she scolds me with a smile, patting me on the back a few times. "I see you're in need of some pest control."

"It's a shame that beauty doesn't come with a manual on how to be kind or show basic human decency," Beth quips behind me. "I imagine your exile must be quite lonely."

"It takes one to know one, moth. You let him get shit-faced an hour before his wedding?"

Beth's arms fly to the sky. "I found him like this!"

Their petty, teenage selves flare up every damn time they cross each other's paths, the two women on a life-long quest to piss each other off. The familiarity of it all takes me back to a past long gone. I can almost taste the ocean on my tongue and smell the seaweed littering the sand. The memory of those long, lazy mornings by the sea is almost unbearable given the circumstances.

I close my lids. "It's about time you two buried the hatchet…"

"You know me, E. I treat my grudges as treasure." Devi reaches behind her and grabs an arrow from her quiver. "Here. One arrow. One night. Same as always." She presents me with the arrow with a mock curtsy, and I swallow hard.

Ice frosts over the arrowhead as I pick it up and hold it to the light. Funny how something so small can destroy so many lives…or bring a lost soul one night of solace, in my case.

Beth's hand curls around the boutonniere she's still holding. "What? No… Don't do it, Elio."

"Why not? I do it every year."

Beth's jaw hangs open, shell-shocked, and Devi snickers.

"How do you think he's survived this long? With this stupid contest coming year after year, each new wife buried by the time spring comes around? Besides, its effects only last one night. For the wedding."

"It's fake love," Beth whispers, all the blood gone from her face.

I straighten my jacket, suddenly feeling a little hot. "If I'm cursed to cause my wife's death, over and over again, I might as well offer her one great night. It's bad enough to have an audience. I won't ask her to suffer my indifference, too."

Beth narrows her eyes at me before turning her ire to Devi. "If you were truly his friend, you'd stop carving forbidden arrows and help us figure out how to break his curse."

"Many curses were wrung the day Iris died. Not one of them has been unraveled to this day. But you weren't there, were you, moth? You were too busy wallowing in your self-imposed exile to show up to Iris's birthday?—"

Beth points her index finger at her nemesis. "There's nothing I could have done to change what happened. I still can't believe Iris…" she shoots me a sideways glance.

I huff in frustration. "Say it."

She always tiptoes around my feelings like I don't remember what happened that day. Like I don't see it play out in heart-breaking detail every night before I go to sleep and wake up with the same gaping hole in my chest every morning.

"I still can't believe she jumped out the window. No matter how nasty things got back at the academy… I never meant her ill will. You loved her, and that was enough for me to believe she'd changed."

Devi and I exchange a glance. Beth doesn't know what really transpired between Iris and me, but what good would it do to set the record straight now?

"Did you hear? Aidan just got engaged," Devi rasps.

My eyes bulge, and I pinch Devi's arm as hard as I can, furious that she would bring this up now. "Shush!"

Beth's face turns from white to a sickly sheen of green, and the spark in her eyes dims, her gaze flying to the cracks in the stone floor. "I'll leave you two to do your thing. I can't stand by and watch you harm yourself like this. I'll see you later, Elio."

The tension in Devi's shoulders eases. "She'd forgive you if she knew the truth, you know. You shouldn't let the past gnaw at you anymore."

I grip the jug on the table and chug down what's left of the cider. "Iris died, Ezra too, and I condemned an endless string of innocent women to cold, untimely deaths. I'm beyond anyone's forgiveness."

Devi purses her lips, deep in thought, before she says, "Ezra isn't dead…exactly."

I prowl forward, a fresh rush of adrenaline rising in my blood, making my cold heart stir. "Do you know what happened to him? If you've been covering for that fucker?—"

"Settle down. He got what he deserved."

I curse myself for the cider I'd consumed, my mind too foggy to navigate this conversation. "Do you know where he is?"

Devi unhooks the clasp of her golden bow and pinches the string, tracing the entire length of it with a faraway look. "The only thing you need to know is that you didn't kill him, so you can wipe that clean from your conscience." A sigh heaves her chest, but she shakes the emotions off her face until only the smirk of the ruthless archer remains. "Now, strip. I don't want to miss."

A smile tugs at my lips. "Since when is the great Devi Eros scared to miss a shot?"

"Humor me."

I should ask for answers about Ezra, but I toss off my shirt and spread my arms instead, desperate for Devi to shoot the misery out of me. "Do your worst, devil of Spring."

She draws her bow, the string stretching with a low creak , but Sara bursts into the room with a frantic, "Wait!"

Oh for the love of Eros, how many interruptions can one man stand before he goes mad?

"Beth told me Devi was here," Sara says, scanning the room. "Where's Lori?"

"Who's Lori?"

"No one. Shoot the damn arrow," I clip.

The obvious confusion on Sara's face quickly switches from surprise to rage. "You still sent her away? After what we learned?" She puts herself between Devi and me to shield me from the arrow.

"Who's Lori?" Devi repeats, her voice laced with a hint of impatience, and my stomach flips as she lowers her bow.

Sara's arms fall to her sides. "Lori is Iris's doppelg?nger. And the loophole to Elio's curse."

"Is that true?"

"You think she's the loophole," I grumble.

Devi squints at me and slinks closer, graceful as a cat. She takes a good sniff and retreats, her lips curled in a snarl, her wide black pupils swallowing the silver rim of her irises. "You're in love and you asked me to shoot you anyway? Do you know how dangerous that is? A love arrow isn't meant to supersede true love."

"What are you talking about? I'm not—" The untruthful words stick in my throat.

"Hmph." She raises a perfectly plucked brow. "Who are you kidding?"

Spring folks deal with love arrows, torrid affairs, and silly infatuations every day, but they're awfully touchy when it comes to true love.

"True love is a fantasy," I breathe.

"A friend of mine once wrote: True love transcends crowns, blood, and flesh," Sara declares.

I wince at the quote of my own words, and the dark hole in my chest swells. "The man who wrote that is dead."

Devi tucks her forbidden arrow back inside her quiver. "Yes, I see that now. If you're willing to walk away from love, then you're not the man I thought you were." With that, the archer presses her mask back upon her face and saunters off through the mirror.