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Basanti and Alec laughed.

“You said you use your magic arrows to control emotions, right?” I said to Cupid. “You made your cat fall in love with my cat, and now he won’t leave her alone!”

“First of all, Shadow isnotmy cat. He’s just an…acquaintance. I promised to watch him.” Cupid said it like Shadow was her roommate’s brother who was crashing at her house for the weekend, and now she was stuck babysitting him. “And secondly, I wouldneverdo such a thing. Love is the most dangerous of all emotions. You don’t mess with love.”

“Indeed,” Nero agreed, coming up behind me like a protective dragon. He set his hands on my shoulders.

And, yeah, I might have swooned a little.

At least on the inside. On the outside, I was all business, the perfect cool and collected angel.

“If you didn’t make Shadow fall in love with my cat, then why is he making a total fool of himself in front of her?” I asked Cupid.

She shrugged. “Because she’s pretty?”

“Pretty!” Sierra agreed.

Cupid winked at her, which demonstrated more emotion than I’d seen her show anyone else. Maybe she liked kids.

“Plus, at the end of the day,” she said, “whether human or beast, guys tend to lose their minds and turn into total boneheads whenever a pretty girl walks by.”

“I like her,” Basanti laughed. “She’s spunky.”

“So is Angel,” I said. “And my spunky cat is totally going to smack Shadow if he doesn’t stop provoking her.”

Angel did indeed smack Shadow in the face, but the lion-sized black cat wasn’t giving up. He launched into some kind of melodramatic feline opera with a generous accompaniment of meows, howls, and yowls.

Angel turned and strutted away from him, tail high in the air.

“Maybe I should check on her,” I said as Shadow shot out of the room after Angel.

Nero caught my hand. “Pandora, your cat hunts hurricanes and hell beasts. I think she can handle one lovesick tomcat.”

“Shadow is harmless,” said Cupid. “Just be happy Duke isn’t the one enamored with your cat. He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“Which one is Duke?” I asked.

“The big purple guy.”

“Ducky?” Sierra said hopefully.

“That’s the one,” Cupid told her.

I snorted. “Wait, so, he’s Duke the Duck?”

“Yes.” Cupid shrugged. “Look, I didn’t name him. I just convinced him to go back where he came from. You’re welcome for saving your castle and everyone in it, by the way.”

“Howdidyou happen to be here, right when we needed you?” Nero asked, his voice hard with suspicion. “You showed up out of nowhere with just the right powers to solve our problem.”

“Oh, it’s not by luck or through some fluke of fate, I assure you,” Cupid said. “I was tracking those spirit animals.”

“How?” I wondered. “And why?”

“I’ll tell you all about it,” Cupid promised. “But first, do you happen to have anything to eat in this castle? I’ve been following those creatures all day, and I’m absolutely famished.”

CHAPTER 7

CHOCOLATE IS A DISH BEST SERVED…ALWAYS