The Secret of the Emerald Sea by Heather Matthews Page A

kept much from her as he set their course toward the fulfillment of his desires. He still remembered that pivotal moment on the island when she’d told him a Cupid should “unite lovers.”
    To unite the lovers with his arrow was the most satisfying thing that had ever happened to him. It had sent shocks through his tiny body...ripples of pleasure that were felt over and over again as he thought back to that fateful night. He knew not how the whole romance would play out, but there was little doubt in his mind that, since the arrow hit Blake Stirling, the young lord would think of little else but the charming blond girl who was likewise bewitched. It was a certainty that Jane would be linked to both of them with the arrow.
    “I must see Stirling,” he whispered as Jane slept close beside him one wintry night. “I must see the two of them together, see my work.” He felt a strange unease, though, as he stared down at the girl’s sleeping body. Her pale face and body were like a marble statue, a statue of a goddess, and her mouth was so soft and rosy pink. He remembered the night they’d flown over the storm as high as they could. He remembered how he had kissed her, fully a man at last, but not the same inside as he was during the day — not at all !
    He had been freed...freed of his terrible curse and the tiny body that shamed him so much. He had loved her that night, and he still longed to protect her, even as he continued his schemes to push her toward a relationship with another.
    The Cupid felt strange inside, and soon, he also felt the old familiar pain that had not returned since the night they had been close to death on the raft.
    Then there were the terrible stabbing pains in his back, and he knew it was coming...the transformation that hurt him so much. It had not come for so long, he had almost told himself it was all over. For in truth, he could not control it, and it had been so long now. He felt sad to lose his wings, his power, but grateful to be free of the wracking pain that seized him and made him scream as though he was dying.
    He groaned and sweat broke out on his forehead, and his skin started to glow green-white. He grabbed a pillow and smothered his moans as the pain grew worse. Jane stirred in her sleep, but did not waken.
    Cupid ran toward the door as the pain accelerated. All the while, he fought the urge to cry out the haunting cry that had sent Jane searching the island that day they met. He closed the door that led to the snowy acres beyond their farmhouse and he ran out into the night wearing only his small boots and covered in a heavy cloak he had grabbed from a wooden peg near the door. He shivered against the cold as he ran for the dark, wooded forest. Would he have enough time?
    Their home was in a secluded place. He had been pleased to note this when they arrived there for the first time. He knew the thick forest would be the perfect place to hide when the change came. He headed for a spot he had found near a small cave, moaning in pain. Although it was winter and the trees branches were heavy with snow and the ground was pure white, the night was still dark without a full moon. He finally allowed himself to cry out more loudly, and he felt the fear that always overcame him when the buds began to push through his tiny back.
    He felt the blood pound in his temples. It was really happening!
    He screamed out into the night air like a wounded bird, and his cries turned to desperate growls as he began to float over the forest floor, growing larger, his new, heavy limbs those of a man. The pain receded as he stared down at the snowy forest with his star sapphire eyes. Quietly, so quietly, euphoria took the place of agony.
    I mustn’t go too high , he reminded himself, his huge wings flapping gently against the sky.
    He could not control himself, though, because it had been so long since the last time. Soon, he was rising so high, over the roadways and fields surrounding the village. So