I stare at Eros, fighting the burning sensation in my eyes and the lump in my throat.

"You're breaking up with me?"

He takes a step towards me. "Penelope, I—"

Hearing a noise, I turn my head. "What the... Andris? What are you doing here?"

The next moment he's not. There. I stare at the spot where he was only a moment ago. "What... What's going on? Am I going insane?"

"Fuck's sake, Andris!" Eros curses. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly his friend is there again, a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry! I panicked!"

How much did I have to drink today? Am I asleep? This doesn't seem real. I find a stone bench and sit down, still staring at the two men, my mouth open in shock.

"Someone had better start talking," I say. "I think I might be losing my mind."

"I'll... Um... I'll make myself scarce." Andris disappears again and Eros turns his head to look at me, a concerned line between his brows.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he comes to sit down next to me, taking my hands in his. How is he still warm? He's been out here for several minutes, and I'm freezing already.

"No," I say bluntly. "Your friend just vanished into thin air." My voice raises an octave with every word.

He makes a face. "Yes, you weren't meant to see that."

I stare at him. "No shit." I take a gulping breath. "Ignoring the fact that he was at a wedding he wasn't invited to... What the hell is going on? People don't just... do that."

"They don't," he agrees, his warm hands massaging my cold ones. "Why don't we go inside before you catch a chill?"

I nod numbly as I debate between never drinking again and having another ten drinks to forget what I just saw. He leads me back indoors to the now empty dining room. Everyone has moved downstairs to the reception area, and we might have a few minutes before the staff clears the tables. We don't stay there though, which is probably a good decision, instead continuing until Eros finds a small unused room and lets us inside.

Once he closes the door behind us, I turn around to look at him. I have so many questions and I honestly don't know where to start. Do I want to talk about him breaking up with me or his friend who can become invisible? Teleport? Whatever-he-can-do? The answer is both.

"Talk," I say when he doesn't immediately explain everything.

He runs a hand through his hair, watching me with guarded eyes. Now is not the time to be tight-lipped. My temper sparks.

"Okay. I'll start. You've been a little strange all along, but no more than I could handle. Seeming to know a little too much about me. Saying odd things like brethren and calling people humans. Being very evasive whenever I asked questions about your past."

I stop as I take stock of what I'm saying, letting my brain catch up with the words spilling out. "And now you have a friend that can—I don't know what he did. Definitely not something humans do."

He flinches at my emphasis on the word. A bad sign. I feel sick. This is surreal. I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe in aliens. In fact, I don't believe in a lot of things I can't see with my own eyes. But I did see a man disappearing into thin air.

"What are you?" I ask, not sure I want to know the answer. Not even sure I will believe the answer.

"I—" He stops himself and sighs. "Are you sure you want to know?"

I nod even while I hesitate. "You're not a vampire, right? We've been outside in the daylight plenty and you haven't bitten me." My face heats and I clear my throat. "You haven't broken the skin. And you eat garlic. You definitely don't sparkle."

The last comment makes him chuckle. "No, I'm not a vampire." His face grows serious. "I'm a Cupid."

My jaw might be on the floor by now. "A what now?"

"A Cupid."

I frown. "Like... Like a love god?"

"Not technically. There's more than one of us. We do sort of work for the God of Love though."

"I thought Cupids were little fat babies." I make a vague motion towards him. "You're definitely not a fat little baby."

A grin flashes across his face. "Humans don't have a very good grasp on exactly what goes on in our realm."

"Apparently," I say dryly, crossing my arms over my chest. "This all seems crazy. If I hadn't seen Andris vanish, I would think you're insane. But either I'm insane, or this is real. And I like to think I'm not, although I'm seriously doubting myself."

"You're completely sane," he confirms, taking a step towards me, and I immediately back away.

"No. You still have a lot of explaining to do. And," I remind him pointedly, "let's not pretend I didn't hear you say you have to break up with me."

"Right." He looks down at his feet for a moment, his brow furrowed. The miserable look on his face almost makes me feel sorry for him. Almost. He is about to break up with me, after all.

"I'm still waiting."

He drags his hand through his hair again, shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Stalling. "I don't know where to start."

"Start with what a Cupid is doing here among us humans." There's that emphasis again. "Do you all just live here without us knowing?"

"No, we're not really meant to stay here other than when we're working."

"Working?"

"Matchmaking," he clarifies with a crooked smile. "It's what we do. We match humans."

Madness. I shake my head. "Like OkCupid? Is that you guys?"

He laughs quietly. "No, that's a human invention. I guess it's not entirely wrong though. We match specific humans that Fate—and whoever else makes these decisions—think need to be matched."

I frown. "So you don't match everyone?"

Shaking his head, the corners of his mouth twitches. "If we did, your divorce rates wouldn't be nearly this bad. Our matches are forever."

It's a lot of information to take in, and I desperately wish I'd had a little less alcohol. But it's a wedding, so of course, I've had plenty. Work, brain, work!

"Then why are you living across the hall from me? If you don't live here."

His eyes catch mine and he takes another step closer, holding his hands out towards me, but I back away again. I'm not ready for him to touch me. I'm too easily affected by his presence. A hurt look crosses his face, which is ironic considering he said he was breaking up with me not long ago, and his hands drop.

"They assigned me a match nearly a decade ago that I've continuously failed to achieve. If a Cupid doesn't hit their targets, they get demoted. I desperately want to avoid demotion, so I took mortal form to make a last-ditch effort to finally make this match."

"Who are you trying to match?"

When he avoids my gaze, a sick feeling washes over me. "Me? You're here to match me?" My voice is rising again, but I can't help it.

He nods slowly.

"You have a very interesting way to go about it." The acerbic tone makes him look at me again, and I don't know if I'm imagining it, but the tips of his ears are a little red. He should be ashamed. "Do you always sleep with your... Whatever you call us? Your humans? Your matches?"

"No!"

The forceful exclamation calms me a little, and I take a deep breath. I'm still hurt. And confused. And angry. "Oh, so I guess I'm special. Lucky me."

"Penelope." His voice is strained, but I ignore it.

"Who are you meant to match me with, anyway?" I push on. "Because I can see why you're failing. You're not doing a very good job."

He lets out a frustrated huff. Maybe I should stop talking for a moment to let him explain himself, but I don't want to.

"How would sleeping with me ever work to get me matched with someone else?" I ask, and I can hear my voice breaking. "How could making me fall in love with you ever be a good way to match me with someone else?"

His face falls. "Penelope, no. I never wanted to hurt you!" He stops himself and remains silent for a moment. "Well, I guess technically the plan was to break your heart."

"Oh." I take a deep, shuddering breath, refusing to let the tears burning behind my eyes fall. "Well, congratulations. You succeeded."

He looks almost as miserable as I feel. I don't know why. He got exactly what he apparently wanted all along. I should have known better than to think a man like that wanted to be with me. I did know better. The entire time, I questioned it, but I ignored it. Too entranced by our mutual attraction. Or what I had perceived as mutual attraction.

"Who?" I ask again, actually allowing him the time to answer this time.

"Trevor."

"Trevor?" I repeat incredulously. "Trevor?? He's been on the fringes of my life since, like... forever! I—Oh." I falter as the pieces fall into place. "He's been around because he's my match and you've been trying to get us together for ten years."

A barely perceptible nod.

I shake my head. "I have no interest in Trevor. Never have! He's a good-looking guy, but there is zero chemistry between us."

"I think Trevor would disagree, considering that kiss," Eros mutters.

"He can disagree until the cows come home. I'm still not attracted to him." I remember our first date and gasp. "The ice skating rink! You pushed me into him!"

"Yes."

Suddenly all of his weirdness, his evasion, his odd statements make sense. He was never jealous of Trevor back then; he wanted to know if I wanted to date him.

"Why would you ask me on a date if you were trying to match me with Trevor?"

"I... I didn't. It was just meant to be a friendly meet up."

I stare at him. No wonder I could never tell if it was a date or not. It was never meant to be. That's mortifying. I blink away a hot tear. No, I will not cry in front of him.

"Right." I steel my shoulders. "I bet you and Andris have had a good laugh at my expense, then. The stupid human thinking she's dating a gorgeous guy, but he never meant to date her."

"It wasn't like that."

I raise an eyebrow, and he falters.

"Well, we never laughed at you. And I did quickly decide to date you."

"To break my heart."

His head lowers again. "Yes. Andris thought it might send you to Trevor."

"Joke's on you. I will never be with Trevor."

Raising his head, he watches me intently, and I fidget under his scrutiny. "You might. Cupids... We have this aura that's irresistible to humans. Maybe being with me is blocking you from your human match."

"Terrible plan of yours then, isn't it?" I can't help but lash out. I'm so hurt. "And that's all bullshit. Did they forget to teach you about free will? Yes, you're very handsome and I'm attracted to you, but I wouldn't say you're irresistible. I'm pretty sure I can resist you fine. And I resisted your friend fine, too. I'm assuming Andris is a Cupid too?"

"He is, and you resisting him did surprise me," he admits.

"Exactly." I'm not entirely sure what I'm referring to. The hurt and anger have blended together into this enormous mass I can no longer identify. "And if you're implying that I could never have resisted you, you're wrong. I just didn't want to resist you."

"Maybe," he allows. "But a Cupid's aura is pretty compelling. So if I leave, you might find that you want to be with Trevor."

"And if I don't?"

He shrugs. "Then I guess they'll demote me."

"Enjoy your demotion. It's never happening."

"I'm sorry, Penelope. This isn't how I wanted things to go down." When he reaches his hand out again, I evade it, shaking my head. "I've made a mess of this whole thing. But believe it or not, I want you to be happy. Pairing you with your intended match is basically the equivalent of a happily ever after if this was a movie."

"Happy?" I scoff. Or it might have been a sob. I'm not entirely sure. "I was happy. With you. But finding out it was all just a big lie—" Something that is definitely a sob wrenches itself loose from my throat. I take a deep breath, trying to bring my emotions under control. It's easier said than done, and seeing Eros staring at me with a look of mingled despair and pain isn't helping.