Page 71 of Love & Heart Braking

Charities were beauty and grace and charm, and they thrived on positive attention—constant positive attention. Mesmeralda’s man would need to worship the ground she walked upon, and give the perfect degree of attention to her two twins too. Too much and Mesmeralda would get jealous. Not enough and she’d get super pissed. Her match had to keep this up for the duration of their relationship, not just in the early days of dating, but when they created the inevitable triplets, and when Mesmeralda lost the bloom of youth.

“I’d rather wait for a great one,” she told me.

I nodded. “I’m glad to hear it because there’s a man out there for you. I’d like to recommend two options in the meantime. The first is that you talk to our guy, Austin, about joining the Yearning Hearts community. We’ll keep you in our system and be in contact as soon as a match comes up.” I gave her the usual spiel on the possible waiting time for that. “The second is that you come to our next event, Single Plus One.”

“What happens there?” she asked dubiously.

Pink swept across my vision, and I blinked a few times to clear the weird film. “It’s a singles night, but everyone brings a friend with them, too, single or otherwise.” Soleil and I had decided to combine the visions of Yearning Hearts and Yearning Harmony for this event to help kick off our friendship branch. “The event will draw in a lot of new members not already in our system, and you can get a jump on any man you’re particularly drawn to.”

Pink blanketed my vision again, and my pulse tripled. What the hell? Could Mesmeralda see that as well? Were my eyes glowing?

I gripped the table as pink threads started racing through the room. No one else reacted in the slightest.

Could they not see them? The ribbons were everywhere.

What were they?

The charity regarded me. “Could you tell if there was a great match at the event for me?”

Yes, but only if I paid particular attention to her at the time. I’d opened my mouth to explain when a strand of pink bolted into Mesmeralda’s chest, threading through the charity’s body, and continuing out the front door.

What the hell?

I scraped back my chair. “Excuse me a sec. I…”

Crossing the office, I wrenched open the door and ran outside, following the pink thread flowing out the door.

Pink, purple, and white threads were flying everywhere, and I nearly tripped over a gnome and her tiny children in my shock and haste.

“Venus, what are you up to now?” I whispered, turning in a full circle. Strands were waving everywhere.

Glancing back at Yearning Hearts, I found Mesmeralda’s thread again, and carefully followed it down the street.

I walked for a block before spotting a man across the road buying a paper. The pink thread ended in his chest.

Minerva’s knee bone.

He had to be her match. Was it true love?

For some reason, I expected the answer was no… but I had a feeling he was the perfect guy for her right now.

I chewed on my bottom lip, then crossed the street.

The guy was devouring Soleil’s latest column. She’d provided the details on how the Utatio family used their magi-web to steal people’s private information then sold it to the highest bidder.

Unethical fuckers.

“The guy writing this Toppling 12 Pillars column isn’t showing any mercy,” the guy said to the newspaper goblin. “This can’t be true.”

The newspaper goblin waved another paper in the man’s face, leaping up and down. “Get it, get it, get it.”

I stole his attention and paid for a paper, then spoke to the guy. “The last two columns were true though. The Rippses and their laundering, and the Plorexes holding illegal magic shows for humans outside of Nepos.”

Both families were being hounded by law enforcement and the public alike because Soleil had once again provided all the necessary proof.

The Utatios would join the others in legal proceedings soon enough.

My friend was a queen.

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