The Love Lottery

The Love Lottery

By

Linda Andrews

Kindle Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Linda Andrews

Published by LandNa Publishing

Edited by Elizabath Burton, Zumaya Publications

Cover Design © Linda Andrews

Photo by Rostislav Glinsky, Dmtryo Konstantynov

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

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The Love Lottery

"I would like to say something in my defense." Lia Lombard pushed off the gleaming oak bench and stepped onto the mosaic floor in front of the city council table. Stopping four feet away from the mayor, she locked her trembling knees. She tried to swallow, but her tongue swelled like foam in her mouth. Oh, for a drink of water, just a sip.

She glanced out the window. Rain pattered gently against the stained glass depicting Psyche leaning over a sleeping Cupid. Lia's leg jumped. The door was only ten feet behind her. She could leave, run out of the
Consiglio Comunale's
chambers, tilt her face up and let the frigid rain slide down her parched throat.

Her sister Alessa eased next to her, brushing her shoulder despite the open space. Alessa’s sneakers squeaked on the tile, smearing mud on the mosaic’s sky. She tucked her hands in her rain-spotted jeans and offered Lia a stiff smile.

Lia raised her chin. She couldn't run away, and refused to show any weakness in front of Amores's governing council. Her life depended on it.

"We are not a jury,
orfana
."
Sindaco
Mezzerti nodded to the four members on his right then the other four members of the council on his left. He rested his hands on the long marble table in front of him before leaning back on his elevated marble throne.

Liar! Lia bit her lip to stop the accusation from spilling out. They were judging her. In moments, they would pass sentence. Life as she knew it would end. All because she had no
blood
ties to the village.

Inhaling a shaky breath, she eased forward over the tiles depicting the green mountains and stopped square on the palace that had become Psyche's home.

Home.

Amores was her home. Her adopted sister, the only family she'd ever known, lived here. Her adoptive parents were buried under the village. But these people would send her away, cast her out. She saw it in their raised chins. Their shimmering white togas with jewel-toned trim were shackles to the past, to tradition—one she didn't share by birthright, by blood. They'd made that clear by calling her
orfana
instead of by her name. They all knew her name. The only one she'd ever had.

These nine men and women knew her. Each and every one of them had taught her at various times during her schooling. She focused on the man in the center, watched as he adjusted the laurel wreath on his bald head. Mayor Mezzerti was currently teaching her pasta-making at Amores's
Scuola secondaria di secondo grado
.

But the words—the pleas—lodged in her throat, refusing to budge. Gods, please help me.

"My sister's name is Lia." Alessa laced her fingers through Lia's and squeezed gently. Her grasp was warm and comforting, as it had been these last ten years since Mama and Papa died. "Lia Lombard. Not
orfana
."

Under Lia's feet, the mosaic changed. Instead of blue sky, the image shifted into a village. It wavered for a moment then disappeared under a wave of blue and gold. She blinked; two hot tears streaked down her cheeks. The mass of fluttering blue curved into a smiling drama mask before evolving into a single large butterfly.

Lia's heart lifted into her mouth. Cupid's wife Psyche had been given butterfly wings when she'd turned immortal. Surely, this was a sign the gods wanted her to stay in Amores.

Her attention flew to the faces of the council. Masks of grim determination met her eyes.

With a gasp, she stepped onto the gold spot on the butterfly's wing. Had they not seen the omen? Or had they lived with magic so long they no longer paid it any heed?

Sindaco
Mezzerti cleared his throat and adjusted the silver frames of his readers. Papyrus rustled as he unrolled the scroll in front of him.

"That is precisely why the
Consiglio Comunale
has convened, Vestal Alessa. She's not your sister. Your parents never finalized the adoption."

A muscle flexed in Alessa's jaw before she released Lia's hand and strode forward. Her fist thumped the marble table, and she leaned forward, practically sticking her nose in the mayor's face.

"She is in all the ways that matter. If we are truly the disciples of Cupid then the people who fill our heart are family."

Blood will tell. Lia wrapped her arms around her waist. If they had shared a parent, she would be the lion prowling the council's white marble den. She would be defending her right to stay in the magical village instead of leaving the fight to her sister.

Cupid shimmered in the green glass arch behind the council. With a wink, he slipped a grape leaf over his privates then beckoned to his wife. Psyche's image flashed in and out of the colored windows punched in the frescoed walls before she collapsed into her husband's embrace. Lia swiped at her tears and averted her eyes as the two fogged the pane with their kiss.

Sindaco
Mezzerti plucked the spectacles off his nose and polished the lenses on the hem of his silk toga.

"As a teacher of the bow's arts, I would think you would know that Amores is a testament to romantic love, not familial affection."

Alessa set her fists on her blue-jean-clad hips. The quiver of arrows on her back rattled and tugged up the edges of her crimson Cupid Rock's tee-shirt.

"That—"

"Amores's charter is quite clear on the matter." On the mayor's left,
Signora
Grimor fiddled with the emerald brooch holding the coarse cotton toga over her tiny breasts before opening her arm to encompass the rest of the comunale. "We are here to ensure that all living things continue to fall in love and mate to keep the Earth young. Your devotion, while a favorable reflection upon your untapped maternal instincts, is not covered in the original charter. If you were mated, reproducing as the gods intended…"

Lia's mouth opened. How dared they talk to Alessa that way! Just because she was thirty and unwed didn't make her less of a citizen.

"I'm sorry, but…"

In the window behind the council's head, Cupid and Psyche turned the glass a flaming red. The goddess flipped her flowing robe over her bare shoulder, stomped her foot and pointed at the council. Cupid nodded and tapped his index finger against his chin.

As if Lia hadn't spoken, Alessa shoved the scroll off the table into the mayor's lap.

"Zephyrus brought Lia to us, to Amores, during the fall. No outsider has ever found us in any month besides February!"

Lia clamped her lips together to keep from laughing as the mayor juggled the unrolling scroll. In the window, Psyche sniffed, but her lips twitched. Cupid fluttered his wings then pulled a red-and-black clay urn from behind his back.

Lia felt her heart squeeze in her chest. Not that urn!

The goddess snapped her fingers, and a slip of parchment with Lia's name appeared. With a smile, she dropped it into the urn. Immediately, hearts blossomed out of the jar's mouth.

Oh, gods, no! Not the Love Lottery! Was she that desperate to stay in Amores?

Psyche crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow at Lia. Dropping the urn, Cupid grabbed a red heart and stretched it to the size of his face.

But it wasn't his face staring back at Lia. It was Dante's. Heat roiled through her, leaving her insides molten. She wiped her damp hands on her cooking school uniform. She had to buy enough time for Dante to return home, to see that she'd grown up.

To fall in love with her.

With a nod, Cupid and Psyche disappeared, leaving the pane of green glass empty.

Fixated on the Council, Alessa thumped the tabletop again. The mayor's readers inched closer to the edge of the table.

"Lia's parents died in an explosion, yet their infant child survived without a scratch; and the West Wind brought her here, just like he carried Psyche to Cupid."

Sindaco
Mezzerti shoved the scroll back onto the table, rescued his glasses and plopped them on his nose.

"Surely, you do not think Lia is the incarnation of Psyche?"

A blue butterfly fluttered into the room. Good gods, with this many signs how could the council not see one of them?

"If I may!" Lia's shout echoed off the marble walls, and she flinched. Alessa straightened, her fist raised at her side.

The
Consiglio Comunale
snapped their attention to her.

Footsteps whispered over the tile behind Lia, but she didn't turn. She had to do this. Now. The butterfly lit on her shoulder, giving her courage. This was her chance to stay in Amores. She just hoped Zephyrus blew Dante home soon.

"We all know that Psyche and Cupid walk among us still, so no one is suggesting I am she."

Alessa blinked then shook her head. For a moment, she stared at her fist then shook out her fingers and strode to Lia's side.

"Of course not. But this is Lia's home—the only one she's had for nineteen years. She's as much a part of Amores as the descendants of the signers of the Cupid Charter. And while we are in the business of romantic love, does not the love of children come from that as well?"

Sindaco
Mezzerti poked the scroll.

"The charter clearly states…"

Lia ground her teeth. Enough with the stupid charter.

"The charter states that all single female citizens can drop their name into Cupid and Psyche's urn on Valentine's Day. Since I am still a citizen of Amores until the end of term…" Forever, if I have my way. "…I will add my name to the Love Lottery."

A hiss sounded behind her. In front, the mayor jerked back in his seat.
Signora
Grimor flicked her black braid over her shoulder and leaned toward the mayor.

"What!" Alessa clamped onto Lia's arm. "You don't—"

Lia ignored her sister and squared her shoulders.

"If the gods will it, I will find a mate tomorrow."

Pain lanced her chest. No, not a mate, if Dante had not returned from the outside. She crossed her fingers. Please, gods, have Dante return.

Signora Grimor nodded to the mayor before leaning forward in her chair.

"And if an eligible bachelor doesn't draw your name, will you leave the village without further appeals to the consiglio?"

"No!" Alessa groaned and tightened her grip on Lia's arm

"Si." Pain needled Lia's fingers. Setting her hand on her sister's, she tried to loosen the vise. The Love Lottery had to work. Cupid wouldn't have suggested it otherwise, wouldn't have shown her Dante's face.

Unless…

Unless, Cupid was playing one of his tricks and wanted her cast out.

Lia slowly filled her lungs. If her name wasn't drawn then she'd find Dante on the outside. She had to find him.

The mayor grasped the scroll and began to roll it up.

"You know you will never be able to find Amores again? Never be able to return here or see any of us once you live among the regular humans?"

"Yes." Her voice broke, cracked the very heart in her chest. Please, gods, don't let this be a trick.

Mayor Mezzerti leaned to the left and right to consult with the other council members.

"The matter is closed, unless Alessa would like to add her name to the drawing."

Alessa groaned but shook her head. Strands of black hair escaped her bun.

"No? Very well. Lia Lombard will add her name to the urn tomorrow at sunrise. The gods’ will be done."