Cassiopia stood there, afraid to move, fearing what the consequences would be and yet at the same time, thinking about the rewards. A giant smirk danced upon her features. "Can't wait for those rewards."

Sophia ran down the small hill, taking her cape off in the process. "Hey Soranus" she loudly whispered. When he came into view, she threw the cape at him. "Here put this on."

Soranus looked at the cape in his hands. "Are you sure about this?"

"Just do it. And remember what I said." She watched as he nodded and disappeared among the trees.

Sophia looked back up the hill. *This better work. I don't think I can say no much longer.*"Cassiopia, do you hear me?" she yelled.

"Yes, my warlord."

"Follow the sound my voice. Come down the hill. Follow my voice." She watched as the woman came halfway down the hill. "Stop." A small smirk crossed her features as Cassiopia halted. "Good. You can obey." She tilted her head. "I want you to walk down slowly." She watched until she was barely an arms length away. "Stop. Now close your eyes." Once she saw that her orders were obeyed, Sophia continued. "Now, come to me." Slowly, with hesitance, the woman made her way closer, unaware that Sophia had moved away.

Sophia watched as the woman was less than two steps away from the goal. "Stop. Keep your eyes closed." She nodded to Soranus, who quietly crept towards them.

She returned her attention once more to Cassiopia. "You've been very patient." She reached over and stroked the woman's cheek. "And very obedient. Now for your reward."

That was his cue. Soranus forcefully wrapped his arms around the woman and kissed her with all his might as she wrapped her arms around him and grasped the silk cape in her hands.

Sophia stepped back and waited for the magic to work. The kiss, which started out very heated and demanding became tender, loving and passionate. When the need for air became to urgent to ignore, the two pulled away, love and embarrassment shining from both sets of eyes.

"Oh Soranus, please forgive me."

"It's me who should be saying sorry."

Sophia walked over to the pair. "There is nothing to forgive. What matters is that you two broke the spell." With a smirk planted firmly on her face, she reached out her hand. "Now can I have my cape back?"

Soranus chuckled and took it off, handing it back to the Guardian. Cassiopia came up to Sophia. "I was right about you, you are a hunk," gave her a chaste kiss on the check, "and a gentlewoman."

Sophia smiled her thanks and watched as the two walked off.

"So," Cupid appeared by the Guardian's side, "did you have fun?"

"You know, that was almost too easy."

"Yeah right. That's why you had such a hard time keeping her hands off and your heartbeat down. Besides, everyone knows that kissing one's soulmate can break all kinds of spells. But what I want to know is how did you get him to kiss her? After all, he was in love with the tree."

Sophia chuckled. "I told him the only was to break through a hard heart was to tug at the extreme emotions. Unfortunately most things wait until they are about to lose something before they show how much they care. So I simply suggested that he made the tree jealous. And the best way to accomplish that was for him to kiss someone else. And you saw the rest." She tied the cape on and then stuck out her hand, "Okay, hand them over."

Cupid pouted. "I guess a deal is a deal." He started to take his quiver off.

Sophia threw up her hands. "Forget it. I don't need them. However, you owe me big time, Couz." With that, she chuckled and headed for another adventure.

THE END