Page 30 of The Sunbound Princess
Once again, our eyes held.
“Of all kinds,” I added softly.
She swallowed. Then she lifted her tankard. “To discoveries,” she echoed just as softly before taking a drink.
We drank our third round of ale—or maybe our fourth. The air buzzed with song and laughter. The lanterns burned lower, and the buzz in my veins became a buzz in my head. I tugged at my collar.
Across the tavern, the woman in the velvet dress laughed as a man swung her onto the bar. He pushed her skirts up and spread her legs. Barmaids moved among the patrons, but something was different…
Something was wrong.
Their dresses were missing, their white chemises and frilly drawers gleaming in the tavern’s rosy light.
Dain swiped at his brow, his blue eyes clouded with confusion. “I feel…odd.”
I shook my head, struggling to clear it, but the buzzing between my ears grew louder. Around the tavern, patrons began loosening their clothing. High-pitched, feminine laughter cut through the noise. When I looked at the bar, the woman in the velvet dress tipped her head back, her weight braced on her palms as her companion buried his face between her legs.
Laughter turned to moans. At a nearby table, a man pulled a riding crop from a saddlebag slung over the back of his chair. The man seated across from him rose and began unbuckling his belt.
Dain stirred. A muscle ticked in his jaw. He wiped more sweat from his forehead.
“What’s happening?” Bel asked, sliding a finger into the high collar of her gown. Her cheeks were flushed, her pupils tiny specks in a sea of bright gold.
Too bright.
Warmth spread through my limbs and pooled between my legs. My cock twitched—then tightened. Desire struck like a thunderclap, and I sucked in a breath.
The man with the crop circled his companion, who’d shoved his trousers to his knees and now bent over the table. At another table, a barmaid climbed into a man’s lap, yanked his head back, and kissed him passionately.
“Gods,” Dain rasped, shifting in his chair. His eyes were glassy, and the pulse in his neck fluttered like a trapped bird under his skin.
Realization crept over me with horrifying clarity. The bawdy music. The too-sweet ale. The delicious cakes. We weren’t in an ordinary inn. The Wayward Blossom was a pleasure house. Our food and drink had been laced with aphrodisiacs. The practice was outlawed in Saldu.
But we weren’t in Saldu. We were on its outskirts, where the law didn’t quite reach and brothel-keepers “enhanced” their refreshments to loosen their customers’ inhibitions. The barmaids weren’t barmaids. They were ladies of the night.
The music changed, the tempo slower, the drumbeat low and insistent. Moans lifted around us as patrons shed their clothes.
Bel squirmed on her chair, her cheeks a brilliant pink. “Oh gods,” she gasped, gripping the table with white fingers. “I’m going to… I need to…” She jerked a panicked gaze to mine. “I’maching.”
I jumped to my feet, pulling her up with me. “Come on,” I said, tugging her around the table and gripping Dain’s arm. “Come with me, both of you.” Dain’s chair rocked backward as he let me drag him from the table.
“What’s going on?” Bel asked, the suggestion of a moan in her voice.
“Our drinks were spiked with a love potion,” I said under my breath, weaving among the tables.
Her gasp rose above the slap of a riding crop striking flesh. “Could it hurt us?”
“No,” I said grimly, steering her and Dain toward a counter where a smirking man watched the scene on the tavern floor with obvious satisfaction.
The “innkeeper.” I slammed some of my stolen coins onto the counter. “Give us your best room.”
He gave me a sour look as he picked up a coin and bit it. “Privacy costs extra.”
My body burned with unwanted desire, and it was a struggle not to reach over the counter and grip his neck. “Fine,” I bit out, flinging more coins onto the wood. “Just give me a room.”
He flicked his eyes to Bel, and my temper snapped. Before I realized what I was doing, my fingers were around his throat.
“Don’t fucking look at her,” I snarled. “Just give me the key.”
