When he went very still, I looked up from balancing my candle on a little pile of gravel. Havoc had moved to a flat stone along one wall—it appeared to have a collection of smaller rocks on it. The Dragon gathered up a number of them in his taloned fingers, picking and choosing. When he turned to hobble awkwardly back to the bathing pool, rocks clutched to his chest, Marcus said, “You don’t have to do that.”
Havoc didn’t answer at first, placing the small stones with surprising dexterity around the bathing pool. They reflected jewel-like tones in the candlelight, projecting prisms of color. Finally, he said, “I wants to.”
With them added to the lit candles, the cave suddenly took on a magical appearance. Even Havoc’s spirits seemed to lighten.
“Okays,” the big Dragon said. “So nows what?”
Marcus finished fussing with the cloth and pulled a large bowl from the last pack, along with some filmy white garments and a small bottle of blue liquid. “Now, we wash in the ceremonial water, and then get dressed.”
Havoc arched a brow. “Woulds haves preferred booze?”
Marcus frowned at him as he bent to fill the bowl from the pool. He then moved a couple of candles aside to position it on a boulder, before opening the bottle and splashing a few drops into the water.
A fragrance wafted to me, floral and spicy and not at all familiar.
“Jinga flower,” Marcus said. “Grown for its blooms, but also for ceremonies.”
Havoc’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed before he turned and waded into the ocean.
“If you come across an eel, we can steam it later,” Marcus called after him. He turned to me and Riley. “Just as well. He was kind of dirty after all that digging.”
I glanced at the pool. “We aren’t using that?”
“That”—Marcus waggled his brows—“is for the ceremony.” He held up bits of filmy white clothing. “As are these.”
“Not much to them,” I noted nervously.
Havoc surfaced from the water and jetted a stream of it at Marcus. Riley laughed. When I raised a brow, she said, “Havoc just accused Marcus of wanting to freeball.”
I stared, and she grinned. “Guess you had to be there.”
She turned away to examine the bit of clothing Marcus held out to her, so she didn’t witness my face spasm when my heart insisted on breaking free, for just an instant. But my scent spiked ferociously, and Marcus’s gaze fixed on me before he handed me my own sampling of white.
“Pants for us guys,” he explained. “Centaurs actually only wear vests during the ceremony, so I made do with what I could find.” When I hesitated, he stated, “Witnesses wash too. This is about ceremony, rather than cleanliness.”
Riley held her two pieces up—a vest with a flowing skirt. “Guess I should be grateful for the vest, then.”
I certainly was. This entire thing was quickly getting out of hand. The Satyr in me was already drooling in anticipation, and I was sure the entire cave reeked of me.
And that was dangerous.
Marcus had already reduced himself to just his pants and was standing before the basin. “Head and heart must be cleansed of the past.” It was a recited chant, but also musical.
Riley watched with light in her eyes as he washed first his face, and then his chest with the scented water. As the fluid cascaded down his chest and abdomen, tracing every rock-hard contour, she swallowed. The energy spiking off her wasn’t exactly chaste.
Marcus dumped the basin and refilled it for her, adding the scent. When she stripped off her tee shirt and stood there in her bra, I tried to look away—but my eyes remained fixed on her.
“Head and heart,” Marcus repeated softly, standing beside her as the water spilled over the upper curve of her breasts, glistening in the candlelight.
I ripped my eyes away as I removed my tunic. I shouldn’t have stayed. I should have run as far and as fast as I could.
Riley backed away from the bowl as Marcus prepared it for me. My hands trembled as I picked up the cloth and dipped it in the water. He murmured the words as I washed, the water cold, the scent filling my nostrils.
When I next looked up, Riley was staring at me. For an instant, her green-rimmed gaze blazed with something raw and primal. Then she blinked and picked up her clothes.
I turned away as she started to strip. Havoc emerged from the ocean and shifted to human. Marcus refilled the bowl a final time and held the cloth to Havoc.
“It stinks,” the Dragon complained.
