The woman didn’t cower or flinch at the harsh command. Dragging one last gaze over both Mila and me—hunger still burning in her eyes—she turned without a word, hips swaying as she disappeared back beneath the archway.
“Pity,” Mila said when she was gone. “That could have been fun.”
“Always the teasing,” I muttered against her lips, pulling back before she could seal that kiss. I suppressed a laugh at Mila’s disgruntled scoff, taking a few quick steps to catch up to the group where they stood before the woman who had instructed Nolletta.
“You two done?” Lyria asked with a brow quirked.
“No,” I said bluntly.
Tolek chuckled. “Careful, or you’ll end up bedded before we get the information we need.”
Right. Information. We were here—at this pleasure house that should be called a pleasure palace—for very specific, necessary information.
“They will certainly try to win you over,” that critical voice said again. “But they understand what no means.”
The owner stepped into the light, her tall, reed-thin frame adorned in similar scarves and shawls—of the richest silks and shimmering threads—as the men and women visible through the archways, though hers covered her entire body from shoulder to toe.
“The Madame?” Ophelia asked.
“At your service,” the woman answered with a flourish, tucking a pipe between her puckered lips. Onyx-black hair was coiled tightly above her head, giving her entire face a shocked expression, and gold dripped off her hands, neck, and ears.
The house was not the only thing lavished in wealth, then.
Angular, dark eyes surveyed our group. “I do hope some of you are here to enjoy the amenities. Such a wealth of opportunity. Such overwhelming distress clouding your minds.”
Erista had warned us that no matter what, we’d feel swayed to participate. To spend days here fucking and feasting and forgetting whatever plagued us outside these walls. As an alluring silence settled over us, I wondered if there was more to it than simple temptation. Even the air in here, the way the light swayed in sultry puddles and distant moans carried through the corridors, had my cock hardening and my resolve fading.
“We will be indulging in what you have to offer,” Ophelia answered for us. Carefully chosen words.
“Excellent,” the Madame nearly moaned, taking a hit of her pipe. “I was told you’d like to roam free. To see what we host within.” She waved a hand. “One rule: you touch it, you pay for it.”
“Understood,” Ophelia said.
“Then by all means,” the Madame purred, “welcome to the pleasure house.”
“This place is a labyrinth,”I muttered to Mila.
She hummed in agreement, and the sound went right through me. “It would be very easy to get lost in here.”
Spirits, I wanted to, but I shoved off that desire again.
We passed yet another room where the arched wooden door was closed, but moans and slaps of flesh against flesh carried through the walls. This entire corridor was full of them—some doors opened to reveal luxurious beds, silk cushions, and tapestries adorning the walls—as were the last three corridors our group had walked down since ducking under one of the archways off the foyer.
At the end of the hall, Ophelia turned to face us. Mystlight cast a wavering haze over her features, purple from the shawl draped across the orb. “These are all private rooms.”
Sure enough, from behind the door over her shoulder, a chorus of lewd cries echoed off the stone wall.
“And they seem to be hosting quite a bit of fun,” Lyria noted, eyes gleaming.
“Please, Ria,” Tolek said. “I don’t need to know what you findfun.”
“As if you?—”
“I think we should split up,” Ophelia interrupted, and I was grateful for it. “Whoever finds a Storyteller first, you know what to ask. And use the shells from Rina to alert everyone if we need something.”
I palmed the method of Seawatcher communication in my pocket, a trinket the ocean-faring warriors had given Santorinaand the humans to pass along messages. Rina had spread them among us weeks ago, teaching us how to send basic alerts.
“Good plan,” I agreed. “Mila and I can head that way.” I nodded down one of the twisting corridors. There were plenty of empty rooms?—
