“Should I wake him?”
“I think?—”
Before Rydon could finish the thought, the dark shape resolved into a sheer cliff, the shadow of it falling to a foot in front of them as Rydon and Gabriol dismounted. Terena stayed on Nyx and pulled to a stop.
The men walked forward slowly until they reached the wall of rock. Rydon looked back at Terena but she couldn’t see his face.
The boy stirred in her lap at the lack of motion, blinking up sleepy eyes at her. “Are we there yet?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “It’s dark and we can’t see.”
The boy looked around, his face brightening. “Aye! That’s it!” he said, pointing right at the cliff wall where Rydon and Gabriol stood.
Just then, Gabriol gave a shout, waving his arm. Terena urged Nyx forward and the boy wiggled in her arms, excited.
She pulled on the reins as Gabriol jogged over, holding his arms up to take Nikos when they stopped. The boy went easily, so excited he squirmed in Rydon’s arms. Terena dismounted and followed Rydon. Croak and Gabriol fell into step behind her.
“Here!” Nikos squealed. He wiggled and Rydon cursed. The boy dropped from his arms and raced forward. Terena shoved at Rydon and bolted after him.
“Your leg, Nikos!”
The dark enveloped them, the void pressing all around her. She willed herself to calm and a moment later, Terena came out into a large cave.
And froze, eyes wide in shock.
Rydon and Croak appeared on either side of her, Gabriol exclaiming softly behind her as he shoved Croak aside and moved up next to her. Croak protested, but Terena didn’t dare take her eyes off of the scene before them.
Terena’s mouth slackened. She stared at what looked like hundreds of people, bodies writhing to sultry music filling the cave. Smoke wrapped around their ankles like wraiths.
Terena took a tentative step forward, her hand grabbing hold of Rydon’s wrist when she saw couples engaged in public sexual acts. Some didn’t even bother to find furniture to take advantage of. Chandeliers heavy with crystal and dripping candles hung from invisible cords, suspended in the air above the orgy unfolding in front of them.
Terena cast a side eye at Gabriol, who gawked at the scene.
“Are you seeing this?” she whispered to Rydon, her eyes darting around at the half-naked and—yes, that is a naked man; oh there’s another.
“Where are we?” Gabriol asked.
“Paradise,” Croak sighed.
Terena squared her shoulders and took a few steps forward, grateful she wasn’t alone. As they passed people, Terena nodded and smiled, hoping she looked unaffected as she caught sight of a woman greedily sucking on a man’s?—
“Who are you?”
Terena jumped at the booming voice.
The people around them vanished. Gone were the countless bodies, the music, the smoke, replaced by stalagmites jutting up from the ground in patches around the edges of the cave.
And a man—an enormous man looking like he had muscles on his muscles—was standing on the far side of the cave. His blond hair hung in braids to his shoulders and he had gold bands on both his arms like belts that would fit Terena’s waist nicely. He wore no breeches, only a long tunic belted at the waist and sandals laced up his ankles.
Terena swiveled her eyes to Rydon before she held up her hands to the man and took another step forward.
“My name is Terena Luca. We saved a boy in the ravine back there, and he brought us here.”
The man looked at her as if she’d grown a second head. After a moment of awkward silence, he took a few steps forward, his eyes shifting to Rydon, then Gabriol, and finally Croak.
“And these three? They were with you?”
Terena looked at Rydon from the corner of her eye, then back at the giant man. “Aye.”
