No. Absolutely not. That’s too far. Even thinking about it is?—
“Here we are,” Horatio rumbles, stopping before a set of enormous doors carved with curling thorns and coiling vines. He pushes them open, and I forget everything else.
The banquet hall is vast.
It stretches out in every direction like the grand ballroom of some enchanted palace. Above us, a canopy of branches arches high overhead, woven together with living leaves and strands of flowers shedding gold and silver light. The walls shimmer faintly with luminous moss. And the long oval table in the center is huge—it could seat sixty, I estimate—maybe more.
How can all this fit inside a single tree?
Magic must be the explanation. Either that, or the tree is a hundred times larger than it appeared from the outside.
At the head of the table sits the Sorceress.
Lady Thornmere wears a gown of deep crimson velvet, her dark hair twisted high and adorned with jeweled thorns. As before, there are slits in the fabric that show her breasts and nipples clearly—so at least I’m not the only one who’s on display.
Her expression is amused—radiant with smug delight. To her right, her other husbands lounge in their chairs—the red knight and the green What were their names again? Darrin and Fenric, I think. Both are dressed like Horatio and Valen in tight, flattering clothing that shows off their muscles.
Horatio pulls out the chair to the Sorceress’s left and nods to me.
“My Lady…”
“Thank you,” I say, sitting carefully.
I glance at Valen, but he gives a small shrug as he takes the seat beside mine.
Then Horatio ducks under the table.
I blink in surprise—what in the world? He just…disappears under the tablecloth. I hear the soft rustle of the cloth and the hush of breath, and then… silence.
I stare, but no one else seems surprised.
“Welcome, my dear,” the Sorceress says to me warmly. “Don’t you look ravishing.”
I lift my chin.
“Thank you. I appreciate the, er, selection of dresses.” I do not say anything about the lack of underclothes because it’s apparent the Lady of Thornmere doesn’t believe in wearing them.
“I trust you had a relaxing bath?” she inquires, arching one perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.
I hesitate. I don’t want to offend our hostess, but I’m still a bit shaken. I just can’t let what happened in the bathtub go.
“It would have been relaxing,” I say carefully, “if the vines and flowers hadn’t attempted to molest me.”
Lady Thornmere blinks, eyes widening.
“Oh, they did?”
“Yes, they did,” I say more firmly. “It was most shocking.”
However, she looks anything but shocked.
“But my dear, they couldn’t have done anything unless you activated them,” she says, laughing lightly.
“Activated them? How?” I demand.
“Why, by speaking the runes on the side of the tub aloud, of course.” Her eyes glitter. “My, you must have strong magic if you were able to activate them.”
I think back and remember that I did read the runes out loud—how stupid of me!
