His eyes fell to her. “Like what?”
“Unfocused,” she said. “Eris is not like any other creature in the Lands. There is a reason this island is guarded like it is and so difficult to find.”
“The witch doesn’t like visitors?”
“Oh, Eris likes visitors very much. I’m sure Eris would love to have more visitors. Many try to reach this island and fail. If it hadn’t been for Hero, we would have failed too.”
Hero’s tail twitched against her throat.
“Then why make it so hard?”
“The gods made it hard. This is a prison. Eris is its only prisoner. At least, the only one who is forced to live here for an eternity. Many have died attempting to reach this place, but many have also succeeded. Some stayed past sunset or gave into one of Eris’s temptations and became permanent guests. So you will do nothing that I do not tell you to do. No matter what, never lose sight of Eris. Do not look away even for a moment or temptation will arrest you.”
“Temptation?”
“Eris will tempt you in whatever way it seems will work best, to distract you long enough so that you stay until sunset. If that happens, then you can never leave. Once I say Eris’s name, don’t look at anything else but the witch. Just like the light. We have to stay focused. We cannot lose sight of why we came here.”
Grim, he nodded.
“Let’s go.”
As they approached the interconnected buildings of Eris’s compound, the trail evened out and led up to a wooden walkway. In one direction a dock, tied to its piling, a wide barge with a crisp white canopy. In the other, a terrace of herringbone brickwork red as blood. At the center a fire burned, roasting meat. A large blond woman draped in a white gown laced with gold turned the spit, filling the air with unctuous meaty scents that did nothing to help Magda’s queasiness.
Nearby, under a white pavilion, two men were coupling with soft grunts and groans.
Magda skirted the fire pit and paid no attention to the lovers. She strode straight up the brick steps and through the open veranda doors into a cool, spacious room, well lit thanks to the skylights along the slanted ceiling.
The heady aroma of sex filled the sunken room.
At the bottom of the tiers, Magda glimpsed two men pleasuring a woman, who writhed and gasped on the floor. Her black braids splayed out across the white tiles. But Magda only saw them peripherally. Most of her attention was on the opposite side of the room. There, on a cushioned chaise built into the steps, lounged an elegant creature of indeterminate age, sex, and hue. With every moment, Eris’s features altered slightly, hair lightening or darkening, growing or shortening, nose flattening, sharpening, eyes brown, then blue.
“Eris, thank you for seeing us,” Magda said, keeping her gaze fixed on the creature, who most called a witch, but only for lack of a true word. Perhaps once there had been a name for what Eris was, but if so, it was long forgotten.
“Would you two like to join in?” Eris asked, arching a temporarily dark eyebrow, gesturing to the three on the floor. But Magda didn’t look at them.
“No, thank you,” Magda said, moving around the top edge of the room, closer to Eris. Kaelan stayed close behind her. She hoped he hadn’t looked away from the witch.
Eris’s cheeks pulled in. Eyes, currently blue, dropped to the blanket bundle swinging from Magda’s hand.
“A gift?” Eris asked.
“Perhaps,” Magda said, shifting away from Kaelan, who had moved closer, putting off too much heat. Had he looked away from Eris?
Damn it.
Magda pointed towards the trio. “But first, send them away.”
Eris sat up, silken white gown flowing over long, graceful limbs. “But I think your friend is enjoying them.”
“Of course, he is,” Magda said as Kaelan’s hand slid over her waist, his nose pressed against the back of her head. She threw her elbow into his stomach, but he took the blow, caught her arm, and pulled her hard against him.
“But I’m not,” Magda continued speaking only to Eris.
She had already lost focus once on this trip and had nearly died for it. She couldn’t fight off Kaelan or push him away, because the moment she looked away from Eris, her own desire would overwhelm her. Then she and Kaelan would spend the rest of their lives trapped on this island. “And I know you would not be so ungracious to your guests,” Magda continued.
Eris shrugged, eyes rolling, now green.
Kaelan’s hands wandered up to cup her breasts. The whole of his body pressed against her back, his lips grazing her neck. Ignoring the tremble his touch inspired—the heat up her spine, unfurling across her belly, the shiver over her skin—was growing increasingly difficult. A jolt shot straight through her core, down between her legs, as his fingers traced the hardened peaks beneath her jerkin.
