The king of the satyrs gripped the woman’s hips and penetrated her. When she cried out, one of the other satyrs fisted her hair and gripped his cock then thrust into her mouth.
The cheers went up as the orgy commenced, the banging of drums intensifying and people shoving at us in the crowd to get to the other side, where three of the satyrs and one of the women with spring flowers were sucking and fucking each other.
“Are you a player too?” a barrel-chested man said as he brushed my shoulder, grinning blearily down at me.
Before I could say a word, Trajan pushed the man away.
“Step back,” he barked.
“Come on, now. You can share.” The drunk reached for me, but Alaric knocked his hand away and shoved him harder than Trajan had.
The drunkard fell back into another, who turned and punched him, then the crowd around us erupted in violence. Someone fell between Trajan and me, breaking the hold he had on my hand.
“Lela!”
A brawl broke out even while the music played on and the people having an orgy in the street moaned and groaned above it all. It was sheer madness.
Trajan and Alaric were punched and pushed to the far side of the crowd by the fight between a dozen drunken sots. The crowd on the street had doubled in only a few moments, pouring in from the direction of the forum, now separating me from Trajan and Alaric.
Trajan scowled over the crowd, looking up and down the street. When I caught his gaze, I pointed to the right. He nodded. We’d walk farther down the street where the crowd thinned then meet and continue on toward the Aventine and the docks.
Keeping Trajan in sight as he kept watching me over the crowd, I pushed through the people, all clamoring to get a closer look at the fornication outside the tavern. Up ahead, coming from the direction of the forum, were three men in demonic-looking masks, wearing short black togas draped in a way that left their chests bare and crossed one shoulder. It was obviously done to flaunt their physiques, for they were well-built younger dragons.
Then one of them laughed, and my entire soul chilled to the bone. It was Quintus. I knew that laugh anywhere.
Instantly, I tugged my hood farther over my head and looked at the ground. My path would have me walking within an arm’s length of them since they were following the horde to the public show in the street.
Quintus walked in the middle of the other two, carrying a wine goblet. I kept my gaze down until I’d passed them, thankful that the crowd was beginning to thin.
Wrapping the flap of my cloak across the bottom part of my face, I glanced back over my shoulder, and froze. Quintus had turned, his eyes fiery red with his dragon, peering through the demon mask. He looked like a creature from the underworld, come to drag souls down to Tartarus with him. And he was looking atme.
He pulled off the mask, his friends having walked on, but his attention was fixed on me now with a murderous glare. I faced forward and moved on at a fast clip. When the crowd thinned, Trajan pushed hurriedly to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder as we rushed down the side road leading to the docks.
“What is it?”
“Quintus,” I whispered. “I believe he recognized me. He turned in the crowd.”
“Fuck,” he cursed. “He smelled you. He’d know your scent from visiting Valerius’s so often.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Keep going. Hurry.”
I didn’t dare look back. We practically ran through the street. Once we made the next corner, Trajan looked behind us.
“He isn’t there. I thought he was following.”
“Let’s hurry,” I urged him, my magic prickling along my skin, like she knew I needed her.
We didn’t try to blend with the crowd anymore, rushing through the Aventine toward the docks. Every block, there was another throngof revelers—drinking, dancing, fornicating in the street. It was madness.
Careening around another corner, we took a direct line to the docks. My heart raced when I heard the rushing of the Tiber and could see masts jutting into the starry sky.
“Almost there,” Trajan shouted as we ran.
Alaric said not a word, his gaze darting in every direction as we hurried down the cobblestone to the harbor. All three of us panted, not slowing down when our feet met the wood planks of the long dock. Up ahead, I could see the crew of theMercuryunmooring its ropes, readying to depart, the captain watching us from the deck. Beside him was Koska, who lifted a hand to wave then stopped.
“Lela!” came a guttural shout behind us.
It was Quintus. I’d know his voice anywhere. Trajan stopped running and spun back in the other direction.
“No!” I shouted, turning back to him.
