Back upstairs, I was starting to get irritated. If this was another wild goose chase, I swore to God, I would never?—
At a flash of light brown hair and pink ribbon lingerie, I turned my head.
Maisy.
Seeing the look on my face, her eyes widened and then narrowed. She crossed her arms as I approached.
“You said you ascended the same time I did. That you’d been trying for six months. But I heard you’ve been a part of this since the beginning.” I glared. “You lied.”
Maisy rolled her eyes dramatically. “What are you, a toddler? Yeah, I lied. People lie, Nova.” Her lip curled. “It was for the greater good. It would’ve been foryourgreater good if you hadn’t been a petulant child every step of the way.”
“Where is she?” I spat, stepping closer to Maisy as I saw her for who she truly was, mask off. “Where the fuck is Lorelei?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m not helping people who can’t be helped.” She lifted her chin and blew past me, bumping my shoulder.
My fists clenched, but I managed to stay calm. I climbed the stairs to the second floor, and I regretted entering the first room immediately.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath.
Archer, wearing only fur and a silver crown, was fucking astackof women under a Christmas tree. Not figuratively. Three human women wereliterallystacked on top of each other asArcher kneeled behind them, able to alternate fucking each of them from behind as he pleased.
My nausea returned. I flashed back to the first party, when Wes and I had stood staring at each other as people fucked all around us. His words haunted me, twisting my heart into knots.
At a certain point, it’s all just flesh, ain’t it?
I don’t merely desire your body, Nova. I need your soul.
I took a step back, and Jayne appeared as if out of thin air. I turned to look at her instead of Archer’s grunts and clenched ass cheeks. She was dressed as a snow queen, Archer’s counterpart, even as she watched him fuck everyone else.
“How can you stand it?” I asked her quietly.
She didn’t look at Archer either, only at me. Her beauty tonight was ethereal, adorned with diamonds and a dramatic icy crown. “It’s just nature.Hisnature. Loving someone means accepting them as they are.”
I scanned her eyes, searching for hurt, but as always, Jayne presented as a true believer of her every word.
“Where. Is. She.”Venom seeped into my irises as I curled my lip.
“The last private room on the right,” Jayne answered.
I laughed bitterly. “You all gaslit me, made me feel fuckingcrazy.You lied over and over again. Why? And why keep playing with me when Wes was the one you really wanted?”
Jayne remained infuriatingly serene, her every feature soft and supple. “Because of The Circle, you are now free.”
I gritted my teeth.
“You can’t go back to your self-imposed chains even if you wanted to. If you choose to leave us now, your eyes will remain open forever. Your old life cannot be resurrected. But the extraordinary life you dreamed of as a girl is alive. It’s been waiting for you.”
Jayne grinned, and Archer groaned again.
“My dreams are dead,” I spat. “And I won’t be selling my soul to get them back.”
Jayne’s lips twitched with displeasure, her nearly-golden eyes losing a touch of their sparkle. Satisfied, I turned from her and headed toward the hall of private rooms. As I went, I passed elves, Mrs. Claus, snow fairies, men in suits and masks, and naked subs on all fours.
But I couldn’t focus on anything but the blood rushing to my head and the heavy beat of my heart. It had been over eight months since I’d spoken to Lorelei in the flesh, the woman I’d grown up with, the woman I’d tried and failed to save—from her dad, from our hometown, from alcohol, from men, from a fucking sex cult.
I had no idea what to expect. If Lorelei knew it wasn’t safe to message me on PicWave, it was possible she knew she was in danger. This was what I hoped: she’d woken up, and she finally realized she needed my help.
Moaning, vibrating, screaming, and thumping created a symphony of hedonism as I slowly crept toward the last door on the right.
