Island Tango (Silver Goddess Series, Book One) Read Online Free Page B

magic
    Red wine and spices, common vices
    Cayenne pepper, pomegranate juice,
    Lemon, lime and orange rind
    Secrets of the sea, mysteries of the land
    Passed down by the Ancestors
The Stolen Mortals’ revenge
    Awaits soon
    The Island of Vinova
    Awaits forever
     
    ---Verse Two of T he Immortality Abyss

Chapter 3
     
    Soaking in her chrome bathtub, ubiquitous glass of wine at her side, the Silver Goddess heard rustling from the adjoining chamber.  The shuffle of sheets and then the snapping of a zipper filled her ears as she took a deep swallow of her drink.  Thaddeus must be dressing to leave after their interlude , she surmised with a cynical smirk.  He liked to fancy himself free, but he could never stay away for long.  That was the magic of the Immortality Abyss.  One could take a brief respite from the Island of Vinova and roam free for a day or two, perhaps even a week, but inevitably the Silver Goddess’s clutches were too tight to escape.  More than that, her allure was infallible, and she knew it.
    Pedro used to rhapsodize about her intoxicating fragrance of passionflower mingled with ripe strawberries.  He had inhaled the irresistible fragrance each time his boat docked onto shore, feeling in his core a sweet prelude of the pleasures he would experience inside the castle with his lover.
    Without warning, the Silver Goddess poured the remainder of the wine into her throat, nearly choking on it.  Angrily, she hauled the wine goblet to the porcelain floor and sneered in satisfaction as it crashed into countless shards.   Thoughts of Pedro always had this effect on her.  She would never admit to herself how utterly foolish she had been to banish him.  So many days she wished she could somehow have him back.  But now he roamed among mortals…
    Thaddeus dashed into the room with a concerned expression on his face.
    “Is everything alright?  What was that crashing?”
    She gave him a disdainful look.  What an imbecile he could be.  He followed her eyes to the shattered glass on the floor.
    “What was that crashing? Well, let me see.  Could it have been the broken glass all over the floor?” The Silver Goddess lashed out at Thaddeus.
    “This needs to be cleaned up before someone gets hurt.” Thaddeus advised.
    This comment earned him another look of disgust from the Silver Goddess.
    “Clean it up?  Shall I do it?” She balked, laughing humorlessly.  “Go get one of my manservants.”
    With a glance of dejection blended with resentment, Thaddeus exited the room, his fists at his sides.  He was not her butler, and he despised when she treated him that way.  How could his body be so strong, yet his resolve so weak, he wondered in frustration.  In the corridor, he saw one of the muscular manservants enter the Goddess’s chamber.  An unwelcome twitch of jealousy pulse d on his face, as Thaddeus stood immobile, listening to the exchange between his lover and the manservant.
    “Clean up that mess.” The Silver Goddess instructed harshly from her bath.
    Reflexively, the manservant stared into th e water, trying to discern the G oddess’s lush body parts.  This earned him another terse remonstration from her.
    “Don’t ogle me! Just clean up and go.”
    She knew she could be as rude as her temperament required.  Her manservants had drunk the wine years ago and were as fully trapped inside the Immortality Abyss as Thaddeus was.
    “Quickly!” She screamed as the hapless m anservant scooped up the broken glass with his bare hands, depositing it into a plastic bag as fast as he could without cutting himself.
    He didn’t dare look at her again, although from the corner of his eye, he could see that she was toying with him, letting her breasts rise just above the top of the water before concealing them again within a cloud of frothy white bubbles.
    Thaddeus craned his neck in the hallway, pressing his ear against the wall.  He grimaced as he heard a delicate splash of water.  Had the