The Island of Excess Love Read Online Free Page B

ever have.”
    He lifts my face to his and our lips find each other by instinct in the dark. As soon as we kiss my whole body relaxes like I’ve just been immersed in warm water, in a marble tub with gardenia blossoms floating on it and candles scented with lavender and vanilla burning along the rim. I stretch out so the soles of my feet rest on top of his delicate bony arches and then he flips me over onto my back. He props himself up and leans over me and I cradle his face in my palms. I can feel his hand stroking my throat, moving down to my breasts, massaging them while the other hand supports my neck. Then one finger trails from my solar plexus to my belly, over my pubic bone, between my legs. He pushes my thighs apart with one knee and moves his hand inside of me so I buck up to meet his fingers, coming almost right away. My body is so grateful for him that I want to weep again, but not out of fear now.
    â€œYour turn,” I say.
    Even after all this time Hex is still shy about letting me give him pleasure. I sit up so we’re facing each other cross-legged, holding hands.
    â€œOkay?” I ask. I feel like I always have to check in with him first.
    â€œOkay.”
    So I push him down on his back and position myself between his legs, my mouth on him, his hands in my hair. He moans, a shudder going through him, and I’m struck by how vulnerable he can be, but only with me, only in our bed.
    When he’s quiet, he pulls me up to lie on his chest. That heart is beating so fast still. I kiss the Heartless tattoo that covers it.
    â€œWe’re going to explore the ship, aren’t we?” I ask him, squinting at the light beginning to creep into the room.
    â€œWe received an omen.”
    Why the hell does he trust that old book by Virgil more than he trusts me? But I brought up the book and it confirms what I know, deep down, we should do. Even the dream about my mother seemed to say to leave home, go find what needs to be found. In The Aeneid , Venus appeared to her son Aeneas and told him this very thing.
    But the other dream—the one about the fire-eyed, sweating statue—if I relate that to The Aeneid it could be read as a warning. Aeneas’s people, the Trojans, allowed the wooden horse into their city after they were told about a statue of the goddess Minerva with fire in her eyes and sweat dripping down her body. The Trojans interpreted the statue as a sign and accepted the gift of the horse into the citadel. Obviously that didn’t go well since there were Greek soldiers in the horse’s belly. Almost everyone was killed except Aeneas and a few others. But ultimately Aeneas had to set forth in spite of the danger.
    At least if we go I’ll have a chance to utilize all this adrenaline that’s been building up in my body since my brother’s hair caught on fire. Well, besides what Hex just did with the adrenaline. That helped. That’s all I want to think of now.
    But Argos’s warning bark jars me from the post-lovemaking drowsiness that’s overtaken me. Hex is up and holding his sword before I can even consider the reason why our dog is going berserk. I pull my shirt and sweats on and stumble after Hex into the hallway, my single eye adjusting to the sharp light of day.
    The man is standing in the kitchen, and Argos has him cornered, a snarling ball of fur and teeth. Argos may be small but when he’s protecting us he sounds like a monster, a fearsome beast many times his size with monster young still a-nest.
    â€œHands up,” Hex shouts and instead the man grins, revealing missing teeth, and removes his hood and his broken aviator sunglasses so we can see his eyes.
    In spite of the layer of filth, the missing teeth, and the beard he’s grown, obscuring most of his face, I recognize him. It’s Merk.
    Though Merk saved my life more than once, he’s still part of the pain.
    He was best friends with both my parents but slept with my