Three days since I’d served in Euphoria.

Four days before I would be summoned to serve again.

It was that thought alone that evicted me from my villa and forced me to trade loneliness and fear for company.

I had four days to come up with an escape plan, and the only way I could do that was by interacting with goddesses who might slip and give me clues on how to flee.

Divinity dining room rested like some slumbering turtle, tucked into the dense jungle not far from the main restaurants and café for guests. The same thatched roof, sweeping heights, and exposed rafters welcomed me but on a smaller, more intimate scale.

No men drank cocktails and joked on the wraparound deck, only women. No aura of testosterone lingered, stinking up the place.

In fact, the whole place reeked of femininity with frangipani trees lining the wooden steps—granting much-needed shade—the local herons tiptoeing between quaint ponds, and the numerous hints of sexually charged goddesses.

Napkins were folded in ways that hinted at spread legs. Fruit had been cut into phallic enticements. Even the crockery held a lipstick kiss glazed into the china.

I hated it.

For the first time, I’d found something cheap and crass on Sully’s island of impeccable taste. This place wasn’t elegant and understated but vibrantly vicious with what our purpose was: to be a rentable vagina to whomever had deep wallets.

I shivered in disgust, about to turn around and return to my villa. I’d eat alone on the beach like I had the past few mornings. Yesterday, another tiny parrot almost identical to Pika had watched me warily from the ferns. I’d tried to entice it over, placing a napkin of blueberry danish and fresh grapes on the deck close by, but it hadn’t braved a visit.

At first, I’d thought it’d been Pika, his usual vivacious personality subdued because Sully wasn’t around, but when I’d peered closer, I’d noticed the new arrival was slightly smaller with more tangerine than apricot cheeks. A few sprigs of black feathers crowned its head and a timid gloss to its eye hinted it didn’t trust easily.

I didn’t know why I’d been graced with a visit, but it’d stayed all day, watching me swim and scribble on my map, trying to solve the riddle of my freedom. By the time dusk fell, the tiny parrot fluttered off in a flurry of white belly and green wings as if satisfied by its curiosity of me and ready to go home.

I’m ready to go home, too.

If only I had wings, escaping would be a far easier task.

I sighed. I might not be able to fly away, but at least that timid creature would be a far more enjoyable lunch companion than the four women pealing with giggles under the shade of a large black sun sail.

My feet had barely touched the sand to go when a voice stopped me short. “Jinx! Wait up.”

I looked over my shoulder, relaxing a little when Jealousy left her table by the edge of the deck, abandoning an e-reader next to a bowl of half-eaten muesli.

“Oh, hi.” I tucked an errant piece of hair behind my ear, smoothing down the long teal sundress I wore. It’d been the closest thing in the wardrobe to cover up as much as possible. The thin spaghetti straps barely hid the bronze bikini beneath but at least the cheesecloth material fell to drape over my toes.

I’d worn it to protect myself from Sully’s stare.

I couldn’t figure out how I felt about not seeing him for two days. I’d grown used to his ‘harassment’, horrifyingly enjoying our sparring matches and the fact that I had the guts to query his lordship—to tell my truth…for him to let me.

“You okay?” She reached out and rubbed my arm with a sweet smile of welcome, her cream dress floating elegantly around her pretty figure. “You recovered from Euphoria?”

I licked my lips, swallowing hard. Was it normal for my dreams to be completely dripping in sex after Sully’s VR? I’d had my fair share of erotic dreams before. When I’d hit puberty, I’d even had a release in my sleep—or at least I thought I had. But the past two nights, I’d woken up with my hands between my legs and the residual echoes of intense pleasure.

And the fantasy that I pictured?

Sully.

Slave master Sully instead of sweet innocent Scott.

Sully wrapping his hand in my hair, jerking me from the bath, kissing me until our teeth chipped. Sully bending me over the vanity, kicking my legs apart, and thrusting into me, all while our eyes locked together in the mirror. Even Pika starred—a pipsqueak blur of colour crowning Sully’s head as he claimed me.

I blushed, stepping away from Jealousy. “Physically, I’m much better. But mentally…” I shrugged. “I guess it takes time to stop thinking about what happened.”

She nodded gently. “It does. After you’ve had such liberation, it’s hard for your body to allow propriety to shackle it again.” Leaning closer, she whispered, “I don’t know about you, but sex is a huge part of me now. I can’t go a day without an orgasm.”

I gasped, not entirely comfortable with such honest conversation.

She laughed softly. “You’re telling me you haven’t…you know?” Her eyebrows wiggled. “Acted on that persistent craving in your blood?”

I arched my chin, ready to deny any attempt at self-release, but my shoulders sagged. If I couldn’t be truthful with a fellow goddess—the only one I’d find a confidant in, according to Sully—who could I? It wasn’t like I could ever speak of my experiences back at home. I would hoard my secrets from Scott until I died. While I was here, I was expected to be a wanton creature—which was good because…I couldn’t help it.

Not after ingesting elixir twice. Not after living in a heightened state of sensitivity, waiting for Sully to appear, disappointed when he didn’t, disappointed in myself that I was disappointed.

It’s exhausting.

She laughed again, taking my hand and guiding me to her table. She pushed me into the chair next to the one she’d abandoned, her hazel eyes twinkling. “So…”

I sagged. “I can’t stop the dreams. They’re far too intense.”

“I know. I always have very explicit dreams after Euphoria.”

“Do they stop?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “But by the time they stop, you’re summoned to fulfil another fantasy.” She pushed her bowl away. “Around and around we go.”

“Great.” I rolled my eyes.

“What do you dream about?”

I stiffened. That was one thing I wouldn’t divulge because I didn’t like what that made me. It made me one of them. The other goddesses currently glowering at me from across the deck, the girls in lust with Sully.

“Do you dream about him?” Jealousy whispered, very aware the other girls had fallen suspiciously quiet and watched us closely.

Another blush scalded my cheeks. I could lie but the truth was crimson on my face. “I don’t want to.”

She patted my hand. “I know. It’s not your fault that your mind disobeys.”

“I should dream about my boyfriend.”

“You can dream about anyone you want. That’s the beauty of a dream…you’re not hurting anyone.”

I dropped my gaze, wincing against the sudden pain in my chest. “I’m hurting myself.”