Page 56 of Merciless Prince
I smiled nervously and let them lead me out of the cave and back to the clearing with the logs.
“Last one done!” one of the red-cloaks called out. “We’re all ready for the next stage.”
The other initiates stood and cheered. The red-cloaks led us out of the clearing and down yet another path, in the opposite direction of the hills.
As I stepped down the dark, leaf-strewn trail, one of the red-cloaks sidled up to me and put a hand on my arm. “I’m not supposed to tell you this just yet,” she whispered to me. “But you passed all the trials. The rest of the night is just a formality, so you can relax and have fun with it.”
My brows shot up. “Really?”
“Yes. Enjoy yourself.” She squeezed my arm before walking up ahead to speak to one of the other initiates.
A couple of minutes later, I heard a thrum of activity from somewhere up ahead. The path curved around before reaching a peak, and then it dipped down to yet another clearing in the woods. This was the biggest one yet.
“Wow, look at it,” one of the other initiates said breathlessly, stopping to take in the view.
A massive bonfire roared in the center of the clearing, and flashing white and yellow lights had been strung up on trees all around the edges. Loud music hummed in the air, along with the sound of raucous laughter and chatter. At least a hundred people were dancing around the fire. Some were semi-nude and covered in gold paint.
On the left side of the clearing, there were a few tables with large punch bowls, cups, trays with mountains of white powder, and plates of dried brown mushrooms. Nearby, a couple of striped tents had been set up.
“Welcome to the party,” one of the red-cloaks called out from the front of our group. “Before you join the festivities, you have to try our signature drink.”
“No one is allowed to go in without having at least one,” said the red-cloak next to him. “Two or three is highly encouraged, though,” he added with a chuckle.
He lifted a hand and clicked his fingers, and several of the other red-cloaks streamed down the path and made a beeline for the drinks table.
They returned with cups filled with dark, sweet-smelling liquid. I sniffed it before taking a sip. It tasted similar to the port from earlier. Nice, but unoriginal. Hardly a signature drink.
“There’s a little something in there to loosen you up,” one of the red-cloaks said with a brief giggle from behind her mask. “Liquid MDMA.”
Ah.That explained it.
“Bottoms up,” one of the other initiates said before tilting his cup and draining the contents in one mouthful.
The others followed suit. I shrugged and did the same, letting the sweet liquid warm my throat and belly.
The red-cloaks around us cheered and patted us on the backs and shoulders. “Come and join the party!” someone else shouted from up ahead. “Tonight, you can do anything you want!”
With my head already spinning from the spiked drink, I followed the other initiates and let myself melt into the hot, heaving throng of dancers by the bonfire. Some were dressed in the same red cloaks and masks as those who’d tested us, while others were dressed in glittering outfits that would fit in perfectly at a street carnival.
The music grew louder, with a heavy drumbeat that seemed to pulse through the earth beneath my feet, and the people around me bounced and twisted in the air, bodies slick with sweat and faces bright and happy. I lifted my hands and joined in, shimmying my hips to the beat.
The liquid ecstasy from the drink was fizzing through my veins now. It felt as if my body had been touched by an angel and filled with pure light. The partygoers around me seemed to be experiencing the same incredible high, and some of them were stripping off their clothes and twirling around in their underwear. Others were already stark naked.
It didn’t faze me when a half-naked girl with a radiant face started tugging on my arm and pleading for me to join her in a close, sensual dance. Right now, everything she wanted seemed perfectly natural—dancing, hugging, touching, squeezing.
A few minutes later, the girl smiled at me before leaning forward and touching her lips to mine. The heat of the kiss matched the intensity of the bonfire next to us, and my body flooded with adrenaline and tingling desire.
After that, the world around me swirled into a mess of colors, sounds, and sensations, all of which were wonderful. I was vaguely aware of someone tugging on my sweater, and then I was suddenly half-naked like the girl I was dancing with, clothes strewn all around our feet.
A man joined us, followed by another pretty girl. We kept dancing and tearing at each other’s clothes, grinning blissfully as we explored each other’s bodies. All around us, bathed in firelight, other people were doing the same. Bodies entwined as clothes peeled off, left abandoned on the ground, and soon people were licking and sucking and fucking all over the place.
Soon, I was on the ground with my new friends, absorbed into the warm, writhing sea of flesh around us. Tongues and lips were everywhere, followed by hands and cocks. A distant part of my mind told me that I should be ashamed of myself for what I was doing, but I wasn’t. I felt amazing. At one with everything.
It was easy to see how people could get sucked into a secret society like this one. It was as if they had their own world; a world filled with nothing but heady pleasure, where everyone could simplybe. No rules, no fears, no past or future.
There was a dark side, though. Francesca made that clear to me the other day, so I had to be careful not to get sucked in too deeply.
For now, though…
