Page 35 of Light Me Up

“And my amazing superpowers inform me that there’s no one around, so we should be able to come out of this passageway…right…about…here. Yeah.”

A rustle, a click, and a square of light opened up. Caro emerged after Noah, blinking, into a vast, high-ceilinged room. It was very hot and smelled of age and dust. The few pieces of furniture were covered withcanvas throws.

The air was incredibly still. It was eerily quiet.

She turned, fascinated by the faded, peeling paintings.“Where are we?”

“In one of the older parts of the palace. This part hasn’t been renovated, at least not in the past century. Come on, let me show you something.” He took her hand and led her through the rooms. Through a wooden door twice the height ofa normal human.

The room they entered was a rotunda with a breathtaking domed ceiling, flooded with rosy sunset light from the west-facing windows. All around them, the walls were a chaotic blaze of painted color, all the way up to the gold sunburst in the top.

The floor was a masterpiece of intricate mosaic tiles, and halfway up the walls, an intricate wooden balcony ringed the entire room, allowing access to a gallery of statues that were set in deep niches all the way around the dome. A steep wooden staircase led up to the gallery. As far as furniture and décor, there was only an inlaid marble table and an enormous sculpture.

Caro went over to the sculpture fora closer look.

The magnificent white marble statue seemed to glow, stained gold by the sunset. A glittering chandelier was suspended over it on a chain as thick as Caro’s arm. The prisms that dangled from it refracted the light into a shower of stars that scattered over the carved figures of a naked woman straddlinga massive bull.

“Wow,” Caro whispered.“So beautiful.”

“Zeus in action. With the beautiful Europa.” There was a note of triumph in Noah’s voice as he turned around, surveying the room.

“I know the story,” she murmured. “He turned himself into a bullto seduce her.”

Noah gave her a crooked smile. “A god has to do what agod has to do.”

The dense, crowded images in the wall frescoes started to sink in. The paintings were blatantly erotic. All of them.

She stared up at them, open-mouthed.

Noah chucked her under the chin, grinning. “Hey, remember the count who built the secret passageway for his mistresses? This room was his idea. His secret fuckpad. And the passageway we just used? That was how he got them here unseen.”

“Aha.” She gazed around, fascinated. “So you wanted to get me up here before the party just to, ah…kill some time?”

“Yes. Since you love art and all.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” she said, studying the entwined bodies in the paintings and the classical god’s heroic proportions. “Looks like a good time was had by all. Gods, goddesses, demigods, mortals.Quite a crowd.”

Noah put his arms around her. “One breathtaking goddess isenough for me.”

Awww. She went all hot and soft inside, melting against him. He looked so pleased with himself right now, which wasn’t an expression that she saw onhis face often.

“You’re sweet,” she told him, stroking his cheek.

“I was hoping you’d say sexy.”

“That, too.” She wriggled out of his embrace. “But since we won’t be coming back here, I want to get a close look at these paintings and statues. And take some photos.”

That wasn’t all she wanted to do. But she needed to breathe. Until they got around to what she hopedhe had in mind.

“Sure. Have at.” Noah ran a hand over one of the bull’s long, curved horns. The bull’s head was lowered aggressively, as if defending its prize.

“That’s worth a photo.” She reached into her evening bag for her phone. “He looks like he’s about to charge.”

“Nah. Not with Europa riding him.”

Click. Click.“You have a point,” she murmured. “She seems to be having a good time.”

Noah studied the marble figure of Europa, perched on the bull’s back. The clenched muscles of her thighs, the sensual arch of her back, her heavy-lidded eyes, her parted lips.

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