The sibyls clearly loved their plants. Every wall was lined with planters, and the center of the glass courtyard had been devoted to an entire garden. White, bell-shaped flowers spilled over shaded planters full of mushrooms, and red poppies bobbed in the wind, gleaming like splashes of blood.
Azazel saw me looking, and leaned down to my ear with a secretive smile. “They’re all powerful psychoactives. You see the datura there, along with henbane and mandrake, next to the psilocybin mushrooms. The sibyls don’t grow a single plant that can’t be taken to induce hallucinations.”
“You seem like you know a lot about this place.” I cracked half a smile when I saw the smug look cross his face.
“I might’ve spent some time here in the course of my studies.”
“See anything good?”
Azazel shook his head, looking ruefully at the garden of visions. “You don’t summon ancient eldritch entities with a lucid mind. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’d say I want to see them again at all.”
I stared at him as a white-robed sibyl dashed up a winding set of stairs towards us. “So… you’re telling me you were high out of your mind when you opened an interdimensional nightmare portal and started bartering your own body parts?”
Azazel’s perfect composure cracked for a moment, and he grinned. “Yes.”
Tascius shook his head, but Lucifer threw back his head and laughed. The sibyl skidded to a halt near him, staring up at the belly-laughing fallen prince.
“You’re all insane,” I muttered through a smirk I couldn’t suppress.
Azazel easily looped an arm around my waist. “And you love it.”
The way he just grabbed me now, like he’d just been waiting for the right moment to start lavishing affection all over me, sent flutters through my chest. “I guess I might love it a little bit,” I said, my words muffled against his chest. “Or a lot.”
“Um.” The sibyl gave us a tentative wave. Lucifer straightened up, looking down at the little white-robed demon.
I blinked when I saw the sibyl’s face. All six of her eyes were swirling with different colors like jewels.
When she was sure she had our attention, she beamed up at us. “Visionary Xrita welcomes you to the City of Sight, and will see you at midnight, when the liminal doors of opportunity are at their most efficacious. I am Seer Antava, and I will show you to your accommodations and fetch you when the Visionary is ready.
Tascius rose to his feet and fell in behind me as I followed the tiny sibyl down the glassy stairs. “Did she already know we were coming?” I asked curiously.
Seer Antava turned to face me, somehow managing to walk down the tiny spiral staircase backwards without falling off.
“Oh, yes,” she said, her face utterly serious. “She received a vision of a falling star, a hungry shadow, a child of Heaven, and a warrior victorious. In her Sight, they came to us seeking advice before their journey could continue. We’ve been prepared for your arrival for some time.”
We passed through a hallway of opalescent glass before crossing another terrace and taking two more staircases. The sunlight slowly disappeared as we wove below the tree line, and the glass steps ended on cool white marble.
Everything below the trees looked like it’d been transported from the past, tall Ionic columns lining a seeing pool, and we were led to a marble rotunda overgrown with ivy. Seer Antava opened a door and gestured for us to go in.
“These are one of our guest chambers,” she said, stepping after us into what looked like a fully furnished home. Several beds lined the circular walls, and wide windows looked out on the peaceful forests. I glanced at a pond swirling with brilliantly copper and orange fish. “Everything you will need to be comfortable is here. I will be back at midnight to bring you to the Visionary.”
With that, she backed out of the room and shut the door, leaving us in silence.
I opened another set of doors across the room, finding a bathroom with a large shower. Oddly, my mouth went dry at the sight of it, and the memories of my last enjoyable hot shower assailed me.
Would it be odd to ask them all to join me? I gnawed my lower lip, wondering how to approach being with all three of them now that we were in a confined space together.
Lucifer and Tascius had been willing to put their differences aside a week ago, all to make me happy. Would too much pushing shove them apart again?
Either way, I was coated in days’ worth of dust and forest grime, and I just wanted to feel clean again.
I stepped inside and began unlacing my corset and kicking off my boots. “I’m taking a shower,” I announced.
Three pairs of eyes bored into me, each one with his own laser-like focus as I stripped off my pants.
“And you’re all welcome to join. If you want,” I added hastily, almost tripping over my discarded clothes.
Smooth, Melisande.
I yanked a chain that sent waterfall cascading overhead and ducked beneath it, flicking my wings under the downpour to clean them. God, but hot water had never felt so good.
Whichever sibyl had prepared the rooms had thought to leave behind soap and shampoo. I scrubbed my hair, keeping my eyes closed against the downpour, and my ears pricked up at the quiet murmurs coming from the next room.
It was impossible to make out what they were saying. I rinsed out my shampoo and opened my eyes, and almost jumped back.
Tascius was almost nose to nose with me. He chuckled as water blasted me in the face, then pulled me out of the downpour again. “Gotcha.”
“Silent as a cat,” I said, yanking him in. He was already undressed for my viewing pleasure, and I leaned in
