not really in this room anymore. You want to be but you're not. You're somewhere in a realm of beasts and magic and the bloodthirsty Minotaur.
But yet, yet . . . somehow he'd never felt closer . . .
A final convulsion brought them together and then she fell back, dazed. The candlelight flickered across the ala¬baster, sending ghostly apparitions against the fresco of the dolphins. Still trying to catch her breath, she reached out and seized the bottle of ouzo, drank from it thirstily, then flung herself once more against the stone. After another long moment, she pulled him to her.
"Michael, hold me." She snuggled into his arms. "Oh, darling, just hold me."
He drew her against him, and the touch of her skin was erotic beyond anything he remembered. . . .
But the palace . . . it was intruding darkly, insinuating its presence. Now it surrounded them like a tomb, omi¬nous as death. Finally he turned her face up and examined her dark eyes. They were flooded with fear.
"Look, you've got to tell me what's going on. I want to know the real reason you're here, and I want to know it now. I'd somehow begun to hope it was for us, but—"
"That's part