***
Soon Avilena dragged him to a musical party. Gedeon desperately refused, but she grabbed him by the hand and forcibly moved him to one of the high towers of Illuria.
In the spacious hall, illuminated by many colored lanterns, there were surprisingly few syrinxes. Five men sat on comfortable sofas and listened to the wondrous singing of the winged beauty.
Gedeon, fascinated by her performance, froze ten steps from her. He had never heard anything like that, and when the singer finished her stunning aria, he froze, stunned.
The aristocrats, with loud admiration, showered the girl with flower petals flying from their hands, and one slender, thin guy in a blue toga with excessively long white hair jumped up from his seat and began to quickly move his palms in the air. There was a melodious ringing of many bells and a cascade of colored fiery sparks fell onto the floor from somewhere above.
"Oh, Avilena, we waited you!" The musician-wizard exclaimed after his show, noticing the new guests.
His eyes expressed amazement at the sight of the young black-haired man.
"Who is that gorgeous with you?"
"Irinel, it's okay! We managed to listen to the princess's wonderful performance. This is Gedeon, brother of Farenia, Prince of Ornalion."
Avilena approached the musician and hugged him with a hot kiss. The other four stared at them enviously.
While the enthusiastic Irinel, clasping her waist with one hand, introduced the guests to each other, Gedeon caught the singer's interested gaze.
She quickly approached him and introduced herself:
"I am Zarmina!"
She ran her hand over his shoulder and, seeing his embarrassment, grabbed him by the arm and took him away from everyone, sitting him on the sofa.
"I ended up here by accident... Avilena moved me from Zaria. I'm visiting my sister," Gedeon stammered, confused by the attention of the beautiful performer.
"Oh, how interesting! Lamronia's wife is your sister!" Zarmina held his hands, looking into his eyes. "Are you Lamori too?"
"I don't... not at all," Gedeon tried not to look at the princess.
"Don't pretend, I see everything. You're very attractive. There are only a few persons like you. Don't you like me?" She asked threateningly.
Gedeon did not want to offend the eternally young beauty and hastily blurted out:
"I like you! And you look divine! I admire your singing."
"Then look me in my eyes!" Zarmina ordered in a soft tone and cupped his face with her palms, turning him towards her.
Gedeon obediently turned his blue-eyed gaze to her.
"Oh, yes!" She whispered admiringly. "I was not mistaken! I won't let you go today!"
"What do you mean, you won't let me go?" Gedeon said in fear, guessing her intentions. "I don't know you at all, I can't do this..."
Zarmina ran one hand between his thighs, and with the other began to stroke his body, diving under his clothes.
"Oh… You can! Your strength will make me happy!"
From the energy that had revived in him, which he had diligently tamed over the past months in seclusion, his heart suddenly began to beat wildly, and a hot wave of invisible flame swept through his entire body, causing trembling and burning excitement that could no longer be stopped. He silently attacked the princess with warm hugs and kisses accompanied by her melodious laughter, not noticing how someone was watching them, lurking nearby with sadness on his face.
Rohen's order not to interfere with Zarmina's intrigues turned out to be difficult to bear, and Tarmio could barely restrain himself from anger at the young Lamori who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He so wanted to take this Zarian away from the princess and punish him properly for such insolence and permissiveness, but he had to pull himself together and return to the others.
Pale Irinel lay unconscious on the sofa with two of his friends sitting next to him, who giggled stifledly, whispering to each other.
"Where did Avilena go?" Tarmio asked them.
"She's kissing Lonix somewhere nearby," one answered mockingly. "You see, Irinel could not stand her caresses and passed out. He lost our argument, naive weakling."
"What's so funny?" Tarmio was indignant. "The same will happen to you!"
"Avilena likes youth, what can you do? We look forward to her return.
Such an incredible opportunity to be in her arms, I'm burning with desire..."
"She can burn you, fools," Tarmio was indignant. "Love with such a woman is playing with fire."
"Her lover is clearly younger than us," another syrinx objected.
"He can withstand her strength."
"Gramion, this boy is not her lover at all!" Tarmio clarified, shaking his head with a grin.
"Why do you tolerate him and still haven't beaten? Look what he does to your princess! And what happened to this icy Zarmina? She grabbed onto a stranger and ignored us!"
"I can't even lay a finger on him," Tarmio answered calmly. "This is the son of the Zarian King Lariel. He has royal immunity, his powerful father can easily punish me for abusing him. He is the Ruler and can come here at any time. Let his son enjoy the princess, especially since she wanted him."
The young friends became quiet and stopped chuckling after Tarmio's explanations.
"And we can't ignore Avilena's attention. She promised to caress us. A very rare opportunity to touch her greatness."
Goddess of Freedom soon suddenly appeared in front of them with Lonix lying on the floor.
"Well, why are you doing this?" Tarmio said disapprovingly, carefully laying the unconscious pale guy on the sofa.