by Anne Bishop
When Sebastian’s cottage had been in the Den’s landscape, Lee had bunked on the couch anytime he came to visit, as at home in his cousin’s cottage as he was in his mother’s house. But everything was different now. Sebastian’s cottage was in the daylight landscape of Aurora and just a few minutes’ walk from his own cottage and Nadia’s house. Sebastian was married, was the Den’s Justice Maker, and was going to be a father in a few months. Those were significant changes for an incubus who had thought he was the Den’s best badass.
Everything began changing when Lynnea stumbled into the Den, altering Sebastian’s life. So maybe it hadn’t been Michael coming into their lives that had started the restless itch that had grown inside him over the past few months. Maybe it had been Sebastian changing that had tilted everything just enough that he’d looked at his own life and had wanted more. He just hadn’t known what the more might be. Now he had seen a different kind of life, different possibilities.
But would it be possible to bridge his old life with those new possibilities? Or would the old prove too strong and smother the new? Only one way to find out.
Pushing back the sheet and summer blanket, Lee stood up and scrubbed his fingers over his hair. Then he put on the dark glasses to protect his eyes from the day’s light and made his way to the kitchen to join Sebastian and Lynnea.
Danyal sat at the big wooden table in Nadia’s kitchen, watching her cook a mound of food for breakfast. He had offered to help, but apparently she had her own system when it came to preparing a big meal for an extended family, and he wasn’t part of that system.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that Caitlin had been expected to help. He wasn’t sure if that was a comment about gender or an expectation of family versus guest.
It made him curious about whether Yoshani was considered family or guest.
Grumbling male voices approached the outer screen door. Then Sebastian entered the kitchen, followed by Lee.
Nadia glanced over her shoulder. “Have you had breakfast?”
“He did and caused a ruckus,” Sebastian growled. “Lynnea will be along as soon as things quiet down at home.”
“You’re turning this into a drama,” Lee snapped. “And I didn’t have breakfast.”
Sebastian turned, standing toe-to-toe with his cousin. “Damn it, Lee! You ate the bird’s toast.”
Danyal stared at the two men, sure he’d misheard.
“He gets a corner of a piece. I ate the rest of it. So what?”
“He didn’t know he just got a corner!” Sebastian replied hotly. “And he still wouldn’t know if you hadn’t torn off the corner in front of him instead of cutting it at the counter. And he wouldn’t have known he doesn’t get what the other people get on their toast if you hadn’t stood there slathering butter and jelly on your part of it and talking about it while you did it.”
“Daylight, Sebastian! He’s just a keet. He’s not that smart.”
“He’s smart enough to have figured out the thing he hasn’t been getting is called butter, which is a word he didn’t know yesterday and was trying to say by the time we left.”
Danyal considered the absurdity of two grown men arguing about the diet of a small bird, and had every intention of inserting himself into the argument. Then he saw Nadia turn away from the stove at the same moment Sparky, one of Nadia’s keets, flew over to the inner screened door that separated the kitchen from the keets’ room.
Sparky chirped and whistled and said, “Pazzeh bacon. Gimme kiss!”
Danyal choked, trying not to laugh.
Lee and Sebastian turned toward that door and said, “Not now, Sparky!”
Jeb walked into the kitchen and sniffed. “Is something burning?”
“Cunchy!” Sparky said.
“Their breakfast,” Nadia said darkly.
Jeb looked at Sebastian and Lee. Then he shook his head and sighed. Nadia turned back to the stove, removing the overcrisped bacon from the pan and setting it on a plate to drain.
Glorianna and Michael entered the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Glorianna asked.
“Glorianna, keep an eye on the stove and the timer,” Nadia said. “The sweet rolls are almost done, and they won’t be edible at all if they burn.”
Lee and Sebastian flinched when Nadia walked past them and out of the kitchen. She returned a few moments later and handed each of them a large pail.
“Stones and weeds,” she said. “When those pails are full, you can come in and have breakfast with the rest of us.”
“Mother,” Lee began, “I don’t think I can—”
“Try.”
Lee and Sebastian trudged out the kitchen door, passing Lynnea and Yoshani on their way in.
Michael leaned over Danyal’s shoulder and whispered, “What started this?”
“Lee ate the bird’s toast,” Danyal whispered back.
“Tch.” Michael shook his head. “He should know better.”
Zhahar, Medusah, Kobrah, and the two shadowmen followed Teaser up the Den’s main street.
“Teaser?” Zhahar raised her voice enough to be heard.
The incubus turned around to face her.
How did he manage that cocky swagger while walking backward? “I thought it was dangerous for the Tryad to go over these bridges.”
“Not crossing over on a bridge,” Teaser replied. “Glorianna’s figured out how to get you all to Aurora without using one. That’s why we’re meeting her in the field beyond the street.”
“What’s she going to do?”
“Don’t know.” He turned and kept walking.
“He seems unconcerned,” Medusah said, her eyes scanning the street and the alleyways.
*You should be the one in view,* Zhahar told Zeela.
=Right now, you make better bait,= Zeela replied.
Kobrah bristled and gave Medusah a hard look. “Teaser’s nice.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t,” Medusah replied. “But he has no stake in what happens to any of us or our lands.”
“Maybe he has that much confidence in Glorianna’s abilities,” Zhahar said. If thoughts and words truly carried so much weight in this part of the world, she was determined to send out positive thoughts about Glorianna.
She felt her mothers’ gaze, knew each of them had taken a look at her to reach their own conclusions.
::Mother won’t let anything happen to us,:: Sholeh said.
She wouldn’t want to let anything happen to them, but Morragen Medusah a Zephyra was the leader of the Tryad and had to uphold the laws and taboos their people lived by when it came to dealing with people of single aspect.
Allone was a reminder of why she didn’t want to go back to Tryadnea, but it was no longer safe to be around Lee. Having a man of single aspect as a lover was considered distasteful, but satisfying physical needs while on assignment in a one-face land was understood to some extent. Having feelings for such a man? That was taboo, and she was afraid her feelings were too apparent.
“Hey-a,” Teaser called as he hurried toward Michael.
“A good morning to you all,” Michael said, smiling. The smile dimmed for a moment when he looked at Zhahar and Medusah, then returned to its previous brightness.
Teaser stopped and cocked his head. “Isn’t that Lee’s island?”
“It’s the island that used to resonate with him,” Michael said. “Now it resonates with Glorianna, if not in quite the same way.”
::Island?:: Sholeh said. ::Shouldn’t it be called a grove, since those are the only trees in this field?::
Glorianna appeared at the edge of a path between two trees. A path, Zhahar noticed, that didn’t extend past those trees.
“There is a temporary border between the island and the field so you can cross from one to the other,” Glorianna said.
When the shadowmen gave Teaser a questioning look, he stepped up beside Glorianna, then walked past. The Apothecary and the Knife followed him.
Kobrah grabbed Zhahar
’s hand, so they stepped up to the path together. As soon as both her feet were on the path, Zhahar heard the patter of raindrops on leaves—and squinted at the sudden daylight.
“Make room for your mother and Michael,” Glorianna said. “Hurry up, Magician. It’s starting to rain.”
Confused, Zhahar moved up the path a few steps.
=How can it be raining here when it wasn’t raining a few steps away?= Zeela asked.
::Glorianna said this was a border, so we must be someplace that isn’t the Den,:: Sholeh said, sounding excited. ::Zhahar, can I take a look?::
At what? Zhahar wondered as Sholeh came into view for a minute and looked up at the branches that formed an openwork canopy.
As soon as Medusah and Michael walked onto the island, Glorianna said, “Ephemera.”
Still looking up at the trees, Zhahar came back into view and didn’t think anything had changed until Medusah asked sharply, “Why is there water where the field used to be?”
“This island is located in the middle of a stream,” Glorianna replied. “We’re in Sanctuary for the moment.”
“This place,” Zephyra whispered, coming into view. “This is a heart-healing place.”
Glorianna gave her a curious look. “Yes, it is. Does your land have a place like this? A Place of Light?”
A great sadness filled Zephyra’s face before her aspect waned. Medusah came back into view and said, “Not anymore.”
Nodding, Glorianna closed her eyes. A moment later, the stream was gone. Beyond the path was a different daylight and another field—and no rain.
“Teaser, you and Michael go first, since I know you resonate with Aurora,” Glorianna said.
Teaser winked at Kobrah and stepped off the island.
“Is something on your mind, Zhahar?” Medusah asked as Glorianna had Kobrah come to the edge of the path.
Lee. Finding a place where love isn’t paid for by death. Getting away from the Tryad and Tryadnea before it’s too late. “No,” she lied. “Nothing.”
Lee walked beside Yoshani, self-conscious about the dark glasses and hat, and more aware of what he wasn’t seeing because he knew his mother’s land so well.
“Daylight,” he muttered when they crossed the footbridge that separated Nadia’s personal gardens from open land and the walled garden that held her landscapes. “Why did Glorianna set the island so far from the house?”
“I don’t know,” Yoshani said mildly. “Perhaps she and Nadia felt that was the best place.”
“It’s not like…” Lee trailed off as he paid attention to the resonances of two landscapes. He lengthened his stride as much as he dared, reaching Glorianna just as Zhahar stepped up between two trees.
“I’d like each of you to come into view and hold until I tell you to change,” Glorianna said.
Lee clamped his teeth to hold back the questions he wanted to ask. Now wasn’t the time to interrupt Glorianna’s attention.
He couldn’t tell colors as colors yet, but the difference between Zeela’s dark hair and Zhahar’s light brown was something he could distinguish, and he could make out a little more detail in their faces.
“Interesting,” Glorianna said quietly.
“What?” he asked.
“Zhahar and Sholeh resonate with Aurora. Zeela does not.”
“Does that mean Zeela shouldn’t come into view while we’re here?”
Glorianna shook her head. “I don’t think Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar could cross a stationary bridge and reach Aurora if Zeela’s aspect was in view, but once they reached this landscape, any of the sisters could be here. It just wouldn’t hold the same interest for each of them. Same as in the Den last night. Sholeh or Zeela could cross over using a bridge, but Zhahar wouldn’t be able to reach the Den that way.” She wagged her fingers. “Zhahar, you can step off the island so I can see the aspects of Morragen Medusah a Zephyra.”
Zhahar stepped off the island and went over to join Kobrah instead of moving to stand by Lee.
Was she self-conscious because her mothers were here, or did that choice signal something more?
He expected Zephyra to resonate with his mother’s landscape. It surprised him that Morragen was the other aspect that resonated with Aurora, since she reminded him more of Zeela. But that could mean Medusah was the darkest aspect of that Tryad—and, most likely, the most dangerous.
Morragen stepped off the island. A moment later, he heard all their visitors gasp as the island disappeared and they were standing in open land near a walled garden.
In the silence that followed, while they absorbed what they had seen, he absorbed what he had just felt. He was close enough to see his sister’s face. Close enough to make out her expression.
“You swapped land in order to shift the island to Aurora?” he asked, sure he had to be wrong.
“Yes,” Glorianna replied. “Doing that created a temporary border.”
“Guardians and Guides! Why didn’t you impose the island over the landscape? If you’re exchanging equal ground, you’re risking something crossing into Sanctuary that shouldn’t be there!”
“You could impose the island over other landscapes. It doesn’t respond that way for me.”
“Daylight, Glorianna! What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking this was a practical way of moving several people without losing one of them. Besides,” she added sharply, “I was exchanging ground with one of my landscapes and one of Mother’s. Very little risk.”
“But a lot of risk if you’re shifting to someplace unknown,” he shot back.
“Which I didn’t do.”
No, she hadn’t. He felt a little foolish for arguing about it, and wasn’t sure why he was arguing, except that the island had been his and he felt a deep affection for it.
And yet he had let it go, along with so many other things that had held a piece of his heart.
“Is there any breakfast left?” Teaser asked.
“Aye, there is,” Michael replied. “Shall we go up to the house?”
Lee walked over to Zhahar. “Want to give me a hand up to the house?”
An odd hesitation before she said, “Of course.”
She offered her arm. Instead, he took her hand and started walking, not pretending that he needed any help.
“Did you sleep all right?” he asked. “When you spend enough time in the Den, you learn to sleep through all the ordinary noises—or don’t try to sleep until the Den settles down for a few hours. After Sebastian’s cottage shifted to Aurora, we finally realized the businesses in the Den closed down when most of the guests left, which was around dawn in the daylight landscapes that were in the same part of the world.” He laughed softly. “Whatever part that is.”
“It was fine,” she said stiffly. “I appreciate your cousin letting Kobrah and me use his room.”
“Huh.” Keeping a firm grip on her hand, he led her away from the kitchen door so they wouldn’t be underfoot of the people wanting to go inside and get some breakfast. “The words say one thing; the tone says something else. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.”
He bent his head, intending to give her a light kiss to remind her that she wasn’t alone here. She had acted as his guide when he was fumbling his way around the Asylum; now he could help her adjust to the landscapes that were Tryadnea’s neighbors. But when she turned her head to avoid his kiss, he released her hand and took a step back.
“Yeah,” he said with some bite in his voice. “Not a damn thing is wrong.”
She looked past him, and he wondered who was supposed to be the audience for this little show.
“It’s not appropriate for us to be intimate,” she said, sounding too much like a Handler for his liking.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s not appropriate,” she insisted.
“Why?” His chest muscles tightened, squeezing his heart. He stared at her until his eyes burned from the effort to see her more clearly. Excep
t he didn’t think it was his eyes that needed clarity.
“It wasn’t appropriate when we were at the Asylum,” he said slowly. “Any kind of physical relationship with an inmate could have been viewed as a misuse of your authority. I understood that. But I’m not an inmate anymore, Zhahar, and I’m not going to be again.” When she didn’t say anything, he looked toward the people going into the house. A group was still at the back of the lawn, looking at something, but among those watching them while heading into the house for breakfast was Morragen Medusah a Zephyra.
“Being a Handler wasn’t the reason you retreated as much as you encouraged, was it?” he asked softly, his heart getting squeezed a little harder. “That was the excuse. Something kept pulling us toward each other, maybe even before we actually met. And now there’s something in the way. What is it? Your mothers? Or just the prejudice your people feel for anyone who isn’t Tryad?”
“It’s more than prejudice,” she said, not trying to hide her own bitterness. “It’s taboo to get involved with a man of single aspect. The penalties are harsh, Lee, and I can’t take the chance of being accused of having feelings for you.”
He stepped away from her. “If you knew you couldn’t love me, if you knew there were reasons why you wouldn’t allow this to ripen past a few kisses, you should have told me. You should have given me a choice about whether I wanted those kisses when there couldn’t be anything more.”
“Would you have wanted them?” she asked, challenging.
“Not from you.” She looked shocked, so he added, “I would, and have, accepted those restrictions from other women because I couldn’t give them anything more than a passing affection. But I feel more than passing affection for you, so I would have preferred to have nothing than just a taste of what I can’t have.” Heading for the gate in the stone wall that separated his mother’s personal land from the woodland that they all considered a joint concern, he said over his shoulder, “You should get something to eat. It’s going to be a long day.”
He’d gotten through the gate and had taken a dozen steps down the path when Teaser caught up to him.
