Sebastian

by Anne Bishop

  One act to wipe out a mistake made thirty years ago. One act that would be the perfect balance of the other.

  “Wizard Koltak.” Dalton, the guard captain, brought his horse alongside Koltak’s. “Are you certain this is the way to the landscape you need to reach?”

  “Why do you ask?” Koltak said, hedging.

  “It looks familiar, and that troubles me.” Dalton looked up, even though the trees that crowded the road blocked the sun. “And I don’t think we’re heading south anymore.”

  Before Koltak could think of an evasive response, a guard scouting up ahead shouted and raised an arm to attract attention.

  Dalton kicked his horse into a canter, heading for the guard. Koltak’s horse followed, leaving the wizard no choice but to cling to the saddle, since he lacked the skill to control the animal.

  It was a pity Harland had considered the details of this task so well and had overruled Koltak’s riding in the comfort of a carriage. A horse and rider lent more credence to the story of urgency than a carriage and driver.

  He saw the logic in that, but it didn’t make his body ache any less.

  When its companions were in sight, the horse slowed to a walk, allowing Koltak to gather the reins again and provide the illusion of being in command.

  Dalton stared at the large stone that stood like a sentry where two roads met, then swore softly.

  As Koltak looked at the stone, a sick feeling filled his belly and rose up to clog his throat.

  “Well,” Dalton said when Koltak reached him, “there’s nothing more we can do today. We’ll start out again at first light tomorrow and hope for luck on the roads.”

  At Dalton’s signal, two of the guards headed down the east road. The captain looked at Koltak, shook his head, then followed his men.

  With the sting of failure heating his face, Koltak followed Dalton, trailed by the other two guards.

  The road that had seemed to go on and on perversely became shorter. Far too soon, they rode out of the trees and looked on the open land—and the steep northern side of Wizard City.

  “This can’t be,” Koltak muttered. “It can’t be. We rode south. We can’t end up on the northern side of Wizard City.”

  “Sometimes Ephemera is as perverse as a woman,” Dalton said. He let out a gusty sigh. “We’ll have to find another road with a bridge that crosses over into a different landscape.”

  “But the road south was the way to the landscape I need to reach!” Koltak protested.

  Dalton looked annoyed, then smoothed out his expression as if suddenly remembering he was dealing with a wizard. “There’s no way around it, Wizard Koltak. Right now the south road just circles back to the city. We’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe strike out across country, see if we can find another bridge. Many’s the time when a bridge between landscapes isn’t set in an obvious place, especially if it’s a resonating bridge, and there’s more of them than the stationary bridges you’ll find on well-traveled roads.”

  Koltak waited until they reached the northern gate before broaching the subject that had weighed more heavily on him as the city loomed nearer and nearer.

  “Perhaps it would be best if I remained at the guardhouse tonight,” Koltak said, keeping his gaze fixed on the space between his horse’s ears. “It would save time if we’re to be on the road again at first light.”

  Dalton remained silent a moment, then nodded. “It would be more convenient. In fact, it’s probably best to stay at one of the guard stations in the lower circle. The lodgings may be rougher than you’re used to, and we’ll probably have to share quarters, but you should be able to have a bed to yourself.”

  Koltak winced at the thought of making do with rough lodgings when he was so close to his own comfortable rooms, but he nodded agreement. Then he glanced at Dalton and wondered if the man’s expression was a little too blank. Had the captain figured out the real reason he didn’t want to go up to the Wizards’ Hall? Was that why the suggestion had been made to stay in the lower circle?

  If he returned to his own rooms, Harland would know he’d failed on his first attempt to reach Sebastian. If he stayed in the lower circle, the head of the Wizards’ Council might not realize he’d returned to Wizard City. Better to endure rough lodgings than see the groundwork for his ambitions crumble again.

  Yes, he thought as they rode through the lower circle, he could endure physical discomfort much easier than failure.

  “So I’m going to be waiting on tables at Philo’s a few hours each day,” Lynnea said happily. “Philo said if he was going to train Brandon to work at his place, I could help, too.”

  “You’re going to wait tables?” Sebastian asked, startled by this revelation.

  “I am. In exchange for my meals.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Of course I do. I heard you when you were talking to the boys, and I agree. Visitors come for the drinking and the gambling and the…other things…and they pay for those things with coin or goods that can be bartered. But those who live in the Den have to earn their keep.”

  Wondering if she was aware that she was swinging their linked hands like a happy child, he choked back the denial that she lived in the Den. He didn’t want her to settle in and make a place for herself. It would be harder for her to leave and find the landscape where she truly belonged if she started thinking of herself as a resident of the Den.

  And the more she acted like she was settling in, the easier it would be for him to believe she meant to stay, not just in the Den but with him. And the deeper it would slice his heart when she realized she wasn’t meant for this ever-night and left.

  “So I’ll be serving food and helping with the clearing and washing up, and…” Lynnea paused. “If Philo blushes over serving Phallic Delights, why does he make them?”

  In the fifteen years he’d lived in the Den, he’d never seen Philo blush once, but he didn’t think it would help any to tell her it was handing over the basket to his new helper and not the basket’s contents that had caused the blush.

  “Then Brandon snickered and said if men were really built like that, women wouldn’t want to do anything but have sex.”

  “Brandon talks too much,” Sebastian growled.

  She laughed.

  Daylight! She was going to be serving Phallic Delights and Stuffed Tits in a courtyard full of erotic statues. Once awareness filtered into dreams, she was going to drive him stark raving mad.

  Her mood changed by the time they reached the bordello; she’d become quiet, thoughtful. She didn’t say anything when he unlocked the door to their room, just walked in and lit the lamp on the table by the window. Then she took her nightgown, which she neatly folded and tucked under her pillow each morning, and went into the bathroom.

  He blew out a breath, locked the door, and wondered what he was going to do with himself until it was time to try to sleep.

  Then she came out of the bathroom and hesitated a moment before walking up to him.

  “Sebastian.”

  Looking at her, hearing the blend of hesitation and determination in her voice, was enough for the power of the incubus to unfurl inside him.

  “Sebastian, I don’t know how to say this, don’t know how to ask….”

  “Ask what?”

  “I want to be with you. In bed.”

  It would change things for you in a way that could never be undone. The thought was there, but he couldn’t quite remember why it mattered when he saw nerves and desire mingled in her eyes. No longer a rabbit, not quite a tigress. Woman. His woman.

  He was too hungry, needed the seduction and the feast too much to turn away from what she offered.

  But when his lips brushed hers, something besides the power of the incubus burned inside him, something bright and powerful. As his mouth softly devoured and his hands gently explored, that bright power tempered the incubus hunger into something he’d never felt before, something he craved and couldn’t quite name.

  Th
en he took her to bed, finally to bed. And while he showed her the pleasures of sex, she taught him the mysteries of love.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lynnea glanced at the closed bathroom door as she laced up her shoes. Sebastian had been amused by her reluctance to get dressed in front of him. After all, he’d pointed out, he’d seen her naked—and she’d seen him. But that was a different kind of naked, and getting into her underwear while he lay back in the rumpled bed with the covers barely covering his interesting bits was more than the newfound tigress inside her could handle. So she’d grabbed her clothes and scampered into the bathroom to dress in private.

  Since she’d expected to find him dressed when she came out of the bathroom, which was how things had worked since they’d started sharing this room in the bordello, she’d been surprised to find him lounging in bed, still rumpled and naked. And looking so delicious she wanted to lick his skin just to have another taste of him.

  Whatever he’d seen on her face had made him smile, push back the covers, gather up his clothes…and stroll into the bathroom. The look he gave her before he closed the door made her want to hit him—or drag him back into bed.

  “Idle hands give the mind time for mischief,” she muttered as she looked around the room for something to do. She looked at the bed, hesitated, then squared her shoulders. It was just a bed. It wasn’t any different now than it had been when they’d just slept together.

  Except it was. As she smoothed out the sheets, she remembered the feel of his hands on her skin, and the way his skin had warmed as she touched him. The delicious tugs in the belly when he suckled her breast. The way he’d caressed her with his fingers until she was drowning in sensation and didn’t care if she ever surfaced.

  The joining had hurt, and that had dimmed the pleasure—until she’d fallen asleep and slid into the dreams.

  The bordello, the room, the bed—and Sebastian. This time the dreams didn’t stop with hugs and long kisses. This time the dreams seemed more intense, more…real. He seemed more real than he’d been in the other dreams. He’d done all the things he’d done to her earlier, but now she knew what a man felt like when he was hard and hungry. And instead of pain when his body slid into hers, there was pleasure—waves and waves of it, cresting and receding as one dream faded, rising again as the next dream filled her, and she and Sebastian did things she couldn’t even think about now without blushing.

  But her body responded to those memories, producing a fluttery feeling in her belly and a wet heat between her legs.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  Jolted by the sound of his voice, Lynnea turned. Sebastian stood close to her. He was dressed, but he hadn’t bothered to button his shirt, and she found that glimpse of bare skin more disturbingly sensual than if he hadn’t put on a shirt at all. “What?”

  “You’re hugging a pillow.”

  “What?” When he just smiled at her, she felt her face heat. “I was just thinking about…about…”

  “Pleasant dreams?”

  “No, I—” She stared at him. Remembered the bits and pieces she’d heard about incubi and how they usually linked with their prey. “You…You can see my dreams?”

  He took a step closer. “Only when you invite me in. And you did invite me in, sweet Lynnea.” Something hot and hungry flashed in his eyes.

  Oh, gracious. She was going to have to think about this.

  Turning away from him, she set the pillow in its place and began straightening the covers. “I should be at Philo’s soon. I don’t want to be late for my first day of work.”

  “And I need to make a circuit around the Den to check the bridges.” Silence. Then, “Miss me a little, all right?”

  Wondering what kind of teasing reply women were expected to make in response to that kind of request, she gave the covers on that side of the bed one more smoothing brush of her hand before she looked at Sebastian—and felt the ground shift under her feet.

  Nothing hot and hungry in those green eyes now. Just vulnerability…and yearning.

  Had anyone ever missed him? Not the incubus and the sex he provided, but Sebastian the man? Had any woman ever welcomed him simply because she was glad to see him?

  He needs me. Her heart filled with the wonder of that discovery.

  Closing the distance between them, she said, “I’ll miss you more than a little.” Then she slipped her hands under his shirt, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder.

  A moment of stiff hesitation as his mind and body translated the feel of her against him as affection and not prelude. His arms came around her, pulling her closer. He rubbed his cheek against her hair. His body relaxed, and his sigh of contentment was the finest sound she’d ever heard.

  “You have to go,” he said. “Philo will be waiting.”

  “Yes.” But she didn’t make any move to let go of him.

  He was the one who finally eased back. “Lynnea?”

  “Yes?”

  He brushed his lips over hers. “I’ll miss you, too.”

  Koltak and Captain Dalton studied the two planks of wood across the narrow creek.

  Dalton swore. “A bridge this close to the city, and no kind of marker to indicate where it leads.”

  “That is not the nature of resonating bridges,” Koltak replied, but so softly it was more a thought voiced for himself. Oh, plenty of times, if you kept your mind focused, you could cross over a resonating bridge and reach a particular destination. But there were other times when the bridge ignored the will’s intent and resonated only with the heart. When that happened, a person could end up anywhere.

  “I know that,” Dalton said. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” He paused. “Well, it’s your decision, Wizard Koltak. Our orders are to wait for you on this side of the bridge and give you escort back to the city.” He looked over his shoulder at the city still visible in the distance.

  Koltak shivered. It was a sensible plan. After all, he couldn’t go into the Den with armed guards. But he didn’t want to cross that bridge alone, not knowing what was on the other side.

  Maybe Dalton sensed his hesitation, or maybe it was a standard move whenever a bridge had to be crossed.

  “Faran,” Dalton said, “cross over the bridge with Wizard Koltak.” He looked at Koltak. “If the bridge crosses over to a daylight landscape, Faran will report back and the rest of us will cross over to continue providing escort. If it’s a dark landscape, he’ll simply come back to this side and wait with the rest of us.”

  And I’ll go on alone, in unfamiliar land, to find a man I’d rather not set eyes on. But if this works, it will be the last time I have to see him—and my place in the council will be assured.

  “Faran will lead your horse over those planks,” Dalton said.

  Koltak watched the guard dismount, hand his reins to a fellow guard, and rummage in his saddlebags before approaching Koltak with a small lantern in one hand. “What about his own horse?”

  “He won’t need it,” Dalton said. “He’s just crossing over with you and reporting back.”

  Faran stood at the horse’s head and looked up at him, waiting.

  Koltak closed his eyes and focused his will. I need to reach Sebastian. I need to reach the Den. Keeping his eyes closed, he nodded to indicate he was ready.

  He felt the horse resist going over the planks, heard Faran’s murmurs of encouragement and command. Feet and hooves on wood. Barely enough length for man and horse to stand on the planks at the same time. But he couldn’t think about that, couldn’t think about anything but what he needed to achieve. I need to reach Sebastian. I need to reach the Den.

  The horse shied. Koltak opened his eyes and grabbed the saddle to keep from being thrown. Faran ran with the horse for a few steps before bringing the animal under control.

  “Easy, boy,” Faran said. “Easy.”

  “What happened?” Koltak demanded.

  “Something spooked him just as we crossed to this side of the
bridge, but I didn’t see anything.” Faran looked around. “Land looks a bit different here. I’m thinking we’re not close to Wizard City anymore.”

  “No, I don’t think we are,” Koltak replied.

  “So we missed the mark?”

  He shook his head. “Despite the daylight, this is a dark landscape. They feel different.” He just wished he knew where he was. But somewhere in this land, there had to be a bridge that would lead him to the Den. There had to be.

  “No roads here,” Faran said. “How will you know which way to go?”

  Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian.

  He gathered the reins and turned the horse’s head without conscious thought. “I’ll have to follow my heart.”

  “All right, then.” Faran stepped away from the horse. “I’ll tell Captain Dalton you’re on your way. We’ll be waiting for you on the other side of the bridge.”

  Koltak nodded, banged his heels against the horse’s sides, and set off at a rough trot that promised to bruise more than his pride.

  It would be over soon. He wouldn’t fail the council. All he had to do was keep his will focused on finding what he didn’t want to find.

  Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian.

  Faran shook his head as he watched the wizard ride off. Not a horseman, that was for sure. He just hoped the man was fit enough at the end of the journey to do what needed to be done.

  No point lingering here. And truth to tell, something about the place made him uneasy, even though there wasn’t anything around him that looked dangerous.

  His steps slowed as he neared the bridge.

  But something had spooked the horse.

  He started to draw his short sword, then hesitated and pulled out the long knife tucked in his boot. As he straightened up, his eyes caught a movement barely a stride away from the planks and off to the side. Had the ground shifted a little, or was it just the air stirring the grass?

  He moved toward the bridge, setting each foot with care, unable to shake the feeling that something was waiting.