Kay Hooper - The Wizard Of Seattle

"That's what Tremayne said."

"Obviously a smart man."

Roxanne smiled, then said hesitantly, "You and Merlin seem different. You look so happy, both of you."

"I'm probably lit up like a Christmas tree," Serena reflected, knowing she tended to broadcast every emotion-and she was filled with a delighted tangle of them.

"Like a what?" Roxanne asked, puzzled.

For just a moment Serena thought the saddest part of this place and time was that they hadn't yet begun to celebrate Christmas, but then she brushed the thought away. Stupid, really, when you considered everything else…

"Never mind," she said to Roxanne. "What I mean to say is that Merlin and I have finally found our way past those walls between us."

"You're… mates?" Roxanne asked a bit shyly.

"Yes. And I highly recommend the relationship."

Roxanne studied her friend's face for a moment, then said softly, "I envy you, Serena."

Serena looked up to see Merlin and Tremayne coming toward them, and murmured, "Don't miss your chance, Roxanne. Believe me, it's worth the risk."

"Are you ladies ready to go on to Sanctuary?" Merlin asked, taking Serena's hand as she stood up.

"It suits me," Serena replied, smiling at him.

Roxanne was looking at Tremayne. "Yes."

He held out his hand, and she took it.

Antonia stood in her favorite window and gazed down on her city. It was early evening, the quarter moon still visible through the Curtain, and she was feeling too restless to even attempt to go to sleep.

Her agents reported that Merlin and his Serena were seldom apart and appeared quite sickeningly devoted to each other; they obeyed the laws about touching in public, but since they spent most of their time either outside the city gates or else in Roxanne's house, it was simple for them to circumvent the laws. As for Roxanne, it did indeed seem apparent that her loyalties were now divided: the wizard Tremayne had also been granted permission to enter her house during the day.

And Antonia's list of potential consorts was growing short. In fact, there was only one name left, a name she had thus far refused to say out loud to herself, let alone to her mirror. What if he was the one? If so, how ironic that her mortal enemy was to be her mate.

Slowly she went to the mirror on her bedroom wall and stared into the bright surface of it. "Show me Varian," she commanded flatly.

She had seen him before but at a distance-a not uncommon occurrence between male and female wizards-so she had only the vaguest memory of his being dark. Her mirror showed the image of a dark, powerful man in bed with a woman, both of them naked, and Antonia caught her breath. Unlike the prophecy of her crystal, this scene was clear and sharp; she might have been standing over the bed looking down on them.

Unashamed, intensely curious, she watched them, fascinated by what she saw. She knew the mechanics of the act, of course, but she had never thought about how it would look. It was… rawer than she'd expected, both awkward and graceful. The naked bodies strained apart and came together, glistening with sweat and trembling visibly with exertion. The woman's arms and legs clutched at him as her body accepted his thrusts, and he looked like some savage warrior triumphant, his head thrown back and his hard face a mask of primitive conquest.

Antonia couldn't take her gaze off the scene. Her breathing quickened, and she slowly became aware of the response of her body to what she saw. But before she could feel anything more than the slow tension of arousal, the naked bodies in the mirror convulsed in their release, and the scene faded until her reflection stared back at her with feverish eyes.

Varian. Varian .

She knew it was him, knew he was the one she had seen in her crystal. In her future.

Varian was to be her mate.

As they stood outside the gates of Sanctuary watching Serena and Roxanne say good-bye to each other, Tremayne adjusted his backpack absently and then looked at Merlin. "I know she's going with me partly because she wants to leave Atlantia." He smiled. "But I can bear that. I have a chance now, a chance to earn her love, and that's all any man can ask for."

"What about Kerry?" Merlin asked curiously.

"Why are we taking her with us?" Tremayne looked at the little girl, who was dancing about the two women excitedly. "Several reasons, I suppose. Because Roxanne loves her and feels responsible for her. Because she really doesn't have anyone else, now that Felice is expecting her own child. Because I believe Roxanne will feel less wary of me during the voyage if she has Kerry to care for."

Merlin smiled. "And because you have a soft spot for the child?"

"That, too."

"All excellent reasons."

"I thought so." Tremayne studied the older wizard speculatively. "What of you and Serena? Why don't you come with us?"

"Thank you, but our home lies in another direction. We have to return to Seattle. Our ship will arrive no more than a day or two after yours, I should think. We'll be fine, Tremayne. No matter what happens here, we'll be fine." Merlin changed the subject smoothly. "Will Varian allow you to take Roxanne and Kerry through his mountain pass to the sea?"

Tremayne shrugged. "There won't be a problem. If he even notices us, he'll probably consider himself well rid of us."

Merlin nodded, then looked toward the city. "Did you get any reaction from Antonia?"

"Not really. Roxanne asked for permission to take Kerry from Atlantia, and she said Antonia granted it without question or protest. She's probably relieved we're going; between the four of us, we've definitely shaken up Sanctuary."

"That is certainly true." Merlin offered his hand. "Good luck to all of you, Tremayne."

Shaking hands, the younger wizard said, "Thank you-for everything. I won't forget it."

"Just take care of those ladies of yours. If I've learned anything here, it's that we need women of power. Because without them, we can't be whole."

A few moments later, watching as Tremayne, Roxanne, and little Kerry set off toward Varian's mountain and the pass that would take them to the sea beyond, Serena sniffed and then rubbed her nose fiercely. Merlin put his arm around her.

"Dammit, I swore I wouldn't cry!"

"They'll be all right now," he reminded her.

Serena sniffed again. "I know. That is-are we going to stick around until we're sure they made the ship?"

"It would be prudent, I think. Would you mind spending a few more nights here, Serena?"

"If we can sleep up on one of the mountains the way we have been, of course not. As a matter of fact, I'd just as soon we got started now. I know it's early, but the way people have been staring at us inside the city is really beginning to bother me. Do we have to go back in there?"

"No. Pick a mountain."

She did, and long before nightfall they were comfortably settled halfway up one of the western mountains, having transported there when they were sure no one would be able to observe them.

"Although why it matters, I don't know," Serena commented some time later as she conjured a fire while Merlin took care of the lean-to. "The witnesses are gone. No one left here will get the chance to influence the future, no matter what they see us do."

Merlin knew she was increasingly disturbed by thoughts of the coming cataclysm; he had seen her look to the sky each night, watching broodingly as the moon edged toward full. So when he pulled her down beside him on the pallet inside their lean-to, he tried to make her feel a little better about it.

"Serena, no matter what we might have done, we couldn't have saved Atlantis. Some things are simply too vast and too complex for mortals to consciously control. Some things really are feted to be."