Anne Bishop - Sebastian

Stunned silence. Then Lee burst out laughing. “Oh, Sebastian must have sweated bricks when you showed up.”

Annoyed humor filled her. “He took it better than that other boy, Teaser. Acting all flirty until he found out I was Sebastian’s auntie, and then—”

Lee howled.

Nadia gave her son a hard smack on the shoulder. “It’s not funny. For pity’s sake, Lee, he’s an incubus, and he blushed. ”

He laughed so hard he fell off the bench.

Nadia huffed and waited for him to regain some semblance of composure. When he finally sat upright, albeit on the ground, red-faced and gasping for breath, she leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. “You shouldn’t laugh at him. You can’t say ‘mother’ and ‘sex’ in the same sentence.”

Sputtering, he raised his hands in surrender. “No, I can’t, but we aren’t talking about me.”

“You’re grown men. You’ve had sex. I don’t see why you get so huffy about someone else having some.”

“Can we go back to talking about Sebastian and Teaser? Please?”

Looking at his face, she laughed—and felt something shift inside her, felt her heart regain its balance.

When her laughter faded, she sighed. “She really is a Guide of the Heart, isn’t she?”

Lee sobered. “Heart-walker. Yes, she is. It’s what she’s always been.”

“I know. I keep hoping there are others like her, somewhere in the world beyond the landscapes we know. But even if there are others, Glorianna is the one who is here—and the Eater of the World is going to do everything It can to destroy her.”

Lee held out his hand. She took it, welcoming the warmth and connection, while she thought about the daughter who held Ephemera’s fate in her hands.

They sat that way, silent, for a long time.

Koltak stumbled, although there was nothing to trip his feet. Then he realized the endless grass had changed to a dirt lane. The air felt different—warmer, drier—and he could hear the sound of waves rolling in to shore.

He hadn’t felt the resonance of a bridge, but he was so tired, he might not have sensed it. More likely he’d crossed a border between similar landscapes rather than a boundary that required a bridge. Still, a lane would have a destination, so he followed it until he came to a cottage.

The place looked human-made. He could knock on the door and ask for food and shelter.

Of course, just because the cottage was human-made didn’t mean the occupants were human.

He hesitated, then continued following the lane. If there was one cottage, there would be others. Maybe even a village.

He had no sense of how long or far he walked before he saw the colored lights. His heart lifted. Had he finally reached the end of the journey?

Hope battled exhaustion, winning long enough to get him to the edge of a cobblestone street he’d seen once before, years ago.

Determined to finish the journey, Koltak walked down the main street of the Den of Iniquity.

The Eater of the World has been sealed away and can no longer touch anything in Ephemera except the landscapes It shaped. And they, too, have been taken out of the world. But the Dark Guides, who brought the Eater into being, who rejoiced in Its destruction of the world, are still out there in the landscapes. Somewhere.

They are clever. And they are cruel.

They nurture the dark desires of the heart. It is said they can slip into a mind to whisper things that can turn a heart away from the Light.

Yes, they’ll tell someone, it isn’t fair that you are poor and can’t afford that pretty trinket. You deserve to have the pretty trinket. If you take it…The merchant is wealthy. What’s the loss of a few coins?

Yes, they’ll whisper, you’re right to be angry. She was cruel to break your heart. She deserves to feel your fist…that knife…that ax.

They nurture the dark feelings in the heart and help them grow.

But the worst thing they can do is use truth to destroy something good, to use truth as a lie in order to dim the Light inside someone—or even within a landscape.

No one is immune to the Dark Guides. Not even Landscapers. So beware. If someone tries to persuade you to turn away from something you know is right in order to do a greater good…sometimes it really will be the truth and is the right thing to do.

And sometimes it will be a lie.

—The First Teachings

Sebastian and Teaser stood at the edge of Philo’s courtyard, looking over the customers. Or, in Sebastian’s case, watching Lynnea take orders and clear tables.

“Is it love,” Sebastian wondered, “when a particular woman complaining that you hog the bed makes you feel happier than a dozen other women undressing you with their eyes?”

“Don’t ask me,” Teaser grumbled. “I’m not the one sighing and moaning every night.”

“Lynnea doesn’t sigh and moan.” Not loudly enough to be heard in the next room, anyway.

“Wasn’t talking about Lynnea.” Teaser gave Sebastian a long look to make his point, then a quick once-over. “You’re dressing hot these days. More than you’ve done in quite a while.”

Sebastian smiled. “I’ve got a reason to—and I don’t want her to forget it.”

Oh, yeah. Despite being a one-woman incubus and the Den’s Justice Maker, he was dressing hot these days. Tight black denim pants and a black denim jacket, a green shirt to enhance the color of his eyes, and a pendant—a flat green stone on a gold chain that Glorianna had given him years ago—that he’d found in the back of a dresser drawer when he went rummaging for something interesting to catch a woman’s eye. He wasn’t sure if there was something about the stone or something about him wearing it, but Lynnea—

“You keep thinking what you’re thinking, you’re going to sproing in public,” Teaser said.

“That’s crude.”

“I’m just saying. And since we all know who you sproing for these days—”

“Why aren’t you out trolling?”

Teaser shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Because the last time I saw an attractive woman who looked safe enough to nibble on, it turned out to be your auntie.”

“I’m trying to forget that.”

“Me too.”

“Really trying to forget that.”

“Me too.” Teaser sighed and started to turn toward the street. “All right, then. I’ll take a stroll and—Daylight! What’s one of them doing here?”

Sebastian looked in the same direction and felt the heat of anger and the chill of fear run through him. “Have a word with the bull demons,” he said quietly as he watched the wizard stagger down the street. “Tell them to watch over Lynnea and keep her safe.”

“You going to get testy if they start goring people or bashing in skulls?”

“No.”

“Right.” Teaser looked at Sebastian. “He can call the lightning, too. Remember that. If it comes down to it, you need to be the one standing when it’s done.”

“Don’t worry,” Sebastian growled. “I will be.”

He strode up the street, knew the wizard recognized him the moment he started moving—which was more than he could say about recognizing the wizard. He’d never seen Koltak so dirty and exhausted. Obviously reaching the Den had been a long, hard journey.

But Koltak shouldn’t have been able to reach the Den. Not anymore. Which was something Sebastian needed to tell Lee at the first opportunity. If Koltak could find his way to the Den, what else might be wandering through Glorianna’s landscapes?

He stopped and waited for the wizard to get within a man’s length of him. “You’re not welcome here.”