Anne Bishop - Sebastian

Turning, she walked to the pale squares in the opposite wall. With the curtains open, the streetlights cut through the darkness enough for her to cross the room and light the oil lamp on the table by the window instead of fumbling with the candle on the stand next to the door.

Feeling sorry for herself because Sebastian had to go away for a couple of days was foolish and selfish. She had plenty to do. The bag Nadia had left for her contained skeins of yarn—so much softer and finer than the coarse wool Mam used to give her—and knitting needles in different sizes. She didn’t know if the Den had a particular celebration around the winter solstice, but most landscapes had some kind of festivities. So the blue skeins would be a scarf for Teaser and the green skeins would be a scarf for Sebastian. There were enough undyed skeins to make herself a shawl—maybe with bands of blue and green at the ends. And Teaser had offered to take her to one of the little music holes where the musicians were developing some style of music he swore was going to outrage the prissy prigs in the daylight landscapes—and make all the humans with heat and sass wild to hear it. Or they could both enjoy a frustrating hour of him trying to teach her to play cards.

Since she’d lost the coin toss with Teaser over which of them would use the bathroom first, she could knit a few rows of the scarf she was making for him while waiting her turn. For a man who complained about how much time she spent in the bathroom, he certainly did his share of primping.

She walked over to the bed to retrieve the yarn bag she kept tucked under it, then paused. She pulled back the covers and lifted her pillow. Sebastian sometimes left little sketches under her pillow—sometimes flowers as he remembered them or faces of the people who lived in the Den.

Nothing there. Of course, there wouldn’t be. The wizard had been impatient to leave. Sebastian wouldn’t have stayed in the room any longer than was needed to pack a few things.

She pulled out the yarn bag, turned toward the stuffed chairs that made up their sitting area—and saw something white sticking up between the cushion and the arm of the chair.

Smiling, she dropped the bag and hurried over to the chair. Maybe this was like a treasure hunt. Mam hadn’t allowed her to attend parties where she might start thinking too much of herself, so she’d never participated in a treasure hunt, but she’d heard other girls talking about them. Would she start finding little sketches tucked here and there in the room?

She stopped smiling when she picked up the paper. It wasn’t sketching paper, and it wasn’t new. It was a bit crumpled and dirty, as if it had been carried a long way, and the word on the front of it…

She could read a little and do her numbers enough to make sure she wasn’t cheated at the market, and she was getting better at reading now that she could read printed books that had stories—something else Mam had forbidden her to have—but handwriting was still a struggle for her.

She went back to the lamp, turning the paper to see the writing better.

A chill went through her as she sounded out the word.

Belladonna.

Her hands shook as she turned the paper over. It had been folded to form a packet that would keep the message private, closed with red wax that had been pressed with an ornate, official-looking seal.

It could be nothing more than a message Sebastian had been asked to deliver. But something inside her knew it wasn’t an innocent message.

Dread shuddered through her as she pried up the wax seal and unfolded the paper.

The handwriting inside was neat and precise, probably done by someone who made a living writing out important documents.

She stumbled over some of the words, but the message was clear enough.

“No,” she moaned. “Oh, no.”

She didn’t think, didn’t knock. She simply rushed into the bathroom. Finding it empty, she crossed the room and flung open the other door.

Stripped for his bath, Teaser yelped when he saw her. Then he dove for the bed, grabbed a pillow, and held it in front of him.

“I’m naked!” he shouted. “You can’t be in here when I’m naked.”

Thrown by the near-panic in his voice, she stared at him. “For pity’s sake. You’re an incubus. You like being naked in front of women.”

“You’re not a woman. You’re Sebastian’s lady. Go away.”

Sebastian. She stepped into the room and held out the paper. “That wizard left a message for Belladonna. Read it.” She took a step toward him.

He skipped back a step. “If the message is for Belladonna, I shouldn’t be reading it. Neither should you.”

“ Teaser! The wizards are saying Sebastian killed the woman who died here a few weeks ago. They’re going to hurt him. ”

“What?”

“Read it!”

He took the paper, backed up until he reached the oil lamp he’d lit, then read. As he read, the pillow slipped from his grasp, forgotten.

“Daylight,” he whispered. “They’re summoning the strongest Landscapers to come to Wizard City to administer Heart’s Justice, but they’ll perform Wizards’ Justice if they receive no response to the summons.” He frowned, then shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. They must know the school was attacked. How do they expect any—” He stopped. Stared at the paper. “It’s her. The wizards have never been able to find Belladonna, so they’re threatening Sebastian to get her to come to them.”

“We have to do something,” Lynnea cried. “Sebastian didn’t kill that woman. You know he didn’t.”

Teaser looked at her, his eyes bleak. “What are we supposed to do? Sebastian has been gone for hours. Went off with the wizard on a couple of demon cycles. They’ve probably already crossed over to the landscape that holds Wizard City. No way to catch up with them even if we knew where to find the bridge. And nobody knows how to find Belladonna. She comes to a landscape when she feels like it.”

“Nadia will know how to find her, and I know how to find Nadia.” She snatched the paper out of his hand and headed out the door.

“Wait!” Teaser leaped, closing the distance between them, and grabbed her arm. “Don’t you understand? This is what those maggot-filled bastards want. They want someone to find Belladonna. And once she’s in reach of the Wizards’ Council, they’ll kill her and Sebastian.”

Lynnea tried to shake him off. “I have to do something. I won’t let them hurt Sebastian. I won’t.”

Teaser started to argue, then just shook his head. “All right. She has to be told about this, so we have to find Belladonna. But taking a few minutes won’t matter at this point.”

“But—”

“Listen, will you? We both need a quick wash and fresh clothes. If we have to talk to anyone in the daylight landscapes besides Sebastian’s auntie, it’s best to look respectable.”

She swallowed hard to push her heart out of her throat. “We?”

Teaser looked uneasy, but he shrugged. “I’ll go with you.”

“Why?”

He released her arm and stepped back. “Because we’re family.”

Dalton walked out of the Wizards’ Hall, then stopped and stared blindly at the courtyard and gardens in front of him.

He’d expected a reprimand for failing to protect Wizard Koltak from the stranger’s attack. But this?

Stripped of his command and captain’s rank. Exiled from Wizard City. Not because he had failed to protect Koltak but because he’d stopped Koltak from harming a man who was bound and defenseless.

A man who believed he had been betrayed.

You’re making a mistake, Koltak! the stranger had shouted as they rode back to Wizard City. The Eater of the World is out there! Belladonna’s the only hope you have of saving Ephemera!