Anne Bishop - Sebastian

He didn’t seem to notice—or care—that she had come here to help him.

Maybe he didn’t care. Maybe he had never loved her. Maybe coming here had been the wrong thing to do.

Her courage faltered. She wobbled suddenly, as if the ground had shifted under her feet. Lee grabbed her arm to steady her.

Sebastian, she thought, feeling her heart ache. Sebastian.

What had they done to Sebastian to turn his heart into a desert in so little time? Glorianna wondered as she stared into his empty eyes.

Then she felt a blast of heat that shot straight from his heart into hers. A heart wish so intense the ground around her trembled with the strength of it.

She turned her back on Sebastian and the wizards, focusing on Lynnea.

“His heart is bleak, barren, cold,” she said, stripping her voice of all emotion. “When Heart’s Justice takes him, he’ll end up in a landscape that is bleak, barren, and cold.”

“It’s not right,” Lynnea whispered. “He’s not like that. He deserves more than that.”

“Ephemera will send him to the place that resonates with his heart. I can’t change that.” Glorianna waited, hoping for some sign of defiance, but Lynnea’s courage was withering. “But his last heart wish was for you. That you find a landscape that truly feels like home. That you have what your heart most desires. I will honor that wish, Lynnea. I, and Ephemera, will give you what you most desire.”

“How am I supposed to choose?” Lynnea cried.

“Follow your heart.”

Before Lynnea looked away, fixing her eyes on the ground, Glorianna saw a flash of strength.

Turning away from Lynnea and Lee, Glorianna walked a few paces away, ignoring Lee’s low protest.

Hear me, Ephemera. Feel this heart. She focused on Lynnea, on the resonance growing stronger and more determined moment by moment. Give this heart what it most desires. And this one. Now she focused on the resonance that was Sebastian. Let him follow his heart. Listen to nothing in him but the core of his heart.

The currents of Light and Dark power that resonated with her grew stronger, almost too strong to contain.

She stared at the Wizards’ Council. They stared back at her, not quite able to hide their malevolent glee at finally getting her within reach.

What they hadn’t considered was that they, too, were within reach. Because no Landscaper had ever tried to give Heart’s Justice to more than one person at a time.

Listen to every heart in this landscape, she commanded. Find the landscape that resonates with each of those hearts and send them on to that place. Send every heart to the Light or the Dark that it deserves. Strip every heart of the masks used to hide its true resonance. Now, Ephemera. Now!

Throwing back her head, she raised her arms—and let the world channel Heart’s Justice through her.

“Guardians and Guides,” Dalton whispered, as something powerful swept through him, resonating, seeking. “She’s unleashed Heart’s Justice on all of us!”

He set the brake and tied off the reins to keep the horses from bolting, then turned to grip his wife’s arm, forming a barrier in front of their children. “Henley! Addison! Tie up your horses and get in the wagon.”

Henley and Addison dismounted. But they moved away from the wagon.

“You’re a good man, Cap’n,” Addison said. “But I’m not a good man. Not that way. I like drinking and gambling and the company of women who aren’t ladies. Same with Henley.”

“But—”

“You hold tight to your family,” Addison said. “Henley and me, we’ll make our own way. Good-bye, Cap’n. Travel lightly.”

The two guards were fading, as if they weren’t quite there anymore.

As he held on to his family, waiting to be swept away by the storm of power, one thought echoed through Dalton’s mind: Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.

He hoped, for all their sakes, the man Koltak had brought to Wizard City was right.

Follow your heart. I, and Ephemera, will give you what you most desire.

Lynnea looked up, startled. The ground felt so strange, so…fluid. And everything around her looked…wispy.

It was happening. Heart’s Justice.

I, and Ephemera, will give you what you most desire.

“Sebastian,” she whispered, pulling away from Lee and taking a step toward the man who had shown her laughter and love. Who had given her a chance to discover she was more than Mam and Pa and Ewan told her she could be. She was a tigress, and she could do anything she wanted with her life. Anything.

Follow your heart.

She took another step, feeling as if she were being buffeted by fierce winds even though no wind tugged at her clothes or blew on her skin.

The winds of change. And she could have anything she wanted.

“Sebastian,” she whispered again, taking another step.

He didn’t deserve a place that was bleak, barren, and cold. He deserved to live in the Den, where the people needed him to be their Justice Maker. And he deserved to live in his cottage, where he could just be a man. And he deserved sunlight and warmth and friends and family and…love.

She took another step. And another.

Those wicked men had done something to him, had made him believe he didn’t deserve those things, just like Mam had made her believe she didn’t deserve anything . No. Mam hadn’t made her believe anything. She just hadn’t been strong enough to believe anything else.

She was strong enough now. She was a tigress.

He needs me.

If he wasn’t able to believe for himself, she would believe for him.

Follow your heart.

Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian.

She ran while the ground seemed to fall away beneath her. She ran, keeping her eyes on Sebastian.

He was her heart’s desire. They deserved laughter and friends and love. They deserved to live in the cottage, in sunlight. And they deserved the Den, that strange carnal carnival. And they deserved to be together.

Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian.

She felt the world shifting, trying to reach for her heart to take her away.

Not yet. Not yet.

She bore down, striving with everything in her to reach him before the world swept them away.

Closer. Closer.

His eyes were closed. That was why he didn’t see her, why he wasn’t reacting. But she had no breath to call out to him. So she let her heart call for her.

Sebastian!

His eyes snapped open. His beautiful green eyes weren’t empty anymore. They were filled with shock, disbelief, and a frightened yearning.

Ephemera pulled at her. In another moment it would be too late.

With all the strength she had, she leaped.

The last thing she saw was Sebastian reaching up to catch her. The last thing she felt was his arms wrapping around her.

Then the world swept them away…and there was only darkness.

Glorianna staggered, barely able to stay on her feet. She felt hollowed out, scoured clean.

Insanity. That was what it must have been to think she could give Heart’s Justice to an entire landscape. But…

The city was filled with Dark currents that didn’t match her Dark resonance. And the hearts in the city that had yearned for the Light…

Gone. All gone. Free of this place.

She looked around. Sebastian and Lynnea were gone, and she hoped with all her heart that she’d done the right thing for both of them.

Everyone had disappeared…except a wizard with a bandaged foot. He was on the ground, moaning.

She looked up at the city, then at the man. Not one of them, but too much like them. Had there been a moment when his heart could have made a choice? Was that why he was still outside the city?