by Anne Bishop
“Don’t interfere with Lynnea’s journey.”
Lee stared at her, understanding better than anyone else could—because he understood her. “Have you told her Sebastian’s life is in her hands?”
“No. It has to be her choice. And it has to be his.”
Lee closed his eyes. “We could lose him.”
“I know.”
He opened his eyes and nodded.
“We’re about to start a war,” she whispered.
“Just make sure you win the first battle.”
Turning away, she stepped off the edge of Lee’s island—and almost cried out in dismay.
Thick currents of Dark power crisscrossed this entire landscape, but the Light…thin threads. Nothing more. Just enough to indicate the Light was sustaining—and was sustained by—some good hearts, just enough to keep the whole place from turning malignant. But not enough to provide any chance of change, of truly making the city a good place for people to live.
The Dark Guides and the Eater of the World abhorred the Light. So why hadn’t they snuffed out those currents of power completely?
The obvious answer: because they needed those currents of Light. Why?
That was something she would have to consider later. Now she had to travel lightly, be the channel for Heart’s Justice.
Ephemera, hear me. Listen to my heart.
As she began to resonate, opening herself to the hearts around her, she felt a flickering response nearby. Turning her head, she stared at the wagon and riders still coming down the road. Hearts yearning for the Light—and hearts yearning for a different kind of darkness.
Then she saw the carriages coming out of the gate and knew she had only a few minutes left to prepare.
“Lee,” she called softly. “Get Lynnea. It’s time.”
Ephemera, hear me. Listen to my heart. Today we give Heart’s Justice.
Feeling the world’s resistance, she resonated more strongly, attuning herself to the Light. Some hearts behind the city walls resonated in response to hers.
Those hearts don’t belong in this place.
She felt Ephemera slowly respond, becoming fluid to match her resonance, ready to manifest what she commanded. She felt the currents of Light grow stronger around her. As the Light filled her, she added her Dark resonance.
And felt some of the Dark currents of power already in this landscape break as the resonance of her heart began to take over this place.
That was something else to think about. But not here, not now.
While she watched the carriages that held the Wizards’ Council turn off the road and bump along the open land to the place where she waited, she thought of nothing but the terrifying power that was called Heart’s Justice.
A power she was about to unleash.
Dalton stared at the woman who came out of nowhere. His heart thundered in his chest. Was that Belladonna?
When she turned her head and looked in his direction, he felt as if his heart had just been stripped naked. Even when she looked away, he felt breathless…and shaken.
“Dalton?” his wife, Aldys, asked nervously. “Why did we stop?”
“Best be moving on, Cap’n,” Addison said. “Heart’s Justice. Not something you want the youngsters to see.”
“Why?” Aldys asked. “We’ve always been told it was a humane punishment. That no one got what wasn’t deserved.”
If there truly is any justice, the man Koltak tricked into coming here will be sent back to wherever he calls home, Dalton thought.
As he gathered up the reins, he saw two more people suddenly appear behind the woman.
Was the man a Bridge? Had they just crossed over from a different landscape? Was there time for him to ride out to where they waited and ask where the bridge crossed over?
“Cap’n.” A warning.
Dalton looked back and saw the carriages moving across the open land. Too late, he thought with regret, not sure if he was thinking about himself or the man who was riding in the closed prison wagon. Too late.
Something shimmered around his heart, as if considering the flavor of his feelings.
“Best be moving on, Cap’n,” Addison said.
But he couldn’t look away. He watched the carriages come to a halt, watched the Wizards’ Council descend to form a line facing the Landscaper, watched…Was that Koltak being helped out of that pony cart? It figured. The bastard would have shown up for this if he’d had to crawl all the way down from the Wizards’ Hall to get there.
The prison wagon moved farther on before it halted. One of the guards unlocked and opened the door. The man he’d helped Koltak capture stepped out of the wagon and moved away from the guards and wizards.
There was no escaping Heart’s Justice. Everyone knew that. You couldn’t run fast enough to escape the reach of a Landscaper focused on Heart’s Justice.
Still, he admired the man for standing tall and looking the Landscaper in the eyes.
And he wished, once again, that he’d made a different choice.
Lynnea twisted her fingers until they hurt. Something was wrong with Sebastian. Terribly wrong. His face seemed carved out of wood, and there was such emptiness in those beautiful green eyes. What had those wicked men done to him?
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!
&nb
sp; 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?
Pity stirred in her, and she wondered if there was something—anything—she could do rather than leave him in this place.
Then the wizard saw her and struggled to sit up.
“Glorianna,” Lee said in a low voice. “Just back up. I’m right behind you, on the island. Get out of there before that bastard has a chance to do anything.”
She took two steps back, then stopped. “I have to finish this. If I don’t, all the risks we took will be for nothing.”
“Glorianna.”
She reached inside herself for all the power she had left—and altered the landscape, taking the piece of Ephemera that held Wizard City out of the world.
So exhausted she could barely stand, Glorianna backed up another step closer to Lee and the island. Almost there. Almost.
“You bitch!” the wizard screamed. “What did you do to the council?”
“I gave them Heart’s Justice,” she replied, although her voice was so weak, she doubted he could hear her.
Fury twisted his face. He raised his hand.
She stared at him, knowing what was about to happen but too drained to move.
Then Lee grabbed her and hauled her onto the island just as the wizard’s lightning struck the ground where she’d stood a moment before.
“That was too close,” he said, sounding scared and furious.
“I know.” Her voice sounded funny, far away. “Lee?”
Then everything faded away.
There are weeds in every garden.
—The Book of Lessons
What is considered a weed in one garden
is a vital plant in another.
—Belladonna
Chapter Twenty-six
Still scared and furious.
That was Glorianna’s first thought when she opened her eyes and found herself staring into Lee’s face. “What happened?”
“You fainted. Don’t ever do that again.”
“I didn’t like it much either,” she grumbled. He looked mad enough to punch her, but the moment she tried to sit up, he was there, helping her. Then she found herself pressed against his chest, his arms around her while he rocked them both.
He’s shaking. “Lee,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.
“Scared me, Glorianna. When I saw that bastard wizard raise his hand, I wasn’t sure I could reach you before…” He swallowed hard. “It scared me.”
“Me too.” But listening to his heart slowing to its normal, steady beat combined with the sound of water trickling in the fountain began to pull her under. “Lee?”
“Hmm?”
“So tired. Can we yell at each other later?”
He didn’t answer for so long, she started to drift off. Then, “Okay. We’ll yell later. Just sit here while I shift the island back to Sanctuary. I was feeling a bit too unnerved to do it before.”
He got up and left the sheltered center of the island.
She knew the moment he made the shift—not because anything about the island changed, but because of the resonance of the land around it.
Strong currents of Light flowed through the landscape, along with thin threads of the Dark.
Glorianna struggled to keep her eyes open, struggled to keep her mind working. The currents of power in Sanctuary and Wizard City were exact opposites. One current dominated the landscape, but threads of the other still existed, were still necessary. She knew why she nurtured those threads in Sanctuary. What did the wizards gain by nurturing those threads of Light?
Once she understood that, she might be able to figure out how to face the Eater of the World…and survive. But for now…
She felt herself being tugged, shifted. Then Lee kissed her forehead, and said, “Just rest now, Glorianna. Get some sleep.”
Panting and sweating—and hoping that Sebastian had ended up in the foulest landscape that existed in this world—Koltak hobbled up the stairs closest to Harland’s chambers. Harland had to be here. Harland had to be all right, despite that bitch’s attempt to use Heart’s Justice as an attack on the council.
It had been agony to get himself into the pony cart and drive back into the city. What had happened to the guards and drivers who had come out with the council? And where was the council?
Reaching the top of the stairs, Koltak stopped to rest.
Order had to be restored—and quickly. He’d driven through streets swarming with angry, confused people who realized something had happened to them, but not what had happened to them. At least in the upper levels of the city, there was a more orderly confusion, mainly butlers and housekeepers standing outside shouting the names of missing servants. Not that any of those servants would respond.
Heart’s Justice.
Koltak shuddered. Who would have thought, even in the wildest moment, that a Landscaper could be powerful enough to send Heart’s Justice sweeping through an entire city?
Powerful. But not invincible. He’d been able to fight back, had been able to hold on to where he was instead of being swept away to another landscape. If he could resist her, then surely Harland and the rest of the council had been able to do the same.