“I know, I know.”
“We’ll see the future when we get there.”
“Right. When we step through the gate you made.”
Merlin closed his eyes briefly. “Serena, you have an uncanny knack for making me feel like a fool.”
She stepped closer and looked up at him with laughing eyes in a solemn face. “That’s never my intention, I promise you.”
He wanted to be a great deal closer to her, fool or no fool. He wanted to put his arms around her and hold her tight against him, and feel the warm silk of her mouth alive under his. He wanted her, more and more with every passing minute, feeling a hunger for her like nothing he’d ever known.
It hadn’t been easy to act casual with her since their passionate embrace the day before, but Merlin had done his best because he still felt the conflict inside himself. It wasn’t as strong as it had been—he thought he was finally beginning to make some headway in the clash between instinct and reason—but it existed, and he knew she would see or sense it if he touched her the way he wanted to.
He didn’t know what he was going to say, but opened his mouth to say it, and before he could utter a word, they heard a sharp knock on the door.
Two female wizards, both Masters and their staffs tucked into their belts, nodded politely to Serena but kept their cold eyes fixed on Merlin. To Merlin the older of the two said in a brusque voice, “Leader wants to see you. Now.”
THIRTEEN
Antonia came as a surprise to Merlin. Her power was considerable—he thought she was probably a seventh- or eighth-degree Master; and her temperament seemed, on first impression, oddly low-key for a woman who had single-handedly founded this city and banded the women of power into a defensive alliance.
“Is Seattle a pleasant place?” She was standing at a window, seemingly relaxed and certainly fairly confident, since they were alone in what appeared to be her office and she’d half turned her back to him.
Merlin hadn’t been asked to sit, so he stood near her desk and watched her, all his senses probing. “Pleasant enough,” he replied mildly. “By the way, do I address you as Leader or Antonia?”
“Whichever you wish. Is Merlin your single name, or do you prefer another?”
“Merlin will do.”
She turned her head a bit to study him, a faint smile curving her lips. “Then tell me, Merlin, is it true that your … companion … Serena is a woman of power?”
He wasn’t surprised that she knew; that news must have spread through the city like wildfire. “Yes, it’s true. But if you’re concerned that our unique relationship might disturb the status quo you’ve created here, let me reassure you. Serena and I won’t be here much longer.”
“No?”
“No. It’s nearly time for us to leave.”
Antonia turned to face him completely, and as she did, Merlin abruptly felt the full force of her power—and her sexuality. The hairs on the back of his neck actually quivered, and it took every ounce of concentration and willpower he had developed over a lifetime’s study to enable him to stand there appearing casual.
Her eyes were strange, he decided, studying the pale blue intensity of them. Her hair was vibrant and silky, her skin milk white and flawless. Her lips were red and moist, parted slightly, erotically. Even shrouded in the shapeless garments of Atlantis, her body was ripe, full, more seductive than any other woman’s could ever be. Even the way she stood was sexy, and he could almost feel her heat, smell her scent….
His heart thudding and senses swimming, Merlin belatedly realized what she was doing, and it was a shock. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated fiercely on erecting barriers against her. She couldn’t read his thoughts, he knew, but she was dearly adept at manipulating his emotions and stirring his senses, and he had the distinctly unpleasant sensation of having been violated.
Serena hadn’t made him feel that way when she had slipped into his consciousness, and that had actually been a deeper and more personal intrusion. He thought about that fleetingly, accepting it as yet another indication of how right her presence in his life had become. And then he forced himself to think only of blocking Antonia’s power.
His heartbeat slowed to normal, and his senses cleared, ending the dizziness. When he opened his eyes, he saw Antonia’s lips twisted in a snarl of fury that instantly reverted to the purely female, seductive smile. Her eyes were like pale blue chips of ice.
“You’re very powerful,” she murmured.
“So are you.”
“And very stubborn, I think.”
He smiled. “Wizard or not, I prefer some things to happen naturally, without any artificial … enhancement.”
“And will it happen, do you think? Do you find me desirable, Merlin?”
Merlin began to understand then how his ancestors could have gazed on an angry and powerful female wizard and decided that life would be safer and simpler without the distaff side of their kind. He knew himself to be standing on very uncertain ground; Antonia might not be powerful enough to kill him, but she could most certainly injure him, and no doubt the two Master wizards she had sent for him and who probably waited outside the door even now would be happy to finish him off.
Obviously she had attempted to seduce him with as little wasted effort as possible, choosing to manipulate his emotions and senses until he saw nothing except a woman he had to have. Clearly she either felt none of the fear of the other female wizards or had overcome her feelings fer enough to anticipate, with apparent eagerness, sex with a male—and a wizard at that. What he didn’t know was why she was so determined that he be her conquest, and why she had made her move so soon after first setting eyes on him. As if it were something she had decided to attempt long before he had walked into the room.
Why? Had her knowledge of his relationship with Serena so piqued her curiosity that she was eager to experiment and chose him because he was a stranger and someone she knew to be already predisposed to consider a sexual relationship with a female wizard? Perhaps … but he didn’t think that was Antonia’s only motivation.
“I find you incredibly beautiful,” he answered her gravely, honestly. “But I’m committed to Serena.” Odd how easily those words come. Could I have said them even yesterday? Probably not.
“Are you always so faithful to your … companion?” she asked softly.
The voice was sensual, but Merlin kept his attention on those cold eyes. He knew he had to tread very carefully. All the old adages about a woman scorned didn’t even begin to describe what could happen when that woman was a wizard.
Thoughtfully he said, “It’s so difficult for men and women of power to trust each other. It took Serena and me years, years of knowing each other, before we could try to get close. That’s an achievement I could never deliberately sabotage.”
“She wouldn’t have to know,” Antonia suggested.
“Of course she would.” Merlin lifted a rueful eyebrow. “She’s a wizard. Antonia, I’m very flattered—and a little puzzled. Why me?”
“I could say it was because you’re leaving.”
“You could. Would it be true?”
“No. I had intended to ask you to stay. As for why, you seemed the best choice. You see, it’s only recently that I seriously explored the possibility of joining with a male.” Her eyes narrowed slightly as if in thought, and her hands lifted to rest on her hips in a stance more challenging than seductive. “Merlin, Atlantia must be united, and of all the wizards here I’m the one best able to accomplish that.”
He saw the change in her manner, but still sensed her sexuality coming off her in waves, intense and hungry. He kept his guard up. Carefully neutral, he said, “That goal is usually a good one for any society. But why do you need me?”
“Because I can’t rule the male wizards here, not alone, not without more power. For years I’ve thought and studied the problem, all the while trying to keep Sanctuary intact to provide all women a safe place for living—and breeding. I’ve done ev
erything I could to restore the balance of the population of Atlantia.”
Merlin had formed a conviction about one aspect of this city, and though he was taking a chance, he was too curious not to ask. “In the mountains the males kill their female children; here, I’m told, male children born with power always weaken and die. The women here seem to blame a baffling fate, but I think the cause is far more … practical. Isn’t it? Isn’t it all a part of your determination to balance the population, no matter what the cost?”
She stiffened. “That is none of your concern,” she snapped.
He had his answer. “No, I suppose not. But if that’s true, why are you telling me about your intention of ruling Atlantis? Firstly, it’s none of my concern, and secondly, my involvement could hardly make a difference. Could it?”
“Yes, it could.” Her eyes were still cold, but they were also sharp and eager. “I’ve seen the future, Merlin. No one else here has the ability of sight, but I have it. I saw you—with me. I saw our powers joined just as our bodies were joined, and together we were invincible. I saw it. We were meant to rule Atlantia together.”
Merlin chose his words carefully. “You must have somehow misinterpreted what you saw, Antonia, because I have no intention of ruling anything. I am leaving for Seattle with Serena before the next full moon, as I always intended to do.”
Her lovely face hardened, and her lips writhed in that snarl of fury. “You spurn me? Me?”
“No, I simply decline your generous offer to rule Atlantis. I’m sorry, Antonia, but it was never one of my ambitions to be a king—even with a lovely queen beside me.”
For several moments it seemed doubtful that he’d escape this room without feeling her wrath, but Merlin stood his ground, because his instincts told him to do just that. And it seemed his instincts were right, because she finally relaxed and offered him something like a smile.
“Well, since you wouldn’t be much good to me unwilling and I can’t seem to break through your guard to change that, it seems I have little choice but to accept your refusal.”
He bowed slightly, making sure the gesture held no mockery. “Thank you. But I still say you may have misread what you saw. After all, the male wizards are all very similar in build and coloring.”
“Yes, perhaps.” She was impatient now, a bit imperious as she attempted to regain her lost face. “In any case the matter no longer concerns you. Good day, Merlin.”
Since he’d already pushed his luck a couple of times during the interview, he didn’t hesitate now in bowing again and promptly leaving the room. As he’d expected, the two female Master wizards were waiting outside to escort him from Antonia’s house, though they went only as far as the street, leaving him to find his way back to Roxanne’s house alone.
He glanced up to study the sun, calculating he had no more than an hour before he had to leave the city, and quickened his steps. He thought he’d suggest to Serena that they leave the city together and climb the nearest mountain for the night; he could hide their presence from whichever male wizard the land belonged to, after all, and they could return to Sanctuary in the morning to wait for Roxanne and Tremayne.
After the encounter with Antonia, he had the urge to stay away from this place as much as possible.
He was nearly at Roxanne’s house when two sudden realizations stopped him in his tracks. The first was that Antonia might have been Serena’s older sister, they looked so much alike; the second was that crystal balls had always been used by wizards for prophesy. Always.
Merlin stood there for a full minute, but then continued on his way to Roxanne’s house. After all, it wasn’t his place to tell Antonia what she obviously hadn’t realized—that the Curtain must have distorted her crystal over the years. It wasn’t his place to tell her what her own people had obviously neglected to inform her about Serena’s so closely resembling her (because she surely would have commented on it if she’d known). And it certainly wasn’t his place to suggest that the woman she had recognized as herself in that vision of the future might well be Serena.
“I saw our powers joined just as our bodies were joined, and together we were invincible.”
Had Antonia actually seen Merlin and Serena in that prophesy of a physical coupling and the merging of powerful positive and negative energies?
He pushed the question away, forcing himself to reexamine his decision not to return to Antonia and tell her what he’d realized. The decision felt right. Besides, he’d seen enough to be sure she wouldn’t believe him no matter what he told her. In her determination to rule Atlantis, she had blinded herself to everything but her goal, even to the loathsome extent of slyly causing the male children born in Sanctuary to weaken slowly and die, which made her no better than the ambitious males up in the mountains and possibly worse. At least their infanticide was reputedly quick and efficient.
Serena had been right—as an example of sisterhood, this place came up lacking.
Antonia sat before her crystal, staring fixedly into the shimmering depths. And, again, as she had for weeks now, she saw the same scene. The background was only darkness, so she wasn’t sure where it took place, but two people lay together, their naked bodies entwined, obviously making love. They were lying on a bed covered with fur, and firelight flickered over their bodies, so there was apparently a hearth nearby. The man was dark, muscled, powerful; the woman slender and yet seductive, her rich red hair spread out like waves of fire, and the aura surrounding them was literally pulsing with their combined power….
Antonia sensed that she was looking at something truly incredible, and it fascinated her. All that power, she thought, and simply due to a sexual alliance! If she had known years ago that her power could combine with a male’s, she would have chosen a consort then and saved herself years of a frustrating standoff in which she governed the women while the male wizards bickered and bred like rats.
Striking the table with a clenched fist, Antonia swore softly, intensely. Why had he refused her? Why? She wanted to believe his rejection was momentary, that she would find a way to persuade or seduce him, but she wasn’t fool enough to indulge in stupid fantasies. His power was obvious, and when he had slammed the door to shut her out, she had found no possibility of forcing her way back in again.
No, Merlin was stubbornly attached to his Serena. How sweet. The only bright spot Antonia could find was his assertion that they would soon leave Atlantia; given his power and skill, the last thing she wanted was for him to linger long enough that he might be tempted to interfere in her plans—however much he denied an ambition to rule.
But with Merlin gone, what hope had she of finding a powerful male wizard willing to join his body and power to hers—and, of course, to later be commanded by her?
The situation seemed hopeless, but Antonia didn’t give up so easily. Instead she covered her crystal with a black cloth and went to her desk, taking from one of the drawers several sheets of parchment. There were written the names of every adult male wizard in Atlantia, with the ones said to be weakest and easiest led at the top. She had devoted much time and effort during the last weeks to the compilation of the list, since she had known only that her lover would be a dark male wizard.
She went to the perfect mirror hanging on the wall of her bedroom and recited a soft spell, then glanced down at her list. Looking back at the mirror, she said, “Show me Selby,” and watched as an image swiftly formed. She knew at once he was wrong; this wizard was thin and too pale, not at all like the man she had seen in her crystal.
She cleared the mirror and consulted her list again, knowing it could take her days to work her way through all the names. She couldn’t devote all her time to the search, of course, no matter how anxious she was; the city had to be run and its citizens looked after, and that was her responsibility.
But she intended to snatch every moment she could in which to continue her search. She had to find the lover fate was offering to her. Only then could she rule all of Atlantia.
&
nbsp; “Show me Wyatt….”
• • •
By late afternoon of the second day of their hike, Roxanne and Tremayne had covered very little ground—and she knew it was her fault. The closer they came to the village, the more reluctant she was to continue, partly because she was having doubts about what she meant to do, but mostly because she was—against all odds—enjoying this time with Tremayne.
He seemed perfectly happy to slow their pace to a stroll, and there seemed to be a great deal to talk about. He spoke of his home in Europa, answering her questions with vivid descriptions of a world different from the one to which she was accustomed. And Roxanne found herself listening with a wistfulness she couldn’t conceal.
“Is it ugly there, as it is here?” she asked him. “With twisted trees and so much rock—and earthquakes?”
“No, Europa is paradise compared to Atlantia. The trees are tall and straight, the grass grows thick and green, and all the water is pure. As for earthquakes, I’ve never known one to strike Europa.”
“And no Curtain,” she murmured.
“No Curtain. It’s a beautiful land, Roxanne.”
“Male and female wizards don’t fight there?”
“No. They do tend to avoid each other,” he admitted honestly, “but there’s no open hostility. What worries me is the notion that the society of Europa could be heading down the same path Atlantia followed. If something isn’t done to create a sense of understanding and unity between men and women of power, the entire society of wizards could be doomed.”
“Is that why you—”
“No, it isn’t.” Tremayne’s voice was calm. “My feelings for you are entirely personal, Roxanne.”
“You don’t know me. How could you feel anything for me?”
“I don’t know.”
That reply startled her so much that she stopped walking and turned to stare at him. “You don’t know?”