Glorianna sat on the bench near the koi pond and breathed in the peace of Sanctuary. She had shaped this place to protect some of Ephemera’s Places of Light. She had also wanted to help the people who tended those places reach one another, learn from one another. Sanctuary was beautiful, and there were many small spots that gave more than they took from her. But out of all of those small pieces, the koi pond was her favorite.
Was it because the koi’s world, with water that glistened in the sunlight and yet was partially shadowed by the plants, so clearly illustrated the simple lesson that there had to be Dark and Light in all landscapes? Even here, in a Place of Light, there were threads of Dark power that flowed in unity with the thick currents of Light. A piece of the world that belonged on one side of the scale of Dark and Light still needed a touch of the other side to stay in balance within itself.
That was also true for a person, although finding that balance again after it was destroyed in a human heart was much harder.
Or was she often drawn to the koi pond when she was tired or troubled because, like the koi, the whole of a Landscaper’s world was bound within walls?
Landscapers were women who acted as the bedrock for pieces of Ephemera and the sieve through which the world manifested all the wants and dreams and wishes, for good or ill, that came from all the hearts that lived in those places. In her part of the world, those women had built walled gardens where they kept access points to landscapes that could be as close as the next village or as far away as part of a distant land. They tended that ground, watering and weeding, turning the soil, and through those simple tasks they remained aware of those places in between the times when they used their access points to cross over to those pieces of the world and interact with the place and the people.
There were seven levels of Landscapers. Some could do no more than act as a sieve that kept the world from manifesting every person’s wishes and feelings. Others were stronger and could, by their presence, provide opportunities that would help a person take another step toward a true heart wish—the kind of wish that changed lives.
There were seven levels of Landscapers. And then there was Glorianna Belladonna, who was a Guide of the Heart—a descendant of the Guides who had originally defeated and caged the Eater of the World.
And like those first Guides, she learned that there were all kinds of cages.
Everyone lives within the walls built by their own hearts, she thought. But most people aren’t aware of that, so they’re also not aware of the boundaries—or that some things, no matter how much they are loved, can drift out of reach.
“Should I be offended that the koi receive a visit from you before I do?” a male voice asked, the sound like warm silk over skin.
Smiling, she shifted on the bench to make room for him. “Honorable Yoshani.”
He sat beside her, returning her smile but saying nothing.
“That pond makes up the koi’s world,” Glorianna said. “Do you think they know there is something beyond the sunny parts and the parts shadowed by water plants?”
“They know that when the shadow of the heron falls across their world, they must hide or be eaten. Just as they know the people who sit on this bench bring them food,” Yoshani replied. “Why are you are wondering about the koi?”
“I was actually thinking about how a Landscaper’s life is contained within the walls of her own garden.” And how a heart can become caged by duty, she added silently.
Yoshani looked thoughtful, then shook his head. “Your work is contained within the garden, but not all of your life. You spend time in some of your mother’s landscapes—the village where you grew up resonates with her, not you. You travel with Michael to some of his landscapes, and you visit Caitlin Marie in Darling’s Harbor. That is not a constricted life.”
No, it isn’t, she agreed silently. But it’s not my life I’m really wondering about.
“What are you thinking, Glorianna Dark and Wise?”
Nothing she wanted to share yet, so she said, “Glorianna is not much of either anymore. And Belladonna…”
“Do you still feel split asunder?”
“I am split asunder.” She looked into the dark eyes that held so much warmth and listened to a heart she knew well. “Were you asked to watch over me while Michael checks his landscapes?”
Michael had created a simple garden within her garden so that he could travel quickly to the parts of Elandar that were in his keeping. Before he met her and learned more about his own heritage and connection to Ephemera, he used to spend weeks on the road, traveling from one place to the next.
Yoshani smiled. “Yes, and I’m glad to have the opportunity. The last time I was asked to watch over you, the experience changed my life. Perhaps it will again.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t wish for such a thing.”
He took her hand. She flinched at the touch, then chose to accept it. Michael’s touch, whether it was casual or in the heat of lovemaking, felt natural. So did her cousin Sebastian’s touch. Maybe because they were the ones whose hearts had found a way to reach hers. But with everyone else, even her mother, Nadia, there was still a moment when dark feelings wanted to rise in response to a touch—because where she had been, in that landscape she had created, anything that could touch would most likely also kill.
“Michael wouldn’t say why he didn’t want you to be alone on your island. Will you tell me?”
She studied the holy man who had been her friend since she was fifteen years old, who had helped her shape this part of Sanctuary into a place where people could come to find peace and renew their spirits. He had crossed over to an unknown landscape with her when the hearts living there had called out so strongly she had to respond. He was a trusted counselor to many who visited Sanctuary. And he was the person she trusted to be a guide for a Guide of the Heart.
“A landscape is calling to me,” she said, watching the koi. “A dark landscape.” She felt the sudden tension in his body, but he said nothing, so she could give him more words. “Its access point appeared in my garden a few weeks ago.”
“In the same way Lighthaven first came to your attention?” he asked, referring to a Place of Light she had saved from the Eater of the World.
“Yes.” Ephemera had brought a bowl-shaped stone and a silver cuff bracelet from Lighthaven to act as an access point she could use to cross over. Taking that step between here and there had begun her connections to the White Isle—and to Michael and his sister Caitlin Marie, a gifted young Landscaper who had been condemned as a sorceress because no one in her village had understood her power. “But for this landscape, Ephemera has brought a triangle of grass as an access point. It calls to me, but there isn’t enough of a connection yet for me to cross over.”
“So you wait to see if the connection grows or fades, yes?” Yoshani asked. “You’ve done this before.”
“I’ve done this before,” she agreed.
“Then why is it different now?”
She turned her head and looked at him. Her fingers tightened on his, giving him no escape.
“Because,” Belladonna said, “Michael is afraid I’ll disappear into a dark landscape and not come back.”
She looked into Yoshani’s eyes. They held alarm now. His heart hammered; she could feel his pulse through his fingers.
“Say it,” he said quietly.
“I want to call Ephemera.” Her voice was malevolent and dreamy. “I want to call Ephemera and have it wrap you in vines as thick as tree limbs. Wrap you in vines full of thorns that will pierce your skin so you hang over the koi pond like a succulent, bloody fruit. I could have done that there. I did that there. There was nothing I couldn’t do when I was there.”
“Is that what you want to do to me?” Yoshani asked.
Did she? Desire swept through her.…
???
…and Ephemera trembled, but the world wouldn’t disobey her. No matter what she asked of it.
She took a deep breath, will
ing the side of her that belonged to the Light to be the part of her sitting by the koi pond with a friend.
“No,” Glorianna said. “I don’t want to do that.”
“Yes, you do.” Yoshani placed his other hand over their clasped ones. “But today you choose not to. Isn’t that how a life is shaped? By all the choices that we make each day?”
“How did you get to be so wise?”
“I watch the koi and the clouds, and I learned from you.”
They sat in companionable silence. Then Glorianna said, “Did Brighid bake today?”
Laughing, Yoshani pulled her to her feet. “So that was the reason Michael’s journey began today and you agreed to visit.”
“Maybe. It seemed a shame to ignore fresh bread.”
“Indeed.”
As they headed for the guesthouse, currents of power swirled around her, through her. She stopped and looked toward the small island that divided a stream.
Something is changing, she thought. Has already changed.
“It appears someone else has kept track of baking day,” Yoshani said.
“No.” Glorianna headed for the island. “Something’s wrong.”
Nothing is wrong. The heart has no secrets from you. You just haven’t wanted to acknowledge what you felt in Lee’s heart the last time he visited the Island in the Mist. Wasn’t that one of your own sorrows all of these years? That he never had a life of his own because you needed him? But…
“Lee?” she called. “Lee!” She ran across the stepping stones. The moment her feet touched the island, she knew.
“Glorianna!” Yoshani rushed up behind her.
“He’s not here.” She walked to the center of the island where the fountain drew fresh water from the stream. Lee’s pack was sitting there, unbuckled, as if he’d intended to come right back.
“I’ll look around,” Yoshani said, sounding calm yet grim.
She sat on the bench by the fountain and closed her eyes. She had created this island, had intended it to be a private sanctuary within Sanctuary. But the island had resonated with Lee the moment he set foot on it. It had become a small landscape that he could impose over any other landscape. Safe ground.
The grief swelled up inside her—and a painful joy. Her eyes filled with those feelings until the feelings spilled over as tears.
“Travel lightly, brother,” she whispered. Ephemera, hear me. Give him opportunities to find the life he seeks. But if he wants to come back, help him find his way home.
“Glorianna.” Yoshani went down on one knee in front of her.
“He doesn’t resonate with me anymore,” she said. “He doesn’t belong in my landscapes anymore. He crossed over to somewhere else.”
“Where would he go?” Yoshani asked.
“Somewhere I can’t.” She swallowed tears. “I need to return to the Island in the Mist and leave a message for Michael. Then I need to get messages to Sebastian and my mother. Will you help me?”
He let out a pained sigh as he started to rise. “Yes, of course.” He froze, then sank back down. “Your mother’s landscapes are held protected within your garden. And so are Michael’s.”
“Yes.”
“If Lee no longer resonates with your landscapes, he won’t be able to reach theirs either, won’t be able to reach Sebastian in the Den or Nadia in Aurora.”
“No. He won’t.”
“What about Caitlin Marie’s landscapes?”
“Her garden isn’t held within my garden, so he should be able to cross over to her landscapes if he wants to.”
Yoshani bowed his head. “But he won’t.”
“No, he won’t.”
“Then he’s left all of you.”
Because of me, she thought. He left everyone he knew because of me.
“Come away,” Yoshani said, rising to his feet. “We’ll take the pack and store it in his room at the guesthouse. Unless you think he’ll call the island to him and would want the pack?”
She rose, wishing they’d had one more of those silly sibling quarrels so that she could smile about it when she thought of him. “Lee can’t call the island. It doesn’t belong to him anymore.”
Chapter 6
Friends and family gathered at Philo’s Place in the Den, using the indoor dining room for this private meeting. Glorianna wasn’t sure why she’d chosen the Den instead of Nadia’s house in Aurora. Maybe because she needed to say these words in a landscape that was hers instead of one held by her mother?
She and Yoshani had left a message for Michael where he would find it the moment he returned from Foggy Downs, the village that was first on his list to visit. After leaving a message at Nadia’s house, she and Yoshani had gone to the Den.
She had created this landscape for Sebastian when they were fifteen years old. He had needed a place where he would feel welcome, would feel at home. She had taken a dark piece of a city and reshaped it into this carnal carnival out of the wants and dreams and needs of the young incubus Sebastian had been.
The Den and the man had changed over the years, had matured. Had almost parted ways. In fact, she had almost lost her cousin when he’d been captured and taken to Wizard City, but he was still here. She needed to remember that a person could find his way home if his heart still belonged to a place or the people who waited for him there.
She managed to remain seated until Teaser walked into the room and grinned at her.
“Hey-a, Glorianna. I wanted to tell you—”
“Not now, Teaser,” Yoshani said quietly.
Glorianna pushed away from the table and began to pace. Being a Guide didn’t make her any less unhappy as a sister.
Teaser looked from one to the other, his grin fading. “Has something happened?”
“Yes,” Yoshani replied, “but let’s wait for everyone to arrive before we discuss it.”
“Daylight,” Teaser muttered. “I’ll go see what Philo has to drink.” He walked through the door that led to the kitchen.
Before he returned, Sebastian’s wife, Lynnea, entered the dining room. “Glorianna! It’s wonderful to see you here.”
“No, it’s not,” Teaser said as he swung back into the room with a tray full of bottles and glasses. “Well, it is, but she’s not here to play cards with the bull demons and win a jar of olives.”
“You play for olives?” Yoshani asked.
“I play for money most of the time, but Philo will trade meals for jars of olives or olive oil, so…” Teaser shrugged.
“Is something wrong?” Lynnea asked. “Where is Michael?”
“Foggy Downs,” Glorianna replied. “I left a message for him to meet us here, but we won’t wait for him.”
She saw the alarm in Lynnea’s blue eyes, but before Lynnea could ask any questions, Nadia and her husband, Jeb, walked in, followed by Sebastian.
Dressed in a moss green shirt and snug black denim pants, Sebastian had a body that would earn him a second look from any female old enough—or young enough—to dream about a man. The sable hair, sharp green eyes, and sinfully handsome face guaranteed he could have his pick of lovers. And he’d had his pick until he turned in his membership in the “I’m a badass incubus” club, married Lynnea, and became the Justice Maker for the Den. Of course, learning that he had inherited the deadly powers of a wizard from his father and was the heart Glorianna had used as the anchor for the Den might have had something to do with his decision to change careers.
Sebastian looked around. Anticipating him, Glorianna said, “Michael will be back as soon as he can. I didn’t ask Caitlin to join us. She’ll need to be told, but she doesn’t need to be here right now.”
“Told what?” Nadia asked at the same time Sebastian said, “Where’s Lee?”
Glorianna took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Lee crossed over to another landscape, one that doesn’t resonate with me—or with anyone else in the family.”
“What do you mean?” “When did this happen?” “Glorianna…” Protests and
questions from Nadia, Jeb, and Lynnea.
“Wait,” Sebastian said sharply. Nudging Lynnea out of his way, he walked up to Glorianna and studied her. “Why do you think he crossed over?”
“I don’t think it; I know it,” Glorianna said.
“He’s a Bridge and your brother. He wouldn’t leave.”
“You’re my cousin and you almost did.”
“No.”
“Yes.” This was why she’d come to the Den to tell the family about Lee. Because she’d almost lost Sebastian too, and she was hoping he would help the others understand. “You had grown away from the Den, had begun to want something else. If the Eater of the World hadn’t escaped when It did, if Lynnea hadn’t come to the Den when she did, you would have crossed over one night to rendezvous with a woman you had met in the twilight of waking dreams—and you wouldn’t have come back. Even if you’d intended to return to the Den, you wouldn’t have found your way back.”
“But I did stay,” Sebastian protested.
“Because things changed,” Glorianna said. “You changed. You realigned with the Den in a new way and opened your heart to the daylight landscapes in order to make a life that included the woman you love.”
“What does that have to do with Lee walking away from his family?”
“I’m not sure he walked away from everyone.” It hurt to admit that.
“Nadia’s landscapes are in your garden,” Yoshani said quietly. “While we made arrangements for this meeting, you seemed certain that Lee couldn’t reach the landscapes held by your mother.”
“I did think that at first. But Mother’s landscapes don’t resonate with me; they resonate with her.” Glorianna looked at her mother, who was a Fifth-Level Landscaper. “Lee is a Bridge. He can pick up a stone and make a one-shot bridge to Aurora anytime he wants to without going through any of my landscapes. So I think he’ll still be able to reach you.”
“Or he could use that island of his, right?” Jeb asked.
She shook her head, her eyes still on her mother. “That island doesn’t resonate with him anymore.”