Sebastian

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 Hearts 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