Sebastian

naked with a strange man on the other side of the door.
    "You can take a bath later." When you won't Jail asleep in the tub and drown . "Just take care of your necessaries."
    She blushed. He retreated.
    He busied himself by pulling back the bedcovers and fluffing the pillows, keeping his mind focused on the simple tasks until he could get out of that room.
    Why did he have to get out? In her current haze of exhaustion and wine, it wouldn't take much to have her mindless from sensual pleasure, and then he could feed on the emotions produced by thrilling her body.
    That was what he wanted. Wasn't it?
    When she came back into the bedroom a few minutes later, her face was clean—and she was wearing nothing but her shift.
    Lust swam in his blood as soon as he saw her, but it was flavored by something else, something unfamiliar and delicate. Want and wariness tangled up inside him, making him desperate to get away from her long enough to think.
    "Am I supposed to give you sex?" she asked in a small voice. Resigned. As if she expected her body to be used as a commodity.

    That made him angry, which made no sense. But nothing was making any sense, so why should this be different?
    He wanted to believe she was experienced, wanted to believe she was offering herself, wanted to believe he could unfurl the power of the incubi and feast on the pleasure he could make her feel.
    But he couldn't look at her and believe any of those things. He also couldn't leave without doing something to ease the need gnawing inside him, so he walked up to her, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her softly.
    Warm. Sweet. Innocent, but there was a banked sensuality that just needed encouragement in order to bloom.
    But not now.
    He tucked her into bed the way Nadia used to tuck him in, telling him without words that he was safe and welcome.
    "Sleep now," he whispered.
    Her eyes drifted shut. She was asleep before he stepped away from the bed.
    Returning to Philo's, he ordered whiskey, then sat staring at the liquid in the glass.
    I want to be safe. I want to be loved. I want to be someplace where I'm not afraid all the time.
    Come to me.
    No one came to the Den by mistake. By accident, certainly, but not by mistake.
    Except his little rabbit was right—she didn't belong here, would never have found the Den if not for him.
    Because it was that brief connection with him that had drawn her to the Den, had made it resonate in a way that made it possible for her to cross over.
    His fault. His responsibility.
    Teaser pulled out a chair and flopped into it. "Where's the country mouse?"
    "Sleeping."
    "That was quick."
    Sebastian stared at Teaser until the other incubus stirred uneasily. "You're going to help me with something. A little game, you could call it."
    "Sebastian, I don't think the mouse is ready for something more than a solo—"
    He held up his hand. "This is what I want you to do." As he talked, Teaser's expression changed from uneasy to baffled. "Do you understand?"
    "No," Teaser replied.
    "Will you help?"
    "Sure, if that's what you want."
     
    "That's what I want."
    Teaser studied him, then stood up. "I'll spread the word."
    It didn't take long. Even though he couldn't see it from where he was sitting, he felt the waves of activity washing over the Den.
    She was here because of him, and this much he could do for her. If he were a smart man, he would escort her to the Landscapers' School as soon as she woke up. But he didn't want to be a smart man. He wanted— needed —this small pocket of time. He had no influence in any other landscape, but here in the Den he could give her a few hours in a place where she wouldn't be afraid.
    After that, he would take her to the school, knowing she would never find her way back to the Den.
    Knowing there was something about her that would haunt him the rest of his life.
     

 

     
     

Chapter Eight

 

     
     

     
    The girl sniffled into a handkerchief and looked up at the two wizards standing in front of her. "He came running down the stairs so fast, I didn't have a chance to warn him they were wet. And he looked so scared, like something terrible was chasing after him. Then he slipped and one foot got tangled in the wash buckets handle and he…" She collapsed into the chair behind her, sobbing.
    "What were you doing on the stairs so early in the morning?" Harland asked sternly.
    The tears dried up, replaced by a hint of angry pride. "My work, sir. When a stairway needs washing, we do it