Sebastian

trembled a little while it held the pen. Out of haste? Fear?
    "You think the Wizards' Council killed him, or had him killed, because he found out about this?"
    "It's possible."
    "But…" Despite the closed door and windows, despite their being alone, Glorianna lowered her voice.
    "Females kept in secret as breeders? Females who aren't… human? Even if it's true, he didn't say where he saw these females or who was mating with them. He didn't accuse any particular group of being the—
    "
    "Peter was a wizard," Nadia interrupted. "If he'd seen this place anywhere but in Wizard City, he would have reported it, and the wizards would have been the first to rally against some dark aspect gathering strength in secret. They've always been the most vocal about keeping humankind away from the demons who share this world."
    "Exactly."
    Nadia looked at Glorianna. Her face, even in the soft glow of the lamp on the table, appeared older than her years. "If the power that your kind had shaped in order to control the world had been defeated by your enemies, by the ones who stood for the Light, what better way to survive than to transform into a shape that would blend in? What better way to survive than to build a fortress city in which to hide the females who, for whatever reason, weren't able to transform but who held the dark legacy in their wombs?"

    "I don't believe this. I don't believe any of this." But Glorianna stared at the words on the papers and felt sick.

    The Dark Guides are not just an unseen force that flows through Ephemera, providing an opportunity for a person to follow the baser feelings in his heart. And they are not figures so malformed that they slink in the dark corners of cities or hide in caves in the countryside, appearing as a black-cloaked shape that whispers lies or helps bring about misfortune.
    I have seen the crèche, the breeding grounds. I watched males who wear the mask of human faces mate with females who are not human.
    The Dark Guides exist. They are real. They wear human faces, but they are not human under the skin.
    And, perhaps, neither am I. If the power I was born with comes from this dark place, neither am I.
     
    "I told you the family secrets," Nadia said softly. "Things I never told your father. We can trace our line back to the first Landscapers, who were the Guides of the Heart. Human in form, but not human. They had such a strong connection with Ephemera, they could alter the landscapes, actually change the shape of the world."
    "Like me," Glorianna whispered.
    "Like you."
    Nadia got up, rummaged through the cupboards, then returned to the table with a bottle of brandy and two glasses. She filled the glasses and set one beside Glorianna's hand. Then she drained half her glass before sitting down again.
    "I have no marriage lines," Nadia said. "I wanted them, but Peter said it was enough that we were married in our hearts, and I loved him enough to be content with that. Even when I became pregnant with you, he still refused to consider a formal marriage. But that's when he told me one of the wizards' secrets.
    "It was, and is, taboo for a wizard to have carnal relations with a Landscaper, and if the Wizards' Council had found out he'd been with me and I carried a child that mingled the bloodlines of wizard and Landscaper, at best they would have punished him. At worst, they would have sealed both of us in a dark landscape.
    "He loved you, Glorianna, but he was also terrified of you."
    Glorianna licked her lips, which felt painfully dry. "If the wizards are the descendants of the Dark Guides and the Landscapers are the descendants of the Guides of the Heart…"
    "You are the mingling of the Dark and the Light, and you are the only known Landscaper in our time who can alter landscapes. Truly alter them. I think the kind of Landscaper you are is the reason for the taboo.
    The wizards didn't want to give Dark power back to the Light—because I think that mingling is the only kind of power that can defeat the Eater of the World."
    Glorianna gulped some brandy. "I can't do this alone. You think I can go up against the Eater of the World?"
     
    "I don't know. Can you?"
    The question froze her blood. But another thought unfurled. "Sebastian," she whispered.
    "Yes," Nadia agreed. "Sebastian. Your uncle Koltak's scandal. Living testament that wizards and the succubi can mate and have offspring. Dark power mating with dark power."
    "Which means he might have all the power of a wizard as well