It occurred to him slowly that he was growing excited by the possibility of taking a woman of power to his bed.

Why not, after all? If Tremayne had managed to do it, then surely he could. He thought of spreading the legs of some haughty whore, her eyes filled with vibrant life like those of Merlin's mate, that Serena, and Varian felt himself twitch urgently.

Of course, he'd have to find a willing one; those whores in the city were reputedly swift to fire off a shift of energy right to a man's groin, which was the last thing Varian wanted. He wondered how Tremayne had avoided that particular fate.

He reached down and fondled himself absently as he gazed out over the valley. A willing whore…

"I like that," Roxanne said, eyeing her friend's new outfit.

"What, this old thing?" Serena grinned as Roxanne looked uncertain, and added, "Never mind. I'd be delighted to conjure up something similar for you."

After a moment's thought Roxanne smiled. "No, I don't think so. It suits you, Serena-it wouldn't me."

They were sitting on a fallen tree near the bank of a stream not an hour from Sanctuary, where the two couples and Kerry had met up only minutes before. Merlin and Tremayne were standing several feet away talking, and Kerry was kneeling at the stream washing her doll Chloe's face.

Nodding, Serena said, "So, tell me-if you don't mind, of course-why you left Sanctuary."

Roxanne hesitated, but then confessed her intention of destroying the men who had attacked her. She spoke quietly, telling Serena what had happened when Kerry had followed her and Tremayne away from Sanctuary.

"It was my fault she was put into danger. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my desire for revenge, I would never have left Sanctuary without making certain there was someone to watch out for Kerry. Felice… well, she wants a child of her own, as I told you, and the older Kerry grows, the less Felice is interested. She probably didn't even notice the child was missing-"

"Day before yesterday," Serena said. "Before Merlin and I left Sanctuary, she asked me if I'd seen Kerry. She didn't seem worried, though."

Roxanne sighed. "No, probably not."

"But it was hardly your fault that Kerry sneaked out of the city, Roxanne. I thought the Sentinels were there to keep the kids in, as well as unwanted males out."

"Yes, but Kerry was still my responsibility. And if Tremayne hadn't been with me, those men would have hurt her so terribly, perhaps even killed her-" She swallowed hard. "One of them… was one of the men who attacked me."

Serena frowned. "What did you do?"

Roxanne explained what had happened when her power had combined with Tremayne's, and added, "I don't understand it, and neither does Tremayne. The Curtain should have punished us for trying to use power…"

Serena was more interested in another question. "Roxanne, do you trust Tremayne?"

"I-I don't know. Perhaps."

"But the possibility is there?"

"Yes," Roxanne answered honestly. "When he helped me to save Kerry so instantly, without hesitating. I felt… I felt I could learn to trust him."

Serena didn't push it. "I see. So, you two saved Kerry and destroyed those two village men, one of whom was one of your attackers. And then? You changed your mind about going after the other two?"

"It didn't seem important anymore. The anger inside me just faded away to nothing."

"You know, I think that's probably a good thing," Serena told the younger wizard. "We have a saying in Seattle-what goes around comes around. The men who hurt you will pay for what they did, one way or another."

"That's what Tremayne said."

"Obviously a smart man."

Roxanne smiled, then said hesitantly, "You and Merlin seem different. You look so happy, both of you."

"I'm probably lit up like a Christmas tree," Serena reflected, knowing she tended to broadcast every emotion-and she was filled with a delighted tangle of them.

"Like a what?" Roxanne asked, puzzled.

For just a moment Serena thought the saddest part of this place and time was that they hadn't yet begun to celebrate Christmas, but then she brushed the thought away. Stupid, really, when you considered everything else…

"Never mind," she said to Roxanne. "What I mean to say is that Merlin and I have finally found our way past those walls between us."

"You're… mates?" Roxanne asked a bit shyly.

"Yes. And I highly recommend the relationship."

Roxanne studied her friend's face for a moment, then said softly, "I envy you, Serena."

Serena looked up to see Merlin and Tremayne coming toward them, and murmured, "Don't miss your chance, Roxanne. Believe me, it's worth the risk."

"Are you ladies ready to go on to Sanctuary?" Merlin asked, taking Serena's hand as she stood up.

"It suits me," Serena replied, smiling at him.

Roxanne was looking at Tremayne. "Yes."

He held out his hand, and she took it.

Antonia stood in her favorite window and gazed down on her city. It was early evening, the quarter moon still visible through the Curtain, and she was feeling too restless to even attempt to go to sleep.

Her agents reported that Merlin and his Serena were seldom apart and appeared quite sickeningly devoted to each other; they obeyed the laws about touching in public, but since they spent most of their time either outside the city gates or else in Roxanne's house, it was simple for them to circumvent the laws. As for Roxanne, it did indeed seem apparent that her loyalties were now divided: the wizard Tremayne had also been granted permission to enter her house during the day.

And Antonia's list of potential consorts was growing short. In fact, there was only one name left, a name she had thus far refused to say out loud to herself, let alone to her mirror. What if he was the one? If so, how ironic that her mortal enemy was to be her mate.

Slowly she went to the mirror on her bedroom wall and stared into the bright surface of it. "Show me Varian," she commanded flatly.

She had seen him before but at a distance-a not uncommon occurrence between male and female wizards-so she had only the vaguest memory of his being dark. Her mirror showed the image of a dark, powerful man in bed with a woman, both of them naked, and Antonia caught her breath. Unlike the prophecy of her crystal, this scene was clear and sharp; she might have been standing over the bed looking down on them.

Unashamed, intensely curious, she watched them, fascinated by what she saw. She knew the mechanics of the act, of course, but she had never thought about how it would look. It was… rawer than she'd expected, both awkward and graceful. The naked bodies strained apart and came together, glistening with sweat and trembling visibly with exertion. The woman's arms and legs clutched at him as her body accepted his thrusts, and he looked like some savage warrior triumphant, his head thrown back and his hard face a mask of primitive conquest.

Antonia couldn't take her gaze off the scene. Her breathing quickened, and she slowly became aware of the response of her body to what she saw. But before she could feel anything more than the slow tension of arousal, the naked bodies in the mirror convulsed in their release, and the scene faded until her reflection stared back at her with feverish eyes.

Varian. Varian.

She knew it was him, knew he was the one she had seen in her crystal. In her future.

Varian was to be her mate.

As they stood outside the gates of Sanctuary watching Serena and Roxanne say good-bye to each other, Tremayne adjusted his backpack absently and then looked at Merlin. "I know she's going with me partly because she wants to leave Atlantia." He smiled. "But I can bear that. I have a chance now, a chance to earn her love, and that's all any man can ask for."