The Wizard of Seattle (33 page)

She stepped out of her slippers, then unbuckled her loose belt and dropped it to the bank. She wrestled the robe up over her head and tossed it aside with a sigh of relief; even though Merlin had lined the garment in silk, it was still the bane of her existence—heavy, shapeless, and making every move she made look and feel awkward. The white shift was better, though not by much; it, too, was shapeless, but it was thin, light, and rather silky to the touch. In Sanctuary she’d gotten used to sleeping in it. She drew it up over her head and dropped the garment to the ground, baring her body completely to the chilly, damp morning air.

The net confining her hair was quickly and easily unfastened and discarded, and Serena shook out the long, fiery tresses, running her fingers through them and briefly massaging her scalp. Then she stepped down into the warm water, wading out slowly to the center of the pool. There the water was just deep enough so that when she sat on a flat rock she absently conjured for a seat, it covered her breasts and nearly her shoulders.

She tipped her head back and splashed water on her hair until it was thoroughly wet, then conjured a dollop of her favorite shampoo. Even as she lathered her hair, she couldn’t help smiling as she remembered how puzzled Merlin had been when she had carefully memorized the chemical composition of the shampoo.

“Why do you want to conjure shampoo?” he’d asked.

“I don’t. But you never know when I might,” she had answered blithely.

He’d only shaken his head when she had also memorized the chemical compositions of various other things, including conditioner, her favorite soap, and selected perfumes and cosmetics, but Serena was definitely grateful now to vanity or whatever other motive had urged her to do so.

She luxuriated in her large bathtub, washing and conditioning her hair, then stood up to soap her body from head to toe. After that she just sat on her rock, her
clean hair floating about her in the warm, fragrant water, while she moved her arms languidly through it and looked around at her surroundings.

Even up here it was ugly. The trees were taller than those down in the valley, but they were twisted and bore leaves of weird shapes and colors. There wasn’t much grass, just a blue-green moss that was thick and not attractive, and most of the area was rock. The rising sun painted the stone with faint gleams of iridescent color as it touched bits of quartz and mica, but even that didn’t improve them very much.

The raw look of the stone reminded her that it probably
was
new, forced up to the surface as Atlantis twitched and heaved in its death throes. She wondered idly if one of the almost-daily earthquakes would open up a fissure to drain her nice bathtub, and grimaced at the thought. It was a necessary but unwelcome reminder of how unstable this place was. All of a sudden she wanted to go back to their camp and Merlin. But before she could get up, she heard a twig snap nearby, and turned her head slowly as the hair on the back of her neck quivered a warning.

“Well, well, well,” Varian said, hands on his hips and feet braced wide as he grinned across the water at her. “Did Merlin roll you around in the dirt instead of providing a decent bed, bitch?”

“My name,” she said evenly, “is Serena.” The strongest reaction she had to this wizard was disgust and anger at being called a bitch.

He bowed slightly, mockingly, and responded in a hatefully soothing voice. “Serena, then. Shall I join you? It’s always nice to have someone to wash your back.”

“No, thank you. I would as soon share my bath with a herd of muddy cattle, six pigs, three disturbed skunks, and a few poisonous snakes.”

His eyebrows went up, and he laughed. “Such an image of depraved and debauched desires, my sweet.”

Serena felt her mouth twist in loathing. Naturally he would put a sexual connotation to whatever she said. Merlin had been right; Varian
was
the most amazingly
libidinous creature. A bit fiercely she said, “What I meant is that even filthy, stinking, and poisonous animals would be preferable to you. Would you mind leaving now?”

He was smiling. “I’m going to enjoy taming you, Serena, no matter how long it takes. But you needn’t fear—I never abuse my bitches. No, you’ll be willing, and when you scream out in pleasure as I ride you, you’ll be grateful that I decided to mark you as mine.”

Silently Serena lifted one hand and pointed to the small, scarlet heart at the base of her throat, which she was constantly aware of.

Varian shrugged dismissively. “Do you think that’s going to stop me?” He made a slight and not very graceful gesture with one hand.

The gurgle of moving water became louder, and Serena looked over to find that the narrow place where her pool spilled over this small basin and continued down the mountainside had been opened up, not by an earthquake but by Varian; the water level was sinking rapidly.

For a moment she considered going on with the charade of powerlessness, but Varian’s arrogance made her so mad that all she thought about was taking him down a peg or two. So he thought she was virtually helpless, unable to withstand his powers or his supposed skills as a stud? So he thought she was just going to sit here meekly while the draining water left her naked and exposed to his greedy eyes?

Like hell she would.

Her discarded clothing lay on the bank some feet from Varian, but Serena ignored the garments—she was sick of them anyway. Instead she decided it was time to change her appearance.

Of course, being Serena and being mad as hell, she brought about her transformation with a bit of theatrical flair.

It was a relief to rip away the mask Merlin had so carefully taught her to hide her powers behind, and as she gazed across the water at Varian, she had the distinct pleasure of watching his face drain of color as her
power became something he could now sense. She smiled at him gently and performed the impressive trick of altering her environment.

Before the sinking water level exposed her breasts, the pool began to churn and bubble. Within seconds a whirlpool circled Serena, the frothy white water easily hiding her body from Varian’s stunned gaze. She conjured a few gusts of wind to blow her loose hair about dramatically, and with slow grandeur she rose from the center of the whirlpool perfectly dry and dressed like no other woman in Atlantis.

Fawn-color trousers, tight enough to cling to every curve, were tucked into knee-high boots. A fawn-color vest that snugly shaped her small waist and generous breasts was belted in place over a full-sleeved blouse, which was tightly cuffed at her wrists, and was silky and pale green. Over it all was a rich fur cloak around her shoulders that was loosely fastened by a thin gold chain with a round emerald on either clasp.

While Varian gaped in shock, Serena strolled across the churning water to the bank several feet away from him. (She’d always wanted to walk on water, but had never gotten the chance.) As soon as she touched land, the pool quieted and continued to drain rapidly down the mountain.

Hands on hips, she faced him with a tiny smile.

“A woman of power,” he almost whispered.

Serena mocked him with just the sort of half bow he had used earlier. “That’s right. Merlin isn’t the only wizard of Seattle, you see—so am I.”

“No—you’re his property—”

“The hell I am. Where we come from, Varian, women don’t belong to men—wizard or powerless.”

“You bear his mark.”

Before Serena could respond, Merlin’s quiet voice sounded behind her.

“To protect her, Varian, in case she was caught outside Sanctuary at night.”

Serena turned her head and watched Merlin walk toward her. For a moment she forgot everything except the need to sense if her earlier attempt to heal him had
been successful. He looked the same, she thought, though perhaps there was less strain in his features and a certain thoughtful quiet in the liquid darkness of his eyes.

But was there an open door to permit him to heal? She couldn’t tell.

He reached her side and looked her up and down deliberately. “Nice outfit.”

“Thank you. Sorry about dropping the charade without discussing it first, but this … this moronic bastard made me crazy.”

“I figured he would eventually,” Merlin admitted to her in a rather dry tone, and turned his gaze to the still frozen Varian. Politely he told the older wizard, “She is indeed a woman of power, Varian. A female wizard. A rather talented one, as a matter of fact.”

“How is it possible you travel together?” Varian asked in a voice that cracked slightly.

Serena waited for Merlin to answer, curious to know how he would. He had been careful when they’d first arrived, only observing, reluctant to do anything else, including providing information unknown to these people. But she had the feeling that he was now perfectly willing to shock Varian, and she didn’t blame him one bit.

Lifting an eyebrow, Merlin feigned puzzlement. “Why would it be impossible? Surely you don’t believe Atlantis is the center of the universe, governing the rest of the world in all ways, including customs between men and women? No, Varian, outside this twisted little kingdom of yours is an entirely different world. Serena and I travel together because we wish it. We’ve been together for years.”

“She’s your concubine?” Varian demanded hoarsely.

Softly Merlin said, “No. My mate.”

Already surprised by the out-of-character way he seemed to be taunting the other wizard, Serena nearly gasped at Merlin’s words. She had the odd feeling he meant it, that whatever else he said, that statement was truthful, and she didn’t dare look up at him, because
she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to control her expression.

Luckily, Varian was too shocked himself to notice her wonder. He stood stiffly, staring at them, his armor of arrogance certainly dented—if not split wide open—by this living, breathing impossibility even he, in his wildest sexual fantasies, had seldom considered attainable.

If he had stopped to think at all, he never would have risked himself, but he had the confused impression of a threat they represented to his vision of the world, and it was characteristic of him that he struck out to protect himself, roaring in a kind of dumb animal fury.

The stream of energy that shot from his outstretched hand was white-hot and aimed accurately to strike both Serena and Merlin, a target made easier since they were standing so close to each other. Swifter than thought, both of them lifted a hand, acting instinctively and in concert to block and then repel the destructive energy.

What happened then—should not have. Both Merlin and Varian knew that; Serena had no idea, simply because she had never considered what was likely to happen if the energy stream of two wizards—let alone three—collided, and because she had never been called on to defend herself against another wizard.

What happened was visible to all of them in the heartbeats granted them to ponder. The separate energy streams of Merlin and Serena—his white-hot and hers tinted the searing blue of the base of a flame—met scant inches from their outstretched hands and twined together in an almost sensuous motion, forming a single ropelike shaft of living, writhing power. It sliced through Varian’s energy stream like the steel hull of a battleship slicing through water, struck him midchest with an audible
craaack
, and knocked him thirty feet down the mountain slope.

He picked himself up, panting and shocked, one hand covering the seared place on his chest, and stared at the pair of wizards, who looked gravely back at him. After several silent moments he drew his coat closed over the burn on his chest, turned, and hurried down the slope away from them.

Serena looked on either side of her and Merlin to find two seared and smoking trees that had taken the brunt of Varian’s deflected energy stream, then looked up at Merlin. “What just happened?” she asked hesitantly.

“Positive and negative,” Merlin said softly, more to himself than Serena. “That must be it. When they’re combined, the energy stream is more powerful … much more powerful.” He looked down at her. “Serena, Varian has enough raw power that he should have been able to knock either me or you back a step or two at the very least, but he didn’t.”

“Because there are two of us?”

“No. If two male wizards had stood here and struck out at Varian,
all three
would have gotten a nasty jolt that probably would have broken off the attack. And if it had just been him and me fighting through the first jolt even against our instincts for self-preservation, we would have eventually drained each other, possibly to the death. But if we’d chosen to stop it at any point, neither of us would have been permanently damaged or even left physically scarred by the battle.
Positive energy
, Serena—no matter how many times or ways you combine it, it always cancels itself out.”

She frowned up at him. “So what happened with us? Did we knock him off his feet, and obviously hurt him, because we’re a pair? Male and female?”

“Positive and negative. And our energy streams were directed together, so they merged.”

“You didn’t know my energy had a negative charge?” Then she remembered, and answered the question herself. “Of course not, because you’ve always been so careful that our energy streams never touched during my lessons or whenever one of us was conjuring. Because of the way it always happened with males, you assumed the same danger existed for us.”

Merlin nodded. “I should have realized. It explains how male and female wizards are able to harm each other. If it had been just you and Varian here, you in a temper and him scared half out of his wits, both of you could have been badly injured.”

“But we weren’t alone. You were here. So he got burned—literally—and maybe he’ll think twice next time before he barges in on a lady’s bath.”

With a slight smile Merlin said, “And maybe he’ll think about what he’s doing here if he knows the outside world is quite a bit different.”

Serena looked up at him gravely. “That’s why you taunted him? I wondered.”

“I shouldn’t have done it,” he admitted wryly. “I’m not even sure why I did, except … it seemed right, somehow. I seemed to know what I should say to him.”