Page 37 of Changeling
My feet slam the cobbles. Tunnel vision grays the edges of my view. What would a witch want with Sebastian? For surely, it was a witch who cast that portal. To my knowledge, no witches reside in Pest, so it must be the trespassers.
I should have taken that threat more seriously. We should never have gone out. Sebastian is in jeopardy, and it’s my fault. Curses, he must be so scared.
Guilt threatens to swallow me whole.
I burst through the door of The Twig and barrel down the stairs, nearly slamming into a line of patrons waiting for Danya’s permission to enter. I blow past her questioning gaze. The enchanted door opens for me, and I race through the parlors to Leonas’s private rooms.
Not bothering to knock, I bang open his door. He’s curled into a little ball atop a pile of blankets.
“Leonas!”
He startles awake with a hiss. His wild yellow eyes assess the potential threat, recognize it’s only me, and settle into concern in seconds. “Dominus. What’s happened?”
“Sebastian is gone. Stolen through a portal in the middle of the market. I couldn’t stop it.”
“What? Why was he out?”
“I took him. I thought it would be fine with me there for his protection. I’m a fool, and now he’s in danger. What can we do?”
Leonas is already up from his bed, halfway dressed and tugging on his boots. “Take me there. Maybe I can scent them.”
Thatmaybedoesn’t sound promising. How could I have let this happen? I was supposed to keep him safe. Instead, I led him directly into a trap. Perhaps there is more to faerie magic than ancient curses of old enemies, but what would witches want with it? They have their own magic. Surely, they don’t want worse—his blood.
I’m frozen, dumbly filtering through worst-case scenarios, when Leonas grabs my arm.
“Come. Show me.”
The command brings me back to my senses. I need to be doing something, anything, to bring Sebastian back.
“To the market.”
As we race, regret clouds my thoughts.
I had the chance to kiss Sebastian. He wanted me to, and I refused him. Now I might never have another opportunity.
If I ever see Sebastian again, I vow not to waste another chance. I will kiss him until our lips go numb. If only we can find him and bring him home.
* * *
Sebastian
Disoriented,I blink and try desperately to make out my surroundings. Panic makes it hard to breathe. I gulp nothing more than fast, shallow puffs of air.
“Sebastian?” A soft voice, feminine and melodic. “You’re safe now,” she says, her sweet lilting tone pitched to comfort.
And yet I’m afraid, drowning in darkness, my head pounding, my ears ringing.
“Where is Dominus?” I whisper into the abyss. Why is it so black here?
A gentle hand lands on my arm, and I startle. She removes it. “He can’t hurt you now.”
What?“Hurt me?” He may never be able to trust me, but Dominus wouldn’t hurt me.
“We won’t let him find you.” Another voice. Lower in timbre than the first. Perhaps a man, it’s hard to tell. Both of them speak to me as if I’m a feral cat they’re trying to lure into a false sense of security with a bit of bacon.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
My eyes finally adjust to the lack of light. I’m sitting on hard-packed dirt ground. Rough stone walls meet in an arched tunnel overhead. A strong scent of damp earth permeates the stale air. Two pairs of eyes stare at me with a level of concern I find unsettling.
