Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (181 page)

It seemed to come from the living room.

They both jumped at the sound and turned as
one. Mitch had no doubt that he wasn’t the only one suspecting that
Sebastian had broken free.

But Sebastian remained exactly as he had
been.

It was the assembled multitude behind him
that made Mitch’s eyes widen. Clearly the room had been magically
enhanced to hold this entire auditorium of guests. More than one
steely gaze returned Mitch’s glance and he had a very definite
sense that the mood of the crowd was that of disapproval.

Their happy ending suddenly seemed far from
assured.

“
The Grand Consulting
Council of Immortals,” Lilith whispered in wonder.

Mitch looked to her in mingled confusion and
alarm. “What?”

Lilith met his gaze, her own expression
troubled. ‘Sort of a supreme court for destiny,” she said ruefully.
“It looks as though we’ve already attracted attention.”

*

The Grand Council chambers hadn’t changed
much in the past few centuries. It was still a circular and massive
auditorium, with tiers of seating for its membership.

It had been here that Lilith was granted the
elixir, beneath the watchful eye of several thousand council
members, each outfitted in their finest. They were a varied group,
including Merlinesque old wizards with their long grey beards and
glinting eyes, witchy old hags who cackled when they laughed, the
lithesome young beauties with ancient eyes.

There were shamen of every persuasion and
shapeshifters who could not be relied upon to remain still, let
alone the same, for the duration of a single session. There were
fauns and fairies, leprechauns and nymphs, the stuff of mortal
legends in the flesh. Unicorns and centaurs, griffins and dragons -
in general, all manner of mythical beasts crowded the hall.

The less predictable immortals included pens
that always seemed to go missing, single socks that found escape
through the dryer vents throughout the world, washers that had
abandoned the screws they had been made to fit, and thumbtacks that
dropped, rolled and were never seen again. Much more sentient than
mortals believed, these creatures had escaped what they saw as the
slavery of the material world, crept through wormholes in the
space/time continuum and earned their immortality through tests as
arduous as Lilith’s own had been.

Mitch had been right - there were a lot of
immortals. They just stuck to their own kind.

The floor of the chambers still took
Lilith’s breath away - the brilliant lapis lazuli inlaid with
golden zodiac signs so beautifully wrought that she didn’t want to
step on it at all. The ceiling arched high, so much like a starlit
sky that she still couldn’t tell where it ended, if indeed it
did.

For the chambers had been constructed in a
dimension beyond the three of usual human perception, or even the
fourth suspected by many mathematicians. Lilith had heard rumors
that it was firmly lodged in the seventh dimension, but could not
say for certain.

Physics had never been her strong suit.

One thing was clear - the way to the council
was obscured to all except those who were specifically
summoned.

The presence of Lilith’s living room table,
her tarot cards still laid out as she had left them, showed the
link to the world she knew best. And Sebastian, of course, had
apparently been summoned as well, although he was still frozen in
that pose.

An older woman leaned over Lilith’s table, a
bright floral shawl wrapped over her hair, her bony finger poking
at the cards. Lilith saw that the cycle was nearly complete, The
Sun having turned face up after The Moon.

The Sun, which hinted at refuge after facing
adversity. The Sun which told of finding a haven, a garden, a place
of repose. The card told that the journey was nearing its end and
hinted that all would go well.

The Sun could only signify Mitch’s
determination that they should be together, whatever the odds.

But Lilith knew what the next card was and
it was no small obstacle. As though hearing her thoughts, the
elderly woman picked up the next card and deliberately turned it
over, snapping it against the table.

Judgment.

Lilith’s mouth went dry. Then, the crone
looked up, letting Lilith see her face for the first time, and
smiled knowingly.

“
Dritta!” Lilith exclaimed
with delight.

The older woman chuckled and shook a finger
at Lilith. “You did not think I would abandon you?” she demanded
archly. “Child of my child, holder of the Gift, I could not let you
wander alone.”

Her gaze slipped over Mitch, no doubt noting
the way he held Lilith’s hand, then lingered upon Sebastian.
Dritta’s lips were drawn into a stern line when she looked at
Lilith again. “Even if you have made some unconventional
choices.”

Dritta spun in a flurry of skirts and held
up her hands to the council. “I called this meeting for the sake of
my own grandchild,” she declared. “It is a breach of our code, I
know it well, but blood calls.”

“
What of this one?”
demanded a shaman garbed in bone and hide. He stood up to open the
discussion and pointed to Sebastian. “He was her destined lover; he
pledged to her on the gallows that he would return.”

Lilith had no chance to respond before a
pale green fairy sparkled on the back of her seat, determined to
have her say. “And she swore to love him forever,” she
squeaked.

It was hard to argue your case in a court
like this one, where anyone could voice a concern and everyone
could hear your resulting thoughts. Lilith had found it chaotic the
last time she was here - and then the council members had already
been fairly unanimous about her winning the sip of the elixir.

This time, they were so unsettled that they
made her head hurt.

“
She
summoned
him,”
intoned a greybeard with obvious disapproval. “That is no small
thing.”

The council members stirred at this, a
ripple of anxiety rolled through their ranks. Lilith knew she
didn’t imagine that their gazes turned sharper.

She lifted her chin. “I summoned my lover
true,” Lilith corrected, lifting the hand that was still entangled
with Mitch’s. She smiled just for him, hoping this exhibition
didn’t challenge his newfound faith in things beyond the material
world. “And he came.”

“
You didn’t keep your
word!” cried a mauve unicorn.

“
Not for lack of trying!”
Mitch retorted with his usual loyalty. He pointed to Sebastian.
“Lilith waited almost six centuries for this jerk. And he had
no
intention of keeping his word!”

Chatter broke out in the seating and more
than one argument could be heard as everyone had their say. Dritta
lifted her hands in a bid for silence, then whistled sharply when
she didn’t get it.

The council members settled restlessly.

“
Lilith has made choices I
would not have condoned, but her intentions are pure.”

“
She has to pay a price!”
demanded the greybeard.

“
She has already lost her
immortality,” snapped Dritta, raising her hands when they started
to mutter again. “Lilith meant no harm; she did no harm; she made a
mistake, but found love all the same. Who among you can say whether
this was a grand scheme to help these two find each other?” She
straightened and eyed the assembly. “Why else would the elixir fail
her now? It’s never happened before!”

The arguments erupted again and grew more
heated.

“
She believed herself that
Sebastian was her destined lover!” squeaked the fairy.

“
But I was wrong!” Lilith
cried. “How many times has he reincarnated? He never returned to
me, not even once.”

“
So, you hexed him for
vengeance?” demanded the greybeard who clearly thought little of
Lilith’s case.

“
I hexed him to keep him
from raping me.” Lilith folded her arms as the council clicked
their tongues.

“
It’s true, I was
watching,” affirmed one.

“
And he was with three
other women during the night.”

There was a lot of tsk-tsking in the
group.

“
Hardly a lover
true.”

“
Hardly a man worth waiting
for.”

It seemed that every member turned
simultaneously to examine Mitch. He straightened behind Lilith, his
grip sure on her hand, and she welcomed his strength of
conviction.

“
He loves her.”

“
She loves him.”

“
He defends
her.”

“
He believes in magick,
now, too.” That was greeted with a murmur of pleasure.

Dritta smiled approvingly at Lilith and
Mitch, a wealth of affection in her eyes. “And he was willing to
defy us just to have her by his side. That is a love worthy of
indulgence.”

Approval swept through the ranks and Lilith
dared to feel encouraged.

“
I ask you only to bless
their match,” Dritta continued, her tone turning authoritative once
more. “And to forgo any retaliation for defying destiny, given the
extenuating circumstances in this case.”

She gave Sebastian a dark glance. “Even I
was wrong about that one.”

The council nodded, they closed their eyes.
Dritta closed her fist and Lilith held her breath. She gripped
Mitch’s hand tightly, knowing that whichever way the vote went,
there could not be another.

“
What’s happening?” he
asked in an undertone.

“
They’re voting. Their
thoughts will conjure a ball in Dritta’s hand that shows the
majority.” Lilith met Mitch’s concerned gaze. “White is the one we
want.”

“
Is there any appeal?” he
asked, ever the practical one.

Lilith shook her head. “The council stands
by their decisions, for all eternity.”

Mitch frowned, heaved a sigh and frowned. “I
don’t suppose you could come up with a little spell?”

“
Not here. We’ve already
done all the magick we can do.”

In that moment, Dritta turned, her clenched
fist held high. “It is done,” she declared, then faced Lilith and
Mitch. Lilith held her breath, Mitch’s fingers tightened over
hers.

When Dritta slowly opened her hand, the
result of the vote was cradled in her palm.

It was a white ball.

Lilith gasped with delight, then pivoted to
fling her arms around Mitch’s neck. “They said yes!” she cried and
Mitch swung her into his arms, laughing as he caught her against
him. He kissed Lilith on the end of the nose, then put her down and
inclined his head to both Dritta and the council.

“
I thank you all for this,”
he said simply. “But we still have one problem.” And Mitch
indicated the frozen Sebastian.

“
The spell won’t last
long,” murmured Dritta. “It fades even now.”

“
We’ll have to decide what
to do with him.”

“
Definitely a penance is
due.” The greybeard seemed to think everyone should pay for
something.

An elegant young witch slipped out of her
seat and crossed the floor, circling Sebastian as she gave him a
thorough appraisal. “But he has a certain roguish appeal,” she
conceded with a wicked smile. “I could make something of him.”

“
More toads,” murmured the
greybeard wearily.

The witch fired a glance across the hall so
hot that it flashed like a laser. It bore right into the arm of the
greybeard’s seat. He flinched as steam rose from the resulting
hole. The greybeard took a deep breath and seemed to grow in place,
but Dritta lifted her hands.

“
Enough of your bickering!
Save your thunderbolts for later.” The wizard slumped reluctantly,
muttering audibly to his neighbor that Dritta was not being
fair.

The witch tossed her hair and patted
Sebastian’s rump proprietarily. “I’ll take him.”

“
Not yet,” Dritta insisted.
“He must pay for his failure to keep his word before he becomes
your toy.” She pursed her lips. “He must learn about love, because
that is what he disrespected the most.”

Mitch cleared his throat and all gazes
turned to him. “If you don’t mind the input of a mortal, I have an
idea.”

Dritta’s eyes gleamed, and the council
members leaned forward. “Tell us!” they cried.

Mitch did, his idea so brilliant that Lilith
couldn’t stop her laughter. It was just too perfect – and passed
council approval with ease.

A vivid blue brew was bubbling and ready
when Dritta finally snapped her fingers under Sebastian’s nose. He
blinked, flexed his muscles, and relaxed his posture. He looked
around, then rolled his eyes and groaned.

“
Oh, no,” he muttered. “Not
again.”

“
Oh, yes,” Dritta declared
and gripped the back of his neck. The lovely young witch sidled up
beside Sebastian and gave him a thorough kiss. When she stepped
back, he tried to follow her, but Dritta’s grip prevented
that.

“
Hurry back,” the witch
purred, then lifted the blue potion.

Sebastian’s nose twitched. He seemed to
guess what she intended to do with the noxious-looking liquid. He
tried to retreat, but Dritta held him firmly in place. He grimaced
when he got a whiff of the brew, but the witch pinched his nose
shut.

She tipped the long vial, and Sebastian
struggled furiously.

He held his breath.

He closed his eyes.

He took a sip.

And he disappeared in a blinding flash of
orange light.