Bastian by Elizabeth Amber Read Free Book Online Page B

goings-on that seemed to follow him and his family. And now he’d only made them more suspicious.
    Sevin lounged a dozen feet away, having watched everything from his post against a pillar that had once been part of Caesar’s temple.
    â€œWhere did all this fog come from?” Bastian asked blankly. He shuddered then, hard. The winter breeze came at him like icy fingers, brushing chills in their wake. “Gods, it’s freezing.”
    â€œYour coat, brother,” said Sevin. He tossed it to Bastian, who threw it on without questioning how he came to have it with him.
    His assistant Ilari was bursting with questions. “Signor? What have you discovered?”
    â€œIt appears that some damage control is in order,” Bastian told Sevin under his breath, subtly angling his chin to indicate Ilari and the onlookers.
    Sevin nodded. “Your behavior tonight isn’t helping in the battle to keep our kind from human detection,” he observed.
    â€œMy apologies. It’s difficult to be circumspect when one is interacting with an apparition.”
    â€œUnderstood.”
    â€œShall we?”
    They spent the next few minutes bespelling the workforce into forgetfulness. But that in itself would make them suspicious, for later some would wonder about the time they’d lost here tonight. As the crowd dispersed, Bastian called out to his now-confused foreman, announcing, “We dig here. Starting tomorrow.”
    â€œWhat is here?” Ilari called after him in surprise.
    Beyond him on the overlook at the edge of the Forum, Bastian’s eyes met those of a woman. One who’d been his consort for the past three months: Michaela. He knew her eyes were violet only because she’d told him. Knew her hair was a lustrous blue-black and her lips unusually red, only because others had informed him of this.
    His desire to sink himself between a woman’s thighs had compounded exponentially over the last fifteen minutes. The color he’d seen in the girl had affected him again, as it had this morning. The episodes were related somehow, but his mind would not be up to the task of sorting out the mystery over the coming hours. This was a special night for all of his kindred.
    It had just gone dusk. As the moon slowly fattened overhead, his carnal need would dramatically escalate. Like his brothers, he would change physically and fornicate the ensuing night away. Would bury himself in Michaela’s welcome, again and again, exhausting himself only with the coming of dawn. But unlike his brothers, he would tread all too dangerously close to the line that separated beast from man.
    Fortunately, Michaela was a Companion, and therefore a suitable partner for him on these occasions. She would be unoffended by his lecherous appetites and peculiarities on this night. And she was accepting of the fact that he could not love her. With single-minded purpose, he turned in her direction.
    â€œWait!” Ilari pressed again. “Tomorrow—what will we dig for?”
    â€œThe House of the Vestals,” Bastian called as he struck out across the grounds.
    â€œWhere are you going now, damn you?” Sevin demanded, catching up to him.
    â€œMoonful, brother,” Bastian told him, slinging a companionable arm over his shoulder. “It’s time to heed our Calling, as you’re so fond of reminding me. And I see Michaela there on the ridge. Let’s be off.”
    As they made their way from the Forum, a frenzy of activity commenced behind them. Ilari shouted orders to workmen. Surveyors excitedly unrolled maps by lamplight. All of them making plans. Discussing approaches to the work ahead. They would toil far into the night.
    At dawn, Ilari would take the news of Bastian’s expectations of a new discovery to Minister Tuchi—the man who’d sent him to spy and to whom he surreptitiously reported. He, in turn, would spread it to the entire Parliament.
    All based on