Free The Warrior Returns - Anteros 04 by Allan Cole Page A

have to deal with on the way?"
    "I don't know," she replied. "It's been my general reading of late that these are troubled times with all sorts of strange disturbances in the Otherworlds."
    My eyebrows arced in surprise. "Oh, really? Strange in what way? Things in Orissa are quite normal, if there is such a state. I've had no trouble with my own sorcery, and none of our magical colleagues have mentioned any difficulties to me."
    Daciar chuckled. "Your powers are so great, Rali," she said, "that I sometimes forget how new you are to all this. Of course they wouldn't say anything to you. We're a suspicious and envious breed at heart and we're reluctant to admit our troubles to another mage.
    "As for your own difficulty-free experience—why, you are an Antero. And unless my poor wits have fled me, I'm certain the Anteros are the reason for the disturbances. All kinds of things have been frothing up from the spiritual vats since you and your brother came along. It's as if a thousand little cages were opened and mean little things have been scurrying out."
    "Like that demon who was slave to the pirate?" I asked.
    "I suspect so," Daciar said.
    "I'm sorry if we've been the cause of so much trouble," I said.
    "Don't be," Daciar replied. "There isn't a wizard in the whole civilized world who doesn't owe you and your brother a debt. We know so much more than we did only a few years ago. It's as if we all woke up one day and realized we'd been blind and brainless the day before. Like the light of understanding that strikes a child and lifts her into awareness."
    She said this so sincerely that I couldn't help but feel better.
    We chatted on about lesser things after that, exchanging the wine for a fine brandy that cleared the mind of cares and stoked mischief in the body.
    "So tell me, Rali ," Daciar said, a little of that mischief dancing in her eyes, "how goes the search for the love of your life? Have you found her at long last?"
    I grimaced. "I don't even have a decent chart for such things," I said. 'To tell the truth, I've just about given up. I've had nothing but foul luck in love since—" I broke off. I didn't want to trot the painful memory of Otara out. She'd been my lover of many years and I'd never gotten over her death.
    Daciar, who knew me so well, leaped gracefully over the uncomfortable silence as if it didn't exist.
    "Well, you must have had an adventurous affair of some sort," she said. "Come. Tell me all. I could use a sexy tale or two to take the chill from my dreams."
    I laughed. 'There's been one or two," I admitted.
    "Only one or two?" Daciar scoffed. "Where have you been hiding yourself, woman? Why, there must be any number of nubile young things who'd dare all to share your bed."
    She laughed. It was a delightful, bawdy sound. "I saw my assistant looking you over. liana would think herself blessed by the Goddess of Love if you gave her a tumble. As a matter of fact, why don't I ask her to join us for a drink? And see if you two strike the sparks I think you will?"
    "Please, don't," I said. "I admit I found her attractive. I even flirted a bit. No harm in that. But I'm in no frame of mind for any encumbrances just now. And unless I'm very wrong, young liana wouldn't be satisfied with anything but complete victory.
    "Besides," I continued, "she looks so ... energetic I couldn't bear all the wriggling about. I'd probably start laughing."
    I didn't feel like laughing inside. A sudden loneliness gripped me, but I smiled as broadly as I could so as not to spoil the cheer we'd both created.
    But Daciar wasn't fooled. She shook her head and said, quite low, "Poor Rali. All she wants is a little tenderness."
    I didn't answer. Instead I found myself looking at Daciar with new eyes. She was perhaps fifteen years my senior. She had fine skin, white and smooth as parchment. Her eyes were large, nearly violet in color, and they seemed to bum softly, like the coals of a carefully banked fire. She'd let her hair down and it