Bastian Read Online Free PDF

weakness. “How far along is Lord Satyr in the Forum? He should have found the temple by now.”
    Michaela didn’t let her off so easily. “Seeking pleasure is not a sin, Via.” A strained silence passed, and she feared Michaela would press her to wallow in what they’d shared.
    â€œYou haven’t even shown him where the temple is yet, have you?” Silvia accused. Provoking Michaela seemed the best way to shatter any intimacy. “I read the letter on his desk. He’s still searching for it.”
    Unperturbed, Michaela stretched luxuriously, catlike. “I won’t steal from him. No more than I would from you. And don’t you wonder why Pontifex wants to recover our firestones so badly? He has gone to considerable trouble to obtain the six he has. I’m not sure he should have them, much less the rest.”
    Silvia pounced on this new topic, relieved when she let the matter of their lovemaking go. “I have no intention of giving anything to him. But if I can find them, I can use them to trick him into freeing the others. He believes he can harness our stones’ power. Use them to do—”
    â€œThe work of a madman.”
    â€œThat goes without saying. But exactly what he plans for them—that’s the mystery I must solve. For if he can use them, so can we. But first, we have to recover them. To find out what powers they have and how they work.” Silvia rose from the bed.
    Michaela reached out to her. “Wait. What are you going to do?”
    â€œWhat you would not. Steal from Lord Satyr.”
    â€œThere’s nothing to steal, Via. Not yet. The remaining six stones still lie buried. I kept him from finding them.”
    Silvia nodded, having guessed as much. On the night the temple had been destroyed, each Vestal had been in charge of the safekeeping of her stone. In the chaos, they’d all been lost—most in the Forum. But some had made their way into the world and were believed to be in the hands of various collectors, who had no idea what they possessed. And six had made their way into Pontifex’s hands.
    Going to the fire to warm herself prior to facing the elements again, she said, “Damn, Michaela. This won’t be easy to explain to Pontifex. I’ll have to move quickly to steer your lover toward the temple in order to have something to show for our time here.”
    When Michaela looked ready to protest, Silvia added, “Satyr won’t guess my manipulations. And you needn’t be involved. I’ll gain employment at the dig in order to legitimately observe his progress there.” She forced a teasing smile. “That will also afford me a chance to weigh Lord Bastian’s worth, and decide if he’s indeed good enough for you.”
    â€œHe is.” Michaela sent her an inscrutable glance. “When you go to him for employment, will you go as yourself?”
    â€œIn my own form? Don’t be ridiculous. I have no wish to be made mortal.”
    â€œIt’s not that bad.”
    â€œI have a job to do, Kayla. And I can’t do it in my own body. Not when I can only use it for twenty-four hours at a stretch without rendering myself forever mortal. I can’t let him know what we are. What we want. It would be too dangerous.”
    Michaela rolled to lie on her belly, chin resting on both fists. Her bare legs stretched out behind her, long and shapely in a tangle of sheets. The artful display was a Companion’s trick, meant to lower the defenses in a negotiation. “Well, at least say you’ll try to locate a form that’s more appealing than the one you assumed last time we were in Rome, will you?”
    Silvia grinned. “You didn’t like me in the guise of a Cloaca sewer worker?”
    By way of a reply, Michaela pinched her nose between two fingers as if she’d smelled something awful.
    Laughing quietly, Silvia turned to go.
    Michaela leaped from the bed in a