As he looked around, however, he caught a scent, something similar to Grace’s scent, yet different. He could smell a meadow now, yet this one seemed richer—as though it had blossomed with a thousand wildflowers all at once.
The trouble was, he liked the scent and the scent liked him so that he began to be aroused. He shook his head. He’d already had one difficult experience with the breh-hedden. He didn’t want another. But beyond that, what was the likelihood that he would be given a second chance at having something so profound as a breh?
He chose therefore to ignore the scent, believing it must be his imagination. As he looked through the window once more, he felt the presence of the Sixth ascender before he saw him.
When the old man materialized, he inclined his head to Casimir. “How do you do? I’m James of Sixth Earth. I’ve been the gatekeeper here for a few millennia.”
Casimir extended his hand, and James shook it.
He’d heard of James. Grace had told him the stories of Alison, who had met him during her rite of ascension. Apparently, this was the same ascender who had persuaded Leto to serve as a spy for the sixth dimension by appearing to defect to Greaves’s camp.
Casimir had several questions, most having to do with the portal to Third, so he launched in. “Were you the one who sealed off the third dimension from all the others?”
James shook his head. “No, that was Luchianne’s call. A bit before my time.” Luchianne was the first vampire ever and had ascended to Second Earth eleven thousand years ago. “When she saw the danger Third Earth presented to the rest of the dimensions, she made sure the portal was sealed.”
“Grace told me that Alison was destined to open the portal,” Casimir said. “Has the danger that Third Earth previously posed to the dimensions diminished?”
“No, the danger remains as grave as ever. However, what will be needed to secure Second Earth from the difficulties of Third is to have the portal fully opened. Your former friend Greaves has been slipping Third Earth death vampires through a breach in the portal that we’ve been unable to locate. If we open the portal, we can seal the breach and thereby ensure that no more of these extremely powerful death vampires can pass through the Trough from this point forward.”
Casimir frowned. “But if Luchianne closed the portal, why doesn’t she open it back up to set it straight?”
“Luchianne is a stickler for the niceties. She wants a Second ascender to open the portal, which sets a precedent that only Second Earth can open or shut the portal. She doesn’t want Upper ascenders to have command over any of the lower dimensional Troughs.”
Casimir thought that made sense. Autonomy from dimension to dimension had always been the law. “When I was in Beatrice’s redemption pool, I saw that I was to become a Guardian of Ascension—but who am I guarding?”
At that, James smiled. “Haven’t you guessed?”
“I haven’t got a clue.”
The smile broadened to a grin. “Leto, of course.”
Casimir’s jaw unhinged and his mouth fell open. “Holy fuck.” How the hell did he end up as a guardian to a man whose woman he’d stolen? He sighed. Sometimes Fate had a twisted sense of humor.
“All right, so I’m Leto’s guardian. How will this work? Am I supposed to rent a house on Second or something?”
“You can use this space if you like. Nothing can touch you here, although I should warn you that there is a female, a Third ascender who has worked for me for the past century, making sure the gate isn’t tampered with. She’ll show up from time to time. She serves as a Militia Warrior here on Third, so she’s very busy helping to keep the peace.”
Casimir thought about the scent he’d smelled earlier. Maybe it was hers. If so, she wore a very strong perfume.
“As for how you manage your guardian job, I presume you have a voyeur window, right?”
“Of course.” What Fourth ascender didn’t? “Are you saying you expect me to spy on Leto?”
“Yes, to a degree. I can see that you’re a changed man, so I hope you’ll show some good sense where both Leto and Grace are concerned. And by good sense, I mean discretion.”
Casimir smiled, though his lips tugged up a little higher on one side of his mouth than the other. In earlier times, he would have kept the window open constantly and savored every naked ass, male or female, he could find, the more action the better.
But now he knew what remorse felt like, and he knew that Grace would be appalled if she even suspected he’d been tagging after her with a voyeur window hoping to catch a glimpse of her locked in a joining with Leto. He couldn’t help repress a sigh. “A few months ago, this would have been a dream assignment.”