Rose was surprised that heaven was a jail cell.  Or maybe it was hell?  She had a mage collar around her neck. Trying to access her magic, was impossible.  The metal’s energy negated any type of spell power.  Her back throbbed and she was dressed in a white nightgown that covered her from the top of the collar to her ankles.  Reaching around, she felt bandages on her back, but her wound had healed.

“She’s awake, Sheriff,” a guard called.

Rose hadn’t seen him sitting outside her cell.  She was in a stone room with iron bars as one wall.  The door was locked from the outside.  Given the right equipment, she was sure that she’d be able to pick it.

“Leave us,” Bret said, walking into her view.

The guard gave them privacy.

She noticed the chains of rank around his neck.  “So, you became a lawman after all.”

He gave her a curt nod.  “Harbortown offered me the job after I captured The Seeker.”

“Why aren’t I dead,” she asked.  “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I made one of the mages heal you.”

“They would have been too weak after being in the pit.”

“I was persuasive.” Bret bared his teeth at her.

She could believe it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

Rose laid her forehead against the bars.  “You didn’t want to become an outlaw and I didn’t want to go to jail.”

She flinched back when he punched the wall. “How’s your hand?”

Bret shook it.  “Fine.  I didn’t break anything.”

“I meant the cut. Or did you make the mage fix that too.”

He nodded.

“Sorry.”  Rose sat back down on the cot.

“Are you?”

“I was going to ditch The Seeker gear and come back and heal you.”

“And get caught with the rest of the mages?”

She shrugged.  “It wouldn’t be right.  If they aren’t free.  I can’t be free.”

“Is that why you became The Seeker?”

Rose nodded.  “No one else was going to help them.”

“Why you?”

“Why not me?”

Bret sighed and paced.  “They’re going to execute you.”

“Are you going to let them do that?”

“I’m the law,” he said.

“And I’m an outlaw.”  She smiled sadly and clasped her hands.

“Aren’t you going to try and talk your way out of this?”

“I killed people.  I’d do it again.  I won’t stop until the mages are equal citizens.  You’re right to kill me, Bret.  It’s the only way to get me to stop.”

He grabbed the bars.  “You’re just one person.”

“Someone else will come.  Maybe not tomorrow or next year.  But there will be another Seeker.”

“What are you seeking?”

“Justice,” she said.  “Freedom.”

“And you found a jail cell and a hangman’s noose,” he said.  “Are you satisfied?”

She cocked her head at him.  “Did they hang the mages that saved this town from the elementals?”

Bret’s lips compressed into a thin line.  “No.  The mages from Solace granted them citizenship.  They cannot be touched.”

Hope fluttered in her belly. “What about me?”

“No sanctuary for the criminal known as The Seeker.”  He rested his forehead on the bars.  “You were so close to freedom.”

Rose knew he wouldn’t let her go, so she didn’t ask.  If he wasn’t ready to run away with her before he knew she was The Seeker and spend the rest of his life hiding and pretending, he wouldn’t even consider it now.  He had found the legitimacy he had been looking for.  No longer a bounty hunter, Bret Wallace was a Sheriff.

“Try to spare my family the worst of it,” she asked.  “Tell them I...” she stumbled over the word. “love them.”

Bret walked away from her without a word.

***

ROSE STOOD ON THE GALLOWS and looked out into the crowd.  Jeb was the only familiar face she saw.  She wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad. She would have liked to have kissed Bret goodbye.  But he never came back to her cell.  She would have liked him to know that she still loved him.  It would have been nice to know that he still loved her too.  If he still did.

“Any last words, Seeker?”  The masked executioner said.

Her entire body went still.  She knew that voice. “Robert?” she whispered.

“Brace yourself,” he whispered back.

“I am prepared to die so that others may know the plight of our mages will not be tolerated.”  Rose yelled, trying to keep a straight face.

The crowd jeered and booed, but there were also some protesting noises.  She saw the shimmering contingent from Solace looking on from a balcony of one of the nicer inns. Her brother put the noose over her head and while doing so, unlocked the mage collar.  When the platform under her feet opened up, the sudden jerk would tumble the collar loose. She had seconds to cast a spell to dissolve the rope.

“I condemn you, Seeker, to the netherworld,” Robert boomed out and kicked the lever to release the trap door.

Rose tensed as her body dropped.  The noose tightened and the collar fell to the platform with a clank.  Choking, she cast a small flame while her legs kicked as she dangled from her neck. The fire burned through the rope and she also fell to the platform.  The crowd screamed as a jet-black horse thundered across the town square and leapt up to the podium.

Coughing, with a hand to her throat, Rose looked up and saw a large masked man riding Atalanta.  Reaching down, he hauled her up and over his lap.  Rose squawked and tried to sit up, but the man slapped a hand on her bottom, hard.

“The Seeker rides again,” Bret boomed out.  He drew back on the reins so Atalanta reared up on two legs. Rose almost slid out of the saddle.

“You idiot,” she gasped.

He swatted her behind again. “Steady there.”

“You hit me one more time...” Rose threatened.

Bret took off at a fast gallop, which would have sent her puking all over the side of her horse at this angle.  Except she hadn’t eaten her last meal that they had provided for her.

“Let me up,” she gritted out.

“Not until we’re clear.”

Rose couldn’t even tell which way they were headed.  All she knew, it was damned uncomfortable.  “I can make us invisible,” she said.

“Save your spell power.  We might need it.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“We’re going somewhere safe.”

“There aren’t any safe places for mages,” Rose said bitterly.

“There will be,” Bret said.  “I’m a Sheriff.  Jeb is a coven master.  The Seeker will ride again.  We’ll make sure of it.”

They rode on for a few more miles without pursuit and after an hour or so, Bret stopped by a lake to let Atalanta drink and rest.  Rose slid off the horse and held her stomach.  “Jerk,” she said and punched him when he got close enough.  “You’ve risked everything. I could have gotten away by myself.”

Bret backed her towards a tree, stripping off his sword belt and tossing it on the ground.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Rose said, even as thrills coursed through her body.

He took the neckline of her nightgown and yanked it open.

“What am I supposed to ride around naked?” she asked, her back hitting the tree.

“I’ve got a set of clothes for you,” Bret said, grasping her breasts into his greedy hands.

“Mad at you,” she said, standing up on her tip toes when he sucked hard on her nipple.  He ravaged her breasts as they stood there in the middle of the clearing.  Unbuttoning his pants, she reached inside to grasp him.

“Um,” he moaned around her breasts as she freed his cock. “Mad at you too,” he mumbled before pushing her breasts together and tonguing over both her nipples.

Shimmying out of her nightgown, Rose kicked it free. “Oh, shut up and fuck me already, Bret.” Using the tree for balance, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

He steadied her hips and plunged inside her.  Gritting her teeth at his thickness, Rose leaned back against the tree as he sank to the hilt.

“All right?” he lifted up his head to ask.

She closed her eyes and nodded.  More than all right.

He pulled her to him and sank to his knees and then onto his back.  That was so good, her eyes rolled back into her head.  Bret plucked at her nipples.  Bracing her hands on his leather jerkin, she stared into his eyes.  “You ruined your life coming after me.” She rode him hard, as if to punish him.  He met her stroke for stroke, his big hands leaving her breasts to clutch at her ass.

“How...So?” he grunted.

Her knees were getting skinned at the force she was rubbing against him with, but the burn eased into pleasure.

Rose keened as her orgasm started low in her belly and tingled along her nerve endings.  She clamped down on him hard, relishing in his harsh cry and rocked along to another mini eruption.

“Fuck,” Bret groaned, gripping her hips as he came inside her.

Collapsing on his chest, she rolled to her side.  He followed her, holding her close.

“You’re a lawman. You can’t be The Seeker. And now everyone knows who I am.  I can’t be The Seeker either.”

Brett stroked her hair and it was so calming, she wanted to purr. If she hadn't been so angry at him, she would have.  He reached into a pocket in his shirt and pulled out a ring.

“Marry me,” he said.

“That’s a magic ring,” she said, lifting her head.  “Where did you get that?”

“I called in a few favors.  Rosalind Marjolaine de Demerest will you be my bride?”

“Yes, you idiot,” she said.

As he slipped the ring on her finger, she felt the illusion wash over her like warm blanket.  Looking at her hand, she noticed the tone of her skin changed.  She got up and walked naked to the river and cast a reflecting spell on the water’s surface.  The woman in the mirror spell blinked back at her.  Rose now had straight, red hair instead of her blonde curls and her eyes flashed with green fire instead of her normal brown.  Her olive toned skin was now a pale white. The only thing familiar was the shape of her body.

Bret appeared over her shoulder in the reflection.  He had shed his clothes when he walked over.  “I always wanted to fuck a red head,” he said, sliding inside her from behind.

The woman’s face softened in ecstasy and Rose bit her lip at the sight.  It was her, but no one would recognize her. Reaching down, Rose circled her clit as Bret picked up his pace.

“It’s not going to work,” she panted.

“It’ll work,” he grunted, and bit her shoulder.

Rose watched the woman’s breasts—no, her breasts—bounce in the mirror spell.  The detail was incredible, down to the pink aureoles and shock of red hair between her legs.  She rubbed faster and delighted to see Bret moan and close his eyes in pleasure.

“Mine,” he muttered.

“Yes,” she sighed, raising her hips up to take him deep.  “All yours.”

They made love all afternoon before reluctantly getting dressed and riding back to town.  The magistrate met them as they entered Harbortown. Rose tightened her grip around Bret’s waist with one hand, while the other reached for her dagger.

“Sheriff Wallace, The Seeker has escaped.”

Bret shook his head.  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to stop it, but I couldn’t be late for my own wedding.  Magistrate Evans, may I introduce you to my beautiful wife...Prudence.”

Prudence?

“Hello,” Rose said, trying to sound demure, all the while ready to attack if the magistrate recognized her.

But he merely took off his hat and gave a small bow.  “Well, you’ll need to track The Seeker, right away.”

“Of course, right after my honeymoon.”  Bret clicked his tongue and Atalanta trotted past the magistrate. 

The delegation from Solace, however, eyed her with knowing eyes.  But Rose figured they’d keep her secret.  For a price.

––––––––

The End