by Jean Lorrah
“In the Aventine Empire,” said Lenardo, “I would have to ask your permission, Wulfston, as Aradia’s nearest male kin. Here, however, Aradia is her own mistress.”
The black man nodded. “I’ve been expecting as much ever since fate dropped a man of appropriate age and endowments into Aradia’s path. In fact, I feared this very development at first. Aradia, are you certain?”
“I’m certain. Lenardo and I have agreed to marry, unite our lands, and rule jointly. We wanted you and Julia to be the first to know.”
Julia was wide-eyed. “But Father, you said-”
“It is not always possible for us to follow the customs of the Aventine Empire,” Lenardo said. “We must seek the right way for Readers to live here, child.”
“Julia,” said Aradia, “won’t you be my daughter, too?”
“Lenardo,” Wulfston added, “This makes us brothers. Julia, I’ll be your uncle. Can you stand so much new family all at once?”
Lenardo hoped that Aradia did not Read that Julia was uncertain about her new mother but delighted to be suddenly related to Wulfston. Searching carefully for the right words, the girl said, “I think it will be very nice. Are you going to have a real wedding, like Arkus and Josa?”
“Indeed,” said Lenardo, “and you shall witness for me.”
“When does the great event take place?” Wulfston asked.
“As soon as possible,” Lenardo said, but Aradia objected.
“We’ve just had a festival, and we must draw up all the agreements between us. Better to fight it out now than after other parties are involved.”
“But Aradia,” Lenardo began.
Wulfston let out a burst of laughter. “Oh, you are off to a fine start. You haven’t even agreed on a date?”
“Midwinter,” said Aradia. “It will be a marvelous excuse for a party at the dreariest time of year.”
“Surely we can make it sooner,” said Lenardo.
//We’re discussing only the formal ceremony,// Aradia told him without thinking.
Julia gasped, and Aradia’s shock of realization of what she’d done rang through all three Readers.
The only one unaffected, Wulfston, said, “Julia, when two people fall in love, it’s normal for them to want to marry as soon as possible.”
“But she-But they-”
Wulfston realized then that Julia had Read something to upset her. “What has happened? Lenardo? Aradia?”
Julia, remembering that nonReaders sometimes projected a thought at a Reader without saying it aloud, stared at Aradia. //Can you Read me?// she demanded.
There was a long moment’s suspense before Aradia admitted it. //Yes, Julia, I can.//
Wulfston looked from the girl to the woman and back, then to Lenardo. “Are they-”
Lenardo nodded. “Aradia has learned to Read.”
“By the gods,” Wulfston whispered, the Aventine oath of his childhood slipping out in his astonishment. Then he grinned. “I was right. I never dared to believe it, but I’ve suspected all along. It is all the same power-the difference is in how you are trained. Aradia, how did you learn?”
She blushed. “I don’t really know how I learned,” she replied finally. “One morning I just woke up Reading.”
“I can’t explain it, either,” Lenardo added.
“What about you?” Wulfston demanded. “Have you mastered Adept powers now?”
“Not in the slightest,” Lenardo replied. “Wulfston, I think Aradia inherited both abilities from her father.”
“Of course she did. But I ought to have both powers, too, even if Nerius was my father only by adoption.”
“Wulfston,” said Lenardo, “none of us, not Aradia in all her studies, not I in my years at the Academy, ever heard of one person exhibiting both Reading and Adept powers… except Nerius.”
“Nerius?” Wulfston frowned. “Nerius was no Reader.”
“He never consciously used the power. But when you brought me to Castle Nerius while he lay in a coma, he Read me. You remember after we healed him, when he first saw me, he claimed to have seen me in his nightmares?” Aradia mused, “We thought he simply put Lenardo’s face to his faceless fears, but apparently he had actually Read him. And feared him. He tried to kill him.”
“What?” asked Wulfston. “I don’t recall.”
“You were with me,” said Lenardo. “It was the day you brought me back to Castle Nerius after I had escaped. Nerius had one of his convulsive attacks. Most of his blows went wild, but two were definitely aimed at me. One killed my horse. Then, inside the castle, he flung a spear at me.”
“But it would have hit me,” Wulfston protested, “if you hadn’t knocked me out of the way. Nerius would never have harmed me, Lenardo. I was as much his son as Aradia was his daughter.”
“I know that. He didn’t know you were there, Wulfston. Adepts cannot be Read. Nerius was completely untrained as a Reader. Because I am a Reader, he could focus on me, but you and Aradia were unReadable, invisible to him.”
Wulfston pondered that. “The first day you were well, then, Nerius also tried to hurt you. Do you remember? He flung a shield across the room at you.”
Aradia said, her throat tight, “I think my father sacrificed his life to save mine. The night of the battle, he knocked me out of the way and took that last thunderbolt himself. How could he know, if he had not Read it? Lenardo, you could not relay as fast as the attacks were coming.”
He nodded. “Nerius would have done anything to protect you, Aradia. Wulfston-”
“I’m going to learn to Read, Lenardo,” the black man said firmly. “If you won’t teach me, Julia will, and I will teach her Adept powers.”
Both Lenardo and Aradia Read Julia’s eager response. The desire for power was as strong in the child as ever.
Remembering that Julia could Read her, Aradia held her response in control and then went blank to Reading, poised to use her Adept powers.
In moments, the atmosphere in the room had changed from happy family camaraderie to armed truce. Julia moved from her seat next to Lenardo to Wulfston’s side, saying, “I’m still learning, but I’ll teach you everything I know, Lord Wulfston.”
“And I will teach you all I can, child,” he replied, becoming as unReadable as Aradia, poised for attack.
Lenardo felt hollow. The new^s that was supposed to have united them all instead had brother faced off against sister, daughter against father.
“Wulfston,” said Lenardo, fully open to Reading so that Julia would know he spoke the truth, “of course I will teach you, or try to. What I said was not an excuse to refuse but an attempt to explain why I have been unable to learn Adept abilities. But you are free to teach Julia all she can learn. Aradia will teach her, too. We are sworn allies, not enemies.”
Wulfston looked to Aradia. “Sister, does Lenardo speak for you?”
“In this matter, yes. But he speaks truly. He has not mastered even the simplest Adept functions, and he has sincerely tried.”
“But we will try further,” Lenardo said encouragingly. His soothing was not entirely successful; although his guests maintained courtesy, they continued on guard, and Julia felt betrayed.
He tried to make up to the child that day by allowing her to touch, admitting, “You were right, Julia. There’s no harm in touching.”
But as he tucked her into bed that night, Julia hugged him for a moment and then said, “You’ve prepared a room for Lord Wulfston.”
“Yes. Josa’s father brought her furniture as a wedding present, remember? Arkus and Josa have lent me enough to furnish a room for our guest.”
“But no room for Aradia, and her pavilion’s gone. Father, can’t you see what she’s doing? My mother used men that way-”
“Hush! This is not at all the same thing, Julia. You mustn’t be jealous. Just because I love Aradia, that doesn’t mean I love you any less. I’m your father now, and I always will be. Soon Aradia will be your mother. You must learn to love her, Julia.”
“Of course she does. Now you go to sleep, and tomorrow you and Aradia spend some time together, get to know each other.”
There were tears in Julia’s eyes. “She’s chained your mind and stolen your powers. You don’t believe me now, but you’ll find out.”
Julia was not Reading. Lenardo knew that she feared Aradia might be eavesdropping, and let it go. He could understand the child’s jealousy and uncertainty. He would have to prove to her that she could still rely on him. But Aradia’s task would be even more difficult.
Neither Julia nor Aradia had yet been trained not to Read in her sleep, and Lenardo slept restlessly, worried that there might be a clash of nightmares. If there was, he didn’t know of it, and in the morning he had the bright idea of setting the two women in his life to teaching each other. That way they would be forced to get to know each other. If Julia spent time Reading with Aradia, she would have to see that there was no ill will in her.
Lenardo took Wulfston with him on his morning’s work, trying to explain how to Read. But there were no words for how it was done, and Wulfston protested that he was doing no more than describing what he Read. Nor was Wulfston any more successful than Aradia in teaching Lenardo Adept talent. After an hour’s frustration, they gave up and turned to using their individual talents in mutual cooperation.
Their friendship seemed to be back to normal by the time they returned to Lenardo’s house at midday, only to find Julia and Aradia in separate rooms.
“She hates me,” Julia informed Lenardo when he entered her room. She was sitting on the window ledge, poised as if to jump out into the courtyard.
“Of course Aradia does not hate you,” Lenardo said firmly. “It’s difficult for a grown woman to take lessons from a child. You must be grown-up enough to understand that.”
She swung around and let her legs dangle inside the room. “She’s an awful Reader. She can’t hardly Read anybody but you or me, and she didn’t want to start the lesson off with the Code of Honor. Why did you ever teach her to Read, Father?”
“I didn’t teach her, any more than I taught you. She has developed the ability, and now we must teach her to use it.”
“She doesn’t trust me. I don’t think she was really trying to teach me Adept tricks, neither.”
“Julia,” he said, talcing her hands and pulling her off the window ledge, “I don’t think she can teach you. Do you?”
“Yes. I think if she’d once learn to Read real good, she could show you and me both how she does it.”
“Well, perhaps,” he said, but he didn’t believe it.
One reason Aradia’s Reading powers were limited was that she had refused after two days of purifying diet to continue the Readers’ dietary restrictions. The problem came up again at the midday meal as Aradia and Wulfston helped themselves to huge servings of meat.
“Aradia,” said Lenardo, “can you not at least wait until the evening meal to clog your system?”
“No, I can’t, not if I am going to maintain my strength. Wulfston, you should have seen me when I tried Lenardo’s diet. By the end of the second day, I couldn’t lift a pebble.”
“You are exaggerating,” said Lenardo.
Wulfston paused with a piece of meat halfway to his mouth. He put it back on his plate and said, “I had forgotten. Let me try your Readers’ diet, Lenardo. And you should try ours. It did not harm your Reading powers when we fed you a strengthening diet at Castle Nerius.”
“It didn’t make me an Adept, either,” he pointed out. “Wulfston, you are willing to compromise. I wish you would persuade Aradia. She has both powers but resists my attempts to find a nutritional balance that would allow her to use both efficiently.”
“I wonder if that is possible,” Wulfston mused, but he left his meat and ate only what Lenardo did.
Wulfston’s willingness to cooperate had no effect on Aradia. “I need my strength,” she insisted, and beneath her words Lenardo sensed some gleeful hope she was holding secret. Had she found some further extension of her powers?
In the afternoon, they changed partners, with Wulfston and Julia attempting to teach each other while Lenardo and Aradia had their regular lesson. But Aradia was closed to Reading.
“Can’t Julia Read us?”
“If we are Reading, yes, except that she is busy doing something else. And she has passed the beginning exercises that you are doing, Aradia. They won’t interest her.”
“Can she Read us talking if we’re not Reading?”
“No. That is, she could not without deep concentration. In a year or so, she’ll find it easy enough. Aradia, you’re not going to start worrying that Julia is spying, are you?”
“Last night, while I was sleeping, I think she tried.”
“I don’t think so,” Lenardo assured her. “At most, you may have Read one of her dreams. Julia abides by the Readers’ Code of Honor.”
“You don’t,” Aradia pointed out. “Why should she? And how can I accept it? I cannot swear celibacy, not any longer.”
“That is only for the two highest ranks. I ask you to accept only the basic oath which governs all Readers, even the married ones. Misuse of your powers leads to weakened abilities, Aradia.”
“You, of all people, should know that that is mere superstition. You broke your Oath, and your powers have increased.”
“I did not misuse my powers,” he insisted. “I invaded no one’s privacy; I did not use something I Read to harm another or for personal gain. I kept all precepts that govern every Reader of every rank, and that is all I am asking you to do, Aradia. Accept the Code and the diet-”
“I can’t,” she said in irritation. “I cannot swear to something that will limit my powers to govern, to protect my people, to form the empire that will put an end to the constant power struggles between Lords Adept.”
He stared at her. “I thought you had given up that idea.”
“I had, until I discovered I could Read. Lenardo, how can you be so blind? I have both powers. I thought-” She shook her head, frowning denial of whatever she had begun to say. “No, I must do it, with you by my side.”
Still she was not Reading, but she responded to Lenardo’s stricken look. “Can’t you understand? I must do this for us, for our people, for our children, Lenardo. What kind of world do you want them to grow up in?”
“Not a world,” he replied, “in which power is used only to gain more power. Will you never stop, Aradia? If you form your empire, will your first move be to take the Aventine Empire, and be damned to attempts to make a treaty with them? And what next? Drive north? Take all the savage lands, one after another, war upon war just to prove that you have power? I’ll be no party to it, nor will Julia. Your Reading powers will disappear if you use them for personal gain. You’ll still be a Lady Adept, but which will you be? Someone like your father, building for the future and making a better life for your people? Or will you become another Drakonius, caring for nothing but conquest-murdering, destroying, until in desperation other Adepts form an alliance strong enough to destroy you.”
All color had drained from her face, and her eyes dilated so that they appeared black. But Lenardo turned on his heel and stalked out, heading for Wulfston’s room at the other end of the house. Behind him, the door slammed shut.
As he approached, laughter came from Wulfston’s room-the Adept’s and Julia’s. He paused. Wulfston opposed Aradia’s plan, and there was little chance now that she could get Julia’s cooperation. She would have to come around, and if she did, it would be best if her brother did not know that she had temporarily fallen back into power madness. It had to be temporary. Aradia was too intelligent to cling to a plan that would set her brother and her allies against her.
His fury fading, Lenardo was sorry for his angry tirade. That was no way to handle Aradia. It would only make her more stubborn. If he went back and apologized…
He paced the hallway, tryin
g to determine what to do.
Finally he decided to Read Aradia, just a superficial Reading with no intrusion.
She was lying on his bed, tears streaking her face, a sodden kerchief in her hand. But she was not crying now, and she was completely blocked to Reading.
He knocked at the door and then entered when she neither replied nor Read him.
“Have you thought up more accusations?” she asked, but the words lacked sharpness.
“No,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed, “I’ve thought up an apology. I know you don’t intend mindless conquest, or war. I should not have shouted at you. Will you forgive me?”
“Will you listen to me without jumping to conclusions?” she countered warily.
“Yes.”
“Then I forgive you. And you must forgive me, Lenardo.”
“For what? For being yourself? I don’t suppose you’ll ever lose the desire for power. But as long as you care about your people, you will not allow the desire for power to rule you. I should have remembered that, Aradia. With all your power, you would never deliberately hurt anyone.”
“Oh, Lenardo!”
She sat up and threw her arms about him, open to Reading-and just as had happened the first time, a whole flood of regretted incidents tumbled into her consciousness. This time, though, there were things he understood, and foremost was the hope she had fostered the past few days that she was carrying his child.
She wanted it very much, he saw, even though she feared what pregnancy might do to her powers. He let his own delight flow to her even as he Read that her flux had begun today, spoiling her hopes.
Before he could attempt to reassure her that they would try again, his pleasure was destroyed by a further flood of guilty memories: she had set out to seduce him as much as he had her! When he had made Julia his daughter, Aradia had feared that the girl would become his heir. But she was certain that he would prefer a child of his own flesh over Julia: Aradia’s child, raised and trained in her ways. And the child might inherit both their powers. Educated by Aradia, he would have the unquestionable right, by law of nature, to unite the world under his rule.
For one moment, Lenardo found incredibly funny-and therefore forgivable-the idea that each had set out to seduce the other for ulterior motives. He knew that he had not realized he loved Aradia until after that fateful afternoon, so how could he blame her for reacting the same way? As long as she loved him now, wanted his child out of love, for he could Read Aradia’s sincere wish that she had conceived the second time they made love, and not in that first betrayalBetrayal? He pursued the idea.
