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in Lenardo's room, he demanded, "Now, what scheme are you two plotting?"
"No scheme," Aradia replied. "Just happy plans."
Wulfston looked from one to the other and said, "I think I can guess."
"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
livehere,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
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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. Itisall 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."
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"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 hitme," 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 news 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?"
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"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."
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