[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
became disillusioned with me and was easy prey for Drakonius."
"Who wasted no time making it expedient for Galen to work for him," said
Aradia. She sat on the edge of the worktable, facing Lenardo. "You have
learned quickly, now that you are over the blindness your empire instilled in
you. You will be a great leader, Lenardo."
"I was not meant to rule. With every day that passes, I wonder what mistakes
I have made."
"You think I do not? Every conscientious ruler worries, but he acts. I did
not know whether you could act, Lenardo. That's why I gave you Zendi. You have
proved yourself here."
"Insulated. Untested."
"When the test comes, it will be against all of us, and we have passed the
test against Drakonius. It will be a long time before anyone will dare attack
us. But if we do nothing for long enough, that attack will come." Again her
fingers traced the brand on his arm. "Lenardo, I don't want to leave you."
Page 74
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"I don't want you to leave."
"Then "
"No. Don't say it. Come here." He drew her onto his lap, where she leaned
against him, her head on his shoulder. "Aradia, I don't know protocol among
Lords Adept, so I've been making up my own rules."
"You have the right to make the rules in your own land."
"Then in my land, the right and honorable thing for me to do, because I love
you and I want you with me always, is to ask you to marry me. I realize that
that will present difficulties. We each have a land to rule, and your people
might well object to your forming a permanent alliance with a Reader, and one
who has been on this side of the pale less than half a year. Still, I want you
to know what I would do if it were possible."
She was glowing with serene happiness. "I'm glad you said it first," she
murmured. "We'll combine our lands and rule jointly. We have the right to set
precedents. Lenardo, I was willing to sacrifice some of my powers for you, as
my parents did when they married. After that first time, my strength and
accuracy were greatly diminished."
"So were mine," said Lenardo. "But later "
"Yes," Aradia whispered fiercely, "later. There is something fated between
you and me, foretold in ancient legend. When I woke today, after you had gone,
I tested my powers. I removed one of the cobbles from the forum floor and
lifted it. I split it, Lenardo, and then I crumbled part of it to powder, and
I still felt so strong that I broke off a small piece and disintegrated it."-
He recalled what she had said about disintegrating her father's tumor. "How
is it you are not exhausted?"
"I don't know. I have never had such strength. And you?"
"I can Read farther and 'more easily than ever before. I was having
difficulty reaching Julia at Wulfston's castle, and then this morning I
discovered that without effort I could Read all the way to the sea, I haven't
yet dared to try leaving my body. I felt as if I could Read the whole world."
"Leaving your body? What do you mean?"
"The highest, most difficult form of Reading is to dissociate one's& self&
from one's body. I did it the day I first Read Drakonius's stronghold for you.
You thought I had fainted, remember?''
She studied his face, and he could feel her trying to Read him. "No, I don't
think you're lying," she said. "I'm sure you believe that some sort of
separate spirit leaves your body. But if that were possible, legends like that
of the ghost-king would be fact, not fairy tale."
Lenardo considered. "Was this ghost-king one of your ancestors, Aradia?"
"I'm not joking."
"Neither am I. Someone like you, both Adept and Reader "
"No!" She wrenched out of his embrace, shoving hard against his chest as she
jumped to her feet. "No. There cannot be any life separate from the body. The
Page 75
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
legend of the ghost-king is meant to warn of the folly of such nonsense."
Reading how upset Aradia was, Lenardo recalled what he knew of savage
beliefs. No deities, no afterlife. "Life is the greatest value," Aradia had
once told him. She believed that there was nothing more than her physical
life; he remembered that the subject was particularly painful to her because
her mother had taken her own life, the worst thing a savage could do. He
decided that it was best to change the subject.
"You will understand more as your abilities increase. There's nothing to
fear, and we have joyful plans to make."
"Indeed we have. Lenardo, let's not tell anyone yet. I want Wulfston to know
first."
"And Julia."
"Julia," Aradia said. "Oh, my. Do you think she'll accept your marriage?"
"You do see the point precisely. As long as she is assured that she will not
be losing me but gaining you, I have no fear that she will object. However,
there is the matter of explaining to a literal-minded child my seeming
hypocrisy. I told her that Readers never marry."
"In the Aventine Empire," said Aradia. "And most Readersaremarried off, if I
understand the system, to produce new Readers. What seems wrong, though, is
that only second-rate Readers reproduce; where do Readers like you come from?"
"My parents were, as you put it, second-rate Readers. I don't remember them
very well."
"Has there never been an instance of two Master Readers having a child?"
"Male and female Readers are rigorously segregated."
"But you Read each other."
"Yes."
She put her hand along the side of his face. //I fell in love with you before
I could Read you, but now there is so much more. Lenardo, how can man and
woman touch minds like this and not desire to join bodies?//
//They do. That is why the marriages arranged for those who do not reach the
top ranks of Readers are generally successful. But for those who remain in the
Academies, the mental union with other Readers far more than suffices for
physical touch. Aradia, you need not touch me now.//
//Iwantto touch you!// Her fingers slid into his hair, and she bent to kiss
his mouth possessively. Fire stirred in his veins, and she laughed. //You see?
You excite me, Lenardo, and now it will be even more exciting to touch, to
make love //
Passion threatened to overwhelm his control, but he forced common sense to
prevail. "I love you, Aradia," he said aloud, "but I don't think we want to
announce our intentions to the world by having Helmuth or Arkus walk in on us
like this."
"Very well, then," she said wistfully. "Later."
Page 76
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
But later, although she moved into Lenardo's room and into his bed, Aradia
did not want to make love. Now that she was open to Reading, Lenardo knew that
it was not teasing, that she wanted him but felt compelled to wait. He could
not find the reason without invading her privacy, but he sensed that she was
waiting for something she both feared and longed for.
But when he tried to ask her about it, she avoided the subject, again
demanding that he try to exercise Adept power. ' 'Fire talent is the most
common and the easiest of all even for the Lord Adept," she told him. But
although he tried to 'cooperate and then at her insistence tried to make the
silken hangings move, all he achieved was a tension headache. He wondered idly
if that was what she had intended."
Three days later, Julia arrived home with Wulfston. When Lenardo lifted his
daughter down from her horse, he did not resist her embrace but squeezed her
in return, enjoying her happy surprise at his leniency. He could feel her
trying to Read him, knowing that something important had happened while she
was away.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plalternate.pev.pl
|
