even the strength of a Drakonius is powerless against it. I 'have a plan that will bring peace and prevent defections such as Hron's.'
'The empire of Adepts you mentioned earlier?' 'Yes. Wulfston is right that a government must have one head, but he is wrong that the solution is many governments. Moreover, our alliance is not binding on our heirs. Wulfston and I do not even have heirs, while you and Lilith are each training a child whose potential is yet unknown.'
'I didn't know Lilith had an apprentice.' 'Her son. He is eleven and probably the reason Lilith's power is not equal to mine. She chose to have a child young, while her powers were still growing. There is a theory that a woman may thus regain most of her ability once her child is born. It seems to have worked for her, but of course no one will ever know what strength she might have had.'
'And is her son an Adept?'
'Of course. He will be a Lord Adept, but it will be ten years yet before we can begin to predict his mature powers.' Aradia rose abruptly and went to the window, looking out into the courtyard. With her back to Lenardo, she said, 'I must think about an heir myself… and soon. Despite the danger to a woman, I want my own child, Lenardo.'
Even her emotions were beyond Reading. Every defense was up. Before Lenardo could say anything, she continued.
'My parents wanted their own child as heir. They risked their powers for me. My father recovered… but my mother-'
Lenardo knew the story. Aradia's mother had blamed the child for her diminished powers. 'It doesn't have to be that way,' he said quickly.
'But it might be! I hardly remember my mother, but because of her I would not dare emulate Lilith. If I ever decide to have a child, I want the father of that child with me to raise and protect and train it if I cannot. As my father was there for me.'
'Surely any man worth considering would want-' She turned, her eyes flashing. 'You think it is that easy? A fully empowered lord who would not simply take the child for himself and cast me aside if my powers were permanently damaged?' 'There is Wulfston-' 'Wulfston is my brother.'
'What I started to say is that Wulfston would protect you in such a situation. But he is not your brother by blood, Aradia.'
'He is in every other way,' she replied. 'If my father had taken Wulfston ward instead of son, raised us not to think of each other as brother and sister, we might have been drawn to each other, or we might not. Father wanted us to have a tie as strong as blood, not dependent on attraction after we reached adulthood, and not to be severed if and when we each chose other partners. An unbreakable alliance, Lenardo. Surely you can see that there is no changing our sense of family now. Wulfston and I could not possibly be lovers. We could never have a child.'
He had known that, and yet it was somehow reassuring to have it formally stated that Wulfston's protectiveness of Aradia, particularly when they had first met, had no other basis than brotherly devotion. But why should he care? He had no designs on Aradia; he even had a potential heir and thus no reason ever to risk his own powers. Yet if he were to risk them for anyone-He cut off the absurd train of thought. Aradia would seek an Adept to father her child one day, not a Reader. She was trusting to his friendship in revealing her concerns this way. He had no right to the urge he felt to take her in. his arms and promise her his care and protection.
She was watching him warily. Deliberately, he forced his tense muscles to relax and sat back in his chair. 'If we make the peace we seek, no Adept will have to have such fears of losing power, even temporarily. Already our alliance protects us.'
Aradia's violet eyes grew dark with… what? Surprise? Then she shook off the moment's vulnerability and accepted his change of mood. Coming to sit opposite him again, she said, 'We must have more than an alliance. Would Julia retain alliance with me if you were gone? Would Lilith's son honor his mother's commitments? Who protects Julia's rights if you die while she is too young to rule? If any one of us should die tomorrow, war could erupt over the disposition of our property.'
'I see,' said Lenardo, grimly noting Aradia's tenacity. 'That must happen often.'
'There is only one way to stop it: with a central government that takes precedence over the local lords and has the strength to maintain order. In that one thing, the Aventine Empire is right. They have no internal wars over who owns what.'
'No wars,' he agreed. 'Fights and occasionally murders; the empire is by no means crime-free. But no internal wars or cities destroyed as Zendi was. Disputes are settled in the courts.'
'Then you agree with me?'
'That a central government would benefit our people? Certainly. However, the kind of government-'
'A government of the strongest,' she said. 'A natural government with the strongest of all Adepts at its head. Wulfston and Lilith fear that their lands would be taken, but that is not my intention. They would rule their own way, as would you, Lenardo. All the Lords Adept would be part of my council.'
'Your council?'
'Only the most powerful of Adepts can make this plan work. You would all be bound to me, your armies and your powers at my disposal, but in return you would be protected, and your chosen heirs after you. For example, I have promised Lilith that if anything happened to her, I would take her son as my apprentice. But suppose she died suddenly? Before I got there, her neighbors could overrun her land and kill her son. But if I were Empress, no one would dare. I could hold the land of an heir until he was grown, and then, provided only that he proved a true Lord Adept-or Reader-he would receive it. All would answer to me. If a Lord Adept died without an heir, instead of his neighbors warring through his land, I would choose who was to rule it, peacefully.'
'Why you, Aradia?' Lenardo asked.
'Because I can do it. No, because you and I can do it together. We can set up a government that will long outlive us. We are fated to do it.' She took his right hand and traced the dragon's head on his forearm with one finger. 'You have taken the red dragon as your symbol.'
'That just happened. Aradia, surely you don't believe in that old saying-'
'Then you've heard it. You know we are meant to seize the chance, now, while I am the only Adept with a Reader to guide me.'
'You could start a war. Is that how you plan to achieve peace?'
Aradia shook her head. 'You've changed so much, but you still have much to learn. It is necessary to demonstrate power in order to rule peacefully. Even you have had to have people executed.'
'Three in all, and all in the first few days I was here.'
'You see? Demonstrate power on a few, and the rest come into line.'
'I won't help you, Aradia.'
'Not today,' she said, holding his hand in both of hers. 'I will be thirty years old next spring. The last and slowest growth of my powers will come in the next five years, and in that time I and my allies have our own lands to rebuild. Then, Lenardo, you will help me convince others, or perhaps Julia will.'
It was a patent threat. As she stood there, gently holding his hand, she could as easily kill him. She could stop his heart. If she didn't want a body to dispose of, she could burn him to ashes. Then she could take Julia and bend the child to her will. Was Wulfston a part of the plot? Had he taken Julia out of the way in case Aradia decided to kill Lenardo?
'Five years,' he said.
'Oh, perhaps not so long. You will learn, Lenardo. Every day you are more like one of us. Look how happy you have made your people, and think how much better, safer, their lives could be.'
When Aradia left him, Lenardo sat down on the window ledge, numb. I thought I knew her! I thought she truly expected me to make a treaty with the empire. What is she? Benevolent dictator, true, but is that not what I have become? Now she wants to rule the world, and who is to stop her? I can pretend to cooperate… until she tests me.
What was he to do? His first instinct was to ride after Wulfston and bring Julia home. Yet he had sensed sincerity in Wulfston's indignation when Aradia first brought up her plan. Julia might be safer with Wulfston than in Zendi just now.
He must convince Aradia that she was wrong. She believed that might made right. He had been in the savage lands long enough to know that there was no use trying to bridge that basic philosophical gap.
Aradia had thought out reasons for her plan that were sound enough. If she could rule peacefully as she
