Lenardo went for clean clothes and then got the key to the bathhouse from the attendant, who took one look at him and made no query as to why he wanted it. The only reason the bathhouse was locked at night was Lenardo's fear that children might sneak in and drown. Unlike the small bathhouse at the Academy, this one had a frigidar-ium pool big enough to swim in.
There were a number of changing rooms, but Aradia followed Lenardo into one near the hot bath. Having done plenty of sweating in his work today, he planned simply to scrub off the grime and then take a brief swim.
When Aradia hung her clean clothes on the peg beside his, he said, 'Uh… do you want to bathe first, Aradia? I'll go and-'
'There are no attendants, Lenardo. We'll have to attend each other.' 'Aradia, surely-'
'Lenardo, when you can Read right through clothing, how can nudity mean anything to you? How can you be so modest?'
'After yesterday, how can you ask such a thing?' he asked bitterly, immediately regretting having brought up the subject.
He had turned away from her. Aradia circled him until they were face to face. 'You know I wanted you, or I could have stopped you. It shouldn't have happened that way, Lenardo, but I wanted it to happen. And you promised you wouldn't hurt me again. I believe you.'
I'll never touch you again! he thought, but she was the one touching him, her hand on his arm, on the dragon's-head brand. It seemed to leap into flame.
Aradia was looking up at him expectantly. 'Come on,' she said. 'I've scrubbed your back before. Now it's your turn to scrub mine.'
How could she be so casual? Perhaps because she was too tired to feel desire, she thought that he was. He couldn't seem to convince anyone that Reading took no energy, and today he had done only half the physical labor he was capable of.
Although the furnace had been banked for the night, the water in the caldarium was still quite warm. Totally un-selfconscious, Aradia plunged into the water, emerged, and began lathering her body with the soap that was so plentiful in the savage lands. Lenardo remained soaking, stretching his muscles, until Aradia said, 'You promised to scrub my back.'
He hadn't, but he couldn't decide whether it would be more embarrassing to argue with her or do as she asked. Then he realized that she was making a gesture of trust. Perhaps she knew that he needed to prove to himself that he could touch her without erupting into mindless lust.
He climbed out of the pool and lathered her back and shoulders, being very careful to remain as detached as when, as a young teacher, he had sometimes had to scrub the smallest boys at the Academy, for budding Readers showed the same affinity for mud as any other little boys.
When he did not go beyond the slender contours of her back, Aradia relaxed against his hands. 'Rub harder. Oh, that feels good.''
He kneaded her shoulders, Reading the tenseness of the muscles give way. She seemed to be bouncing back from her exhaustion; perhaps a meal and a night's sleepShe turned in his arms and said, 'My turn,' starting to lather soap onto Lenardo's chest.
'That's not my back.'
'Oh, but you are dirty all over,' she replied, reaching up to work the soap through his hair and beard. 'I know how to do it. I've bathed you before-remember?'
'At the time, I couldn't stop you.'
'Do you want to stop me now?' Her wide eyes invited candor.
'No,' he replied, 'and that is why I must.'
'Lenardo-' there was a terrible uncertainty in her voice, '-do you really not want me?'
Her utter vulnerability struck through him like a sword of ice. 'Of course I want you,' he said harshly, 'but look what I've done to you already.'
The hurt in the depths of her eyes abated slightly. 'I think,' she whispered, and he Read how immensely difficult it was for her to say it, 'if we tried, we could make it worth… anything.'
What had he done to her? What was she doing to him that her foolish words seemed to make perfect sense, that he suddenly didn't care if he woke up tomorrow a nonReader if he could have Aradia? What did it matter what they did together, as long as it was together? Hadn't he just spent one of the happiest days of his life cleaning out sewers?
'Aradia,' he said, bemused at the beauty of her name. He knew the words but had never dreamed they might apply to him. 'I love you.'
Her violet eyes lit with joy, and then her arms went around his neck as he felt dread sorrow give way to happiness. He kissed her then, gently, tenderly, tensed against the beast that had been roused yesterday. But no animal lust stirred in him, although desire sang sweetly in his blood as their soap-slick bodies slid easily against each other. His beard was full of soap, and in a moment they both had a mouthful of lather and drew apart, giggling like children.
Plunging into the warm pool, they rinsed each other, hands exploring bodies, Lenardo marveling at his own exuberance, untouched by any hint of violence. When they emerged and toweled off, he kissed Aradia again, easily quelling his impatience when he Read that she was glowing in response to his touch but nowhere near ready for completion of the act.
He knew that sex ought to be as pleasant and satisfying for a woman as for a man. What he didn't know was how to make it that way. Reading, though, even if he could not reach Aradia's thoughts, made it possible to discover what pleased her. He sensed fear beneath her desire and knew that he would have to gain her trust. He dared not pause to question by what miracle the desire remained.
They needed a comfortable couch; the marble floor was cold and uninviting. His practical nature suggested that they dress and return to Aradia's pavilion, but some new instinct told him that it would be devastating to break their mood that way.
There were massage tables in a nearby room, too high and narrow for lovemaking but covered with soft mats. He carried Aradia in there and set her down on one of the tables.
She laughed. 'We'll fall off!'
'Just stay there, safe from the dragons, my lady, while I prepare a bower.'
'I don't want to be safe from all the dragons,' she said as Lenardo stripped the clean coverings off the other tables laid ready for morning, put the mats on the floor, and covered them with the clean cloth. As he did so, he became aware that Aradia was watching his body as he moved, the play of his muscles as he bent and stretched. His faint embarrassment was overshadowed by his delight that she found pleasure in the sight of him.
When he had finished, he turned and looked at Aradia, letting himself for the first time in his life be completely immersed in the sight of a beautiful woman. Her skin was ivory, marbled with faintest shadows of blue veins where her blood flowed near the surface. Her breasts were small and round, lifted pertly, inviting his caress. Only because her waist was tiny did her hips curve in womanly fashion; she was slender as a boy, her legs molded into smooth contours from walking, running, and riding. Her hands and feet were small, her wrists and ankles so slender, it seemed they might snap like twigs. Everything about her fragile appearance belied the enormous power she could command.
As Lenardo moved toward her, his gaze focused on her face, flushed with expectancy. Her lips, already swollen with his kisses, were slightly parted; her violet eyes were dark with passion. She had fastened her luxurious hair on top of her head for bathing, but soft tendrils had come loose, creating a halo about her face.
His heart pounding, Lenardo kissed her once more, gently exploring, feeling her respond eagerly when he did not demand. Some guiding force led him to trail gentle kisses down the soft column of her neck, to tickle the hollow of her throat with his tongue. Her hand stroked his hair, wordlessly encouraging. When he kissed her breasts, she gasped softly, and her heart began to pound in expectation.
When he finally lifted her from the table, she cried softly, 'Yes. Take me to the dragon's lair. Devour me!'
He found her eager for him, moving with him in a natural rhythm. Lenardo was wide open to anything he might Read in Aradia but otherwise no longer controlling, rising on waves of shared passion until with a small cry Aradia melted into bliss, triggering Lenardo helplessly to follow, soaring and then floating, this time to a fully conscious sense of satisfaction for both of them.
Aradia did not have to push his weight off her. He turned onto his back, gathering her against him, touching her
