He rose to face her. 'I have told you. The title is the only one the savages recognize, given to me because of my Reading powers. I made the error of thinking we could trust some of the Lords Adept, those not intent on destroying us. I was wrong. Instead of killing us, they would use us, which is worse than death. That is why I have returned and taken Julia out of their power.'
Portia studied him, and he could feel her attempt to Read how truthful he was. 'We shall see. It will take longer than I thought to gather the Council of Masters. We have many obligations, Lenardo. I want to be certain that all the most powerful Readers are present to examine you. Meanwhile, I do not want this child contaminating the girls here. Take her with you. No more harm can be done than has been already. We will decide what to do with her after your fate has been decided.'
Leaving Julia with Lenardo meant that he could always be found through the child. He noted the ploy sardonically. If he did want to escape, he had no place to go. And when the Council of Masters examined him under Oath of Truth, they would find that he was no danger to them.
Julia trudged beside Lenardo through the city streets, lost in her own thoughts. Finally she accused him. 'You wanted to leave me in that place.'
'Julia, I have told you ever since we met that I want you to be properly trained in an Academy. I had hoped it would be Portia's, but it appears she will send you elsewhere.'
'Where will you be?'
'Wherever I am assigned. It is hard, Julia, I know, but it is necessary for Readers to be trained in Academies. All the girls you saw or Read today have had to leave their families.'
'So they'll forget their loyalties,' Julia said through angry tears. 'They don't have to kill the parents the way Lords Adept do when they take a child as apprentice. Here the parents just walk away.'
As your mother did, Lenardo remembered. Ignoring the crowds passing in the busy streets, he knelt and looked into the girl's eyes. 'Julia, I do not want to walk away from you. I love you very much, and I should have told you more. If you can trust me until we get back to the inn, I will explain everything.'
But the explanations rang hollow in Lenardo's own ears. 'The Academy is the only place you can live safely, Julia. I want to keep you, but I cannot. In the savage lands, we are prey to the whims of the Adepts.'
'Not if we learn Adept powers,' she pointed out.
'That is not possible, Julia, and even if it were, what would it mean? More power struggles, more wars. Haven't you seen enough battles in your short life?'
'Power must be demonstrated,' she replied. 'You were a great lord, Father. You used your powers foj the good of your people. You made allies to protect them from powerful enemies. You took an apprentice so that someone trained in your ways would rule after you.'
'Oh, Julia,' he whispered, 'can't you see how wrong I was to do all those things?'
'No, but I know why you think so. The Readers' Code is all about not using power. Don't Read to gain wealth. Don't Read to destroy your enemies. Never help yourself, only the government-but a Reader can't be in the government. Father, you say Adepts chain people's minds, but it's your mind that's chained-by the Readers' Code. They took you when you were a little boy and made you afraid to use your powers.'
'Julia-'
'You want me to be afraid, too, but I won't be. You want to get rid of me-'
'No!'
'Because you're scared of my powers. Portia's scared of me and of you. You disobeyed her. She's going to kill you for that, Father.'
'Julia, you don't understand. We are not savages here.'
'Portia is. Only she's not honest like Aradia or Wulfston.' Julia held out the object she had been clutching ever since they had left Portia's office. 'She gave me this scroll. The Readers' Code. It's new, but it was on Portia's desk. She handled it. Do you want to know its story, Father?'
'No.' But he was lying, and Julia knew it. 'A senator came in a few days ago. He wanted to know about some merchant ships. He offered Portia money to Read another man for him. She wouldn't do it.'
'You see,' said Lenardo in relief. 'She wouldn't be bribed.'
'She didn't want money,' Julia continued. 'She wanted him to vote against building a new Academy for boys.' 'What?'
Julia concentrated, her voice and vocabulary taking on echoes of what she Read. 'Portia is afraid of… Master Clement. An old man, respected, honest. She thinks him foolish… dangerous. And the boys he has trained. That's your Academy, isn't it, Father?' 'Yes.' He was too stunned to say more. 'Portia wants the Senate to break up the Academy, retire Master Clement, and distribute the boys among other Academies. The teachers, too. One older boy she fears… Torio. She dares not try to win him over, and so she will make him fail his examinations. Father, what is the Sign of the Dark Moon?'
'The badge of failed Readers: a black circle on white.' Julia frowned. 'I don't understand. When Portia thinks of Torio, she thinks of that and of a saying, 'When the moon devours the sun, the earth will devour Tiberium.' ' 'I don't understand either, child. Perhaps she is becoming confused with age.'
'Father, she already controls more than half the Council of Masters.' The child's voice took on a weird echo of Portia's. 'By influencing powerful nonReaders, these Masters control the Aventine Empire. It's always been-the Master Readers must control the Senate or the people will destroy them out of fear.'
Julia dropped the scroll on the bedside chest, coming out of her semitrance. The adult pose and language disappeared, and she was a little girl again, helpless and frightened. 'You want to give me to that woman. She'll kill me. She'll kill you, Father.'
'No, no, Julia.' He took her in his arms, trying to reassure her. 'I'll never let Portia have you.'
It all fit together now: Years ago, when he was tested for the rank of magister, Lenardo had failed Portia's personal test. He had been completely sincere in his adherence to the Reader's Code, just as Master Clement had taught him. So he had been sent back to Adigia, perhaps to die in one of Drakonius' raids but certainly to be kept ignorant of the true power of the Council of Masters. And Portia would never let him on that council.
When he volunteered for exile to stop Galen, Portia had been agreeable, even eager, after Master Clement had elevated Lenardo to Master rank. She had not expected him to return. Julia was right. All Portia had to do was have someone 'recognize' Lenardo, reveal his brand, and irate citizens would kill him. Master Clement need never know that it was other than tragic chance.
And when I am dead, what will happen to Julia? The child clung to him. She had no faith left in him, but she also had no one else. He had failed her, failed all his responsibilities, had never wanted any beyond those of a teacher in an Academy. He was not a questioner, and so he had failed Galen, who was.
I don't know what I am. Other people always define me.
Reader. Fate had made him that.
Teacher. Master Clement had encouraged his star pupil to remain in the Academy.
Traitor. Galen's treachery had prompted the plan; Galen's words spoken by Lenardo had sealed his doom.
Exile. Portia's plan to be rid of him, the dragon's-head brand on his arm defining him for all to see.
Lord of the Land. Aradia had made him that.
Father. Julia's idea, not his, but he had accepted it.
I accepted it all, and then I ran away from it all. Failed, even at being an exile, for here I am, home again.
Where Portia had expected him to fail, he hadn't-and one other thing he had not failed at. He was a Reader, the most powerful Reader ever known. Portia had attempted today to define him as a failed Reader by allowing him into her presence. But… I do not accept her definition!
His powers were the one thing no one else could give or take away, and through them he must get Julia to a place of safety. They had sneaked into the Aventine Empire, and they would sneak out again. Portia would not expect it; she didn't know what Julia had Read in the scroll, and she expected Lenardo to do exactly what he had always done before: whatever she told him. Besides, she thought that he had no place to go.
But I have a land to rule!
Wulfston was alone in Zendi now, still telling people that he was Lenardo's regent. /'// make him live up to it, Lenardo thought in sudden glee. Wulfston's definition, but I'll make it come true. I'll ride into town, thank him in a public ceremony, and politely throw him out.
Thank the gods, Aradia had gone back to her own land. Lenardo would not have to face her again until he had truly established himself as the lord his people expected. That meant using his powers, not fearing them. If he
