"Nerius?" Wulfston frowned. "Nerius was no Reader."

"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 hit me," 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 new^s 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?"

"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."

"But no room for Aradia, and her pavilion's gone. Father, can't you see what she's doing? My mother used men that way-"

"Hush! This is not at all the same thing, Julia. You mustn't be jealous. Just because I love Aradia, that doesn't mean I love you any less. I'm your father now, and I always will be. Soon Aradia will be your mother. You must learn to love her, Julia."

"She doesn't want to be my mother," the girl said sullenly.

"Of course she does. Now you go to sleep, and tomorrow you and Aradia spend some time together, get to know each other."

There were tears in Julia's eyes. "She's chained your mind and stolen your powers. You don't believe me now, but you'll find out."

Julia was not Reading. Lenardo knew that she feared Aradia might be eavesdropping, and let it go. He could understand the child's jealousy and uncertainty. He would have to prove to her that she could still rely on him. But Aradia's task would be even more difficult.

Neither Julia nor Aradia had yet been trained not to Read in her sleep, and Lenardo slept restlessly, worried that there might be a clash of nightmares. If there was, he didn't know of it, and in the morning he had the bright idea of setting the two women in his life to teaching each other. That way they would be forced to get to know each other. If Julia spent time Reading with Aradia, she would have to see that there was no ill will in her.

Lenardo took Wulfston with him on his morning's work, trying to explain how to Read. But there were no words for how it was done, and Wulfston protested that he was doing no more than describing what he Read. Nor was Wulfston any more successful than Aradia in teaching Lenardo Adept talent. After an hour's frustration, they gave up and turned to using their individual talents in mutual cooperation.

Their friendship seemed to be back to normal by the time they returned to Lenardo's house at midday, only to find Julia and Aradia in separate rooms.

"She hates me," Julia informed Lenardo when he entered her room. She was sitting on the window ledge, poised as if to jump out into the courtyard.

"Of course Aradia does not hate you," Lenardo said firmly. "It's difficult for a grown woman to take lessons from a child. You must be grown-up enough to understand that."

She swung around and let her legs dangle inside the room. "She's an awful Reader. She can't hardly Read anybody but you or me, and she didn't want to start the lesson off with the Code of Honor. Why did you ever teach her to Read, Father?"

"I didn't teach her, any more than I taught you. She has developed the ability, and now we must teach her to use it."

"She doesn't trust me. I don't think she was really trying to teach me Adept tricks, neither."

"Julia," he said, talcing her hands and pulling her off the window ledge, "I don't think she can teach you. Do you?"

"Yes. I think if she'd once learn to Read real good, she could show you and me both how she does it.''

"Well, perhaps," he said, but he didn't believe it.

One reason Aradia's Reading powers were limited was that she had refused after two days of purifying diet to continue the Readers' dietary restrictions. The problem came up again at the midday meal as Aradia and Wulfston helped themselves to huge servings of meat.

"Aradia," said Lenardo, "can you not at least wait until the evening meal to clog your system?"

"No, I can't, not if I am going to maintain my strength. Wulfston, you should have seen me when I tried Lenardo's diet. By the end of the second day, I couldn't lift a pebble."

"You are exaggerating," said Lenardo.

Wulfston paused with a piece of meat halfway to his mouth. He put it back on his plate and said, "I had forgotten. Let me try your Readers' diet, Lenardo. And you should try ours. It did not harm your Reading powers when we fed you a strengthening diet at Castle Nerius."

"It didn't make me an Adept, either," he pointed out. "Wulfston, you are willing to compromise. I wish you would persuade Aradia. She has both powers but resists my attempts to find a nutritional balance that would allow her to use both efficiently."