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will finish our discussion about Yllana returning with them to be fostered at Castle Aldaran."
    "Would you like that, little sister?" Domenic asked. This was the first he had heard of the Aldarans fostering Yllana.
    The girl lifted her chin, looking very much like her mother in a resolute mood. "I may have some of the Aldaran laran , and Mother says it would be better to learn how to use it from those who know it well."
    Domenic nodded. In his grandfathers' time, Aldaran was still estranged from the other Domains. In isolation, they had learned new techniques to develop their distinctive psychic talents. A few of them now worked in Towers, but the rest of the Domains knew little of the Aldaran disciplines.
    "It isn't fair!" Alanna's expression darkened. A frown twisted her beautiful mouth. "You made me go to Arilinn!"
    "Child, that was for your own safety," Marguerida said. "We would never have sent you away if there were any other choice."
    "But Yllana gets to live with Domna Katherine—"
    "Yllana does not have your abilities as a telekinetic and a fire-starter, a dangerous combination," Mikhail said gently. He had always loved Alanna, even when she was at her most tempestuous.
    "I hate Yllana!" Alanna shrieked. "I hate you all!"
    Yllana flinched under Alanna's psychic blast. She clenched her dinner knife so hard, her knuckles went white. She looked as if she wanted to throw it at Alanna, but common sense and a naturally steady temperament restrained her.
    "Alanna, you know you do not mean that." Marguerida struggled visibly to keep her own composure. "You are foster sisters, after all, and should not speak so to one another. We want what is best for each of you."
    "It was not so bad at Arilinn, was it, little lady?" Mikhail asked. "Did they not teach you well?"
    Alanna drew in her breath, clearly ready with a caustic retort. Suddenly, she grew very still. The hectic color drained from her cheeks. Her breathing slowed, and the fire in her green eyes dimmed.
    "As you wished," she said in a flat, emotionless tone, "they taught me to control my laran . I do not light fires or hurl objects with my mind any longer."
    "Now it is Yllana's turn to go away," Marguerida said, gently redirecting the conversation, "and we will miss her as much as we did you, Alanna."
    "It is not my fault that life in a Tower did not agree with you." Yllana continued to regard Alanna with a mixture of caution and firmness. "I wish it had been otherwise, that you might have been happy there. Can you not wish me well?"
    Alanna looked confused. "Of course, foster sister," she murmured in a subdued voice. "Why would I want anything else?"
    The servants came in to clear away the remains of the meal. Rory excused himself to return to the Guards barracks and a previous engagement with one of his comrades. Yllana pleaded a headache, clearly to avoid becoming the target for any further outbursts.
    Alanna rose also, but Marguerida gestured for her to stay.
    "My dear, I will need your help with arranging a small dinner gathering tomorrow. Come to my office after breakfast and I'll give you a list of things to be done."
    "As you wish, Auntie." Alanna dropped a curtsy before departing.
    Domenic reflected that whatever his mother's intentions, there was no such thing as a small gathering . She knew too many people, and both she and Mikhail were outgoing, sociable personalities. Domenic suspected that in this aspect, he resembled his Great-Uncle Regis more than either of his parents. He, like Regis, was an essentially private person thrust into a public role. How had Regis done it?
    He could not remember Regis without Danilo Syrtis, his sworn brother and paxman, at his side, or Lady Linnea, lending him her gracious strength.
    Glancing at his parents, Domenic saw how they, too, formed a
    seamless whole. They were the right hand and the left, the darkness and the dawn. In that moment, he knew he could not face the future they had planned for him if he were alone. But he