Free The Alton Gift by Marion Z. Bradley Page B

threshold sickness, after all, and that went away on its own."
    " Damisela , you are proposing a very foolish thing," Danilo said sternly. "Your visions will not go away on their own. Only a Keeper trained in the old ways could safely suppress them, and I am not sure that is ever a good idea. It is likely they will get progressively worse unless you learn to control your Gift."
    "You're only saying that because you hate me! You want to get rid of me!" she flung back at him.
    Danilo glared at the distraught young woman, aware that he felt very little sympathy for her. As a City Guard and later as paxman and bodyguard to Regis, he had handled drunks and thieves, assassins and kidnappers. He was no stranger to physical violence. But young women in the throes of temper tantrums were another matter entirely. He wanted to grab the girl and shake some sense into her, but that would only in-
    tensify her resistance. As it was, she distrusted him so much at the moment that she might well refuse anything he suggested, no matter how sensible.
    "Sweetheart, I agree with Dom Danilo," Domenic said, looking uncomfortable. "I don't think it's a good idea to ignore your visions. We both saw how they distress you. Surely, the leroni at Arilinn have the skills to help you."
    "As long as you are near me, I shall be well." Alanna slipped her hand into Domenic's. Her voice softened and her eyes gleamed as she smiled up at him. Danilo sensed the spark of physical passion between them.
    "Truly, I shall," she murmured. "Promise me you will forget all about my outburst."
    As Domenic reassured her, Danilo wished the boy had not given in so easily. Alanna was an extraordinarily desirable young woman. Even though Danilo had never been attracted to women, not since he had given his heart to Regis, he understood the power of sexual attraction. From the way Domenic gazed at her, he was thoroughly enthralled.
    It is not good for one person to have such influence over another Danilo did not like to think what might happen if such a person, with so little self-control, felt rejected. He knew all too well from his own experience how easily passion, spurned, could turn into revenge.
    "Does Marguerida know about your relationship?" Danilo asked. "Does Mikhail?"
    Domenic shifted, clearly embarrassed. "No, we have taken care never to appear together before my parents, lest we give ourselves away telepathically. They must not find out until we are ready to tell them. Until then, will you keep our secret?"
    "It is not mine to give away," Danilo shrugged.
    Alanna had now regained her composure. Danilo sensed her Gift, like an interweaving of colorless light, quiescent but ready to flare up again. It was a pity she was so opposed to training at a Tower, for she desperately needed the discipline.
    A generation ago, Danilo thought, Alanna would have been packed off to a husband and babies without a thought. She was a respectable, marriageable young woman, and there was no question about her laran .
    But a man in Domenic's position needed more—a wife to stand by his side, not sit at his feet.
    As Linnea was to Regis. As Marguerida is to Mikhail.
    Domenic loved Alanna, and in the warmth of that love, she seemed to rise above her childish ill temper. Perhaps over time she would also grow to become the woman Domenic so clearly wanted her to be.
     
    On the day of the opening session of the Comyn Council, Lew escorted Marguerida through the wide double doors that formed the main entrance to the Crystal Chamber. The Guardsmen on either side of the doors stood at strict attention. One of them looked vaguely familiar; perhaps Lew had known his father. Once, Lew would have stopped for a friendly word, a custom from his own time as a Guards officer. During his years off-planet, however, he'd become a stranger.
    Sunlight streamed through the prisms set in the Chamber ceiling. Lew was struck, as he had been many times before, by the sensation of moving through the heart of a