"Ah," Vinni said.

"I don't want you upsetting Mitch.e.l.la like you upset Lark." Antenn stuck out his chin.

Shrugging, Vinni said, "I'll do what I please."

Straif sat and leaned back, prepared to be diverted by the boys. Antenn had un.o.btrusively settled into a fighting stance. Straif would put his gilt on the older boy in a fight.

"Spoilt," Antenn said.

"Oh?" Vinni sneered.

"You wouldn't last a minute in a scrim with the Clover boys." Antenn's lip curled.

"You don't think so?"

Since Vinni's Flair sparked, Straif prepared to intervene.

Antenn's eyes widened, but he hunkered down. "No, I don't think so, not without your Flair. But we're all just Commoners, you probably don't know how to fight without Flair."

"Name the time and place," Vinni said.

"Clover Compound, tomorrow afternoon, after grove-study. Even you have grove-study, don't you?"

Vinni flushed. "Yes, but I have meetings tomorrow morning. You're a Moss, not a Clover. Can you speak for them?"

"Yes."

With a grand gesture, Vinni pulled on his cape, nodded to Straif. "We should consult before your new twinmoons Ritual, like tomorrow morning. Go ahead and fast before the session, and align your energies with your HouseHeart." Vinni lingered at the open door, smiling faintly. I knew I was supposed to come to you this morning, but I thought it had to do with your future, not mine, he sent mentally. With a dip of his head, he left.

"What did he say to you?" demanded Antenn.

"He's a prophet. Do you really want to know?"

Antenn faded a step back, frowning, and Straif knew why he looked familiar. "Antenn Moss, brother to a murderer," Straif said softly. "I was there. I witnessed what happened."

The boy seemed to shrink. He looked confused, vulnerable.

"Do you judge him by what his brother did?" asked Mitch.e.l.la, striding into the room, her expression furious. Straif wouldn't have been surprised if her red hair burst into flames.

He made his voice even. "Antenn would know what a firebombspell looked like."

"And explode it on himself! Besides, he wouldn't." She put an arm around her ward. "His brother was one of a Triad, mentally bound to two other boys, unbalanced when they died. That one's Flair was for fire, and he used it destructively. Antenn's Flair is for architecture, for construction. He could help us with the Residence, but you only see the past. For him and for yourself. Thinking like this you can't move from the past to the present, let alone plan for the future."

Her words lashed at him, hit wounds. Pain blinded him, all the worse for previously having been soothed by her. Straif couldn't speak. He'd insulted the boy, and Mitch.e.l.la.

"We'll go now. No charge for my time. I suggest you let the tinters finish coloring the MasterSuite walls. They'll be done by this evening."

"Don't go," he forced the words beyond pain. Looking directly at Antenn, Straif bowed elegantly and as deep as if Antenn had been a FirstFamily GreatLord, n.o.blest of the n.o.ble. "Forgive me. Mitch.e.l.la is right, I live too much in the past. I would appreciate it if you gave me another chance. The Residence needs Mitch.e.l.la, and so do I. That is the simple truth. I'm sorry I hurt you. I apologize." It had been contemptible to be so rude to a boy under his protection. "I would be honored if you worked with us in restoring the Residence."

Antenn stared at him with eyes darkened into brown, a hurt, burning gaze.

"It is Antenn's decision," Mitch.e.l.la said.

A small cream-colored tomcat trotted into the room. Drina bolted from the windowseat to attack. The cats fought and rolled in a yowling battle.

"Drina!" shouted Mitch.e.l.la.

Straif took his gla.s.s of water and tossed the liquid on the cats. They broke apart, Pinky growling and Drina screeching.

s.n.a.t.c.hing Pinky, Antenn held the small tomcat to his chest and crooned, but his eyes blazed.

"I apologize for Drina, too," Straif said.

I can apologize for Myself. If I care to, Drina said. She had b.l.o.o.d.y dents in her right ear from Pinky's teeth.

Antenn's eyes narrowed. "I bet she won't apologize."

Straif put a fist on his hip and stared at Drina. "You advised me to ask Mitch.e.l.la to a.s.sist us with this project. She's the best person to restore the Residence."

I will not apologize, Drina lifted her nose.

"I apologize for Drina," Straif repeated, glancing at Antenn and Pinky. Pinky looked smug.

Drina sniffed.

"If you decide to remain here, I a.s.sure you that Drina will not attack Pinky again."

I will do what I please!

If you attack Pinky, you will forfeit your collar. He meant it, and she knew it. She licked a patch of hair on her shoulder.

"We will stay. You will give all three of us room and board and pay Mitch.e.l.la's salary like you agreed to, even if you aren't confirmed as T'Blackthorn," Antenn said.

"Mitch.e.l.la and I signed a contract. I'll honor it." Straif reached out and touched the chair he'd been sitting in-the Lord's chair-and sent the energy of his anger through the wood and into the floor, where the Residence could gather and use it for housekeeping spells. When he met Antenn's gaze again, he knew that the boy would not forgive or forget his words. Antenn would be a big obstacle in Straif's wooing of Mitch.e.l.la.

"I'm going back to work on the girl's suite," Antenn said. "Mitch.e.l.la, the Uncles have arrived with our things. Didn't you want them to move some furniture? Since Uncle Mel 'ports well, he can send some items into the attic storerooms. With our help, you should meet your daily goal." He smiled at Mitch.e.l.la with an expression excluding Straif.

"Daily goals?" murmured Straif.

Mitch.e.l.la strolled over to Antenn, scratched Pinky behind the ears, and put her arm around Antenn's shoulders again.

When she gazed at Straif, her expression was one of cool professionalism. "Since we have a summer solstice deadline, we need daily goals. I'm working on the MasterSuite. It should be ready this evening. Under the circ.u.mstances, I think you should take possession of the suite, just as you should keep possession of the Residence."

He didn't want her cool. He liked her hot, even with anger at him, but now was not the time for conflict. "Right."

She nodded and they left, Pinky purring loudly.

Drina came over and smiled up at Straif, ingratiatingly. If you work fast and hard, We can send them away soon.

Straif laughed.

The rest of the morning he scried the FirstFamily Lords and Ladies he thought would support him, or would like to have him indebted, and invited them to the new twinmoons Ritual. He invited twenty-three Lords and Ladies of the FirstFamilies. Nineteen had agreed to come and bring their spouses and heirs.

He noted the proposed allies in the T'Blackthorn History, his first entry as T'Blackthorn. When he'd said the opening spell, he'd sealed the pages of his FatherSire and father. The spell would diminish each day. By the time it wore off Straif hoped he could face reading his father's writing-learning as a man of his father's disappointments and triumphs.

That afternoon he meditated in the Grove of the Dark G.o.ddess, and cleaned out the fountain. T'Ash had told Straif that replacement stones were ready to be fitted into the basins.

Straif raised his Flair and quartered the estate, checking every life-trace. Just walking the land eased his spirit, as it had the day before. It would be good for himself and the estate if he made surveying the grounds a daily goal.

Today he banished the lingering emotional vestiges of the Downwind gangs, T'Ash and Danith D'Ash. Zanth, T'Ash's Fam, had newer, brighter tracks everywhere. As arrogant as his daughter Drina. The thought of the cats lightened Straif's mood. Finally, near the main entrance, he found the other Blackthorn's track.

He stared at it, heart thumping hard at the telltale familial color of silver, the core of a cord-track of blue green gray. He'd never thought to see that bright silver again until he had children. Why couldn't the other have contacted Straif? He'd have welcomed the man into the Family. But now they were adversaries and his relative was hiding.

And it was a man.

Straif settled into his balance, connected with T'Blackthorn land, increased his Flair until the air resting on his skin was almost painful. He drew all he could of the other into himself to a.n.a.lyze. It was more difficult than he imagined. The energy did not combine well with his. It was sluggish, not as pure a bloodline, not as Flaired. As he pulled the energy from the track upward into his body, he knew he could not let the other's essence near his heart, soul, or b.a.l.l.s. He pinched off a bit and shot it to the seat of his Flair, examined it in a burst of his own psi power that destroyed the morsel.

A man, nearly as old as Straif. Not as Flaired, more staid. HeartBonded.

That was a shock. The other Blackthorn was already HeartBonded, and Straif wasn't ready to search for his HeartMate.

The other Blackthorn was a father. Two children.

Straif fell to his knees at the insight.

Should he yield to the other claimant? Perhaps.

Could he yield?

No!

His Family had died, and he was flawed, but with that defective gene Straif had the pure traits of the Blackthorns, the great Flair for tracking and hunting. He had the heart, blood, bone tie with the lands and Residence.

He wasn't happy that he had to fight a relative for the T'Blackthorn t.i.tle, but he'd do it.

The sky around him dimmed as Bel set. The evening turned humid, indicating more rain. His bond with the land, and his appointment with T'Vine in the morning spurred Straif to visit the HouseHeart. He'd do it after dinner. Much as he wanted to spend that time with Mitch.e.l.la, his duty lay elsewhere.

Thirteen.

Mitch.e.l.la and Antenn ate dinner by themselves in the small dining parlor, then went upstairs to finish the suite Straif's sister, Fasha, had lived in and Antenn now occupied.

"We did really well," Antenn said, examining the bedroom. "I like it." The rooms had been cleaned by simple spells and physical labor, the walls tinted white with a tinge of cream. The color was the best for full-room holos. Antenn was in a phase where the Great Platte Ocean fascinated him, so the entire suite was set at Maroon Beach. The inexpensive carpet was the same dark red color of the sand that edged the bottom of the holos. Walls showed ever-changing surf. The ceiling was dark now, as if fading with the day, stars coming out. Tomorrow it would show a lovely summer sky. One of Mitch.e.l.la's specialties was holo walls. This was her best yet. A new bedsponge with linens lay in the corner where Pinky snoozed.

Dismantling the rooms had been heartbreaking. She'd known at once that the girl-Fasha-and her mother had decorated it. The suite had been perfect for an active girl-causing Mitch.e.l.la a twinge of envy at the luxury. But the rooms also reflected that Fasha had been well loved.

Mitch.e.l.la had taken great care with the holos and portraits, the small prized treasures, packing them carefully. Someday Straif might want to tell his daughter of her Aunt Fasha.

The bathroom was spare, suiting the boy, and the playroom would soon hold boy things. "So there are rooms the guy won't go into, huh?" His voice held a sneer.

"If you lived in the house where your dead brother's room was, would you visit it? Or would you want to change it?"

"I'm not like Shade! And Shade was trying to reform."

"I know you aren't like Shade, no more than I'm like my brothers, and in the end Shade became unbalanced. He killed people, hideously."

"You think I don't know that? You think I don't hear about it all the time?"

"What? Tell me!"

Antenn flopped down onto his new bedsponge. "The Clovers don't care if I'm a murderer's brother, especially the adults. They don't talk about it at all. The Cang Zhus do talk."

"We'll find you a better apprenticeship. You don't have to live with that."

He stared at her with dark eyes. "Yes, I do. Every day. You know all about living with nasty facts every day." Antenn looked away. "I know that it will affect my future-my career and any family I might want."

Pinky awoke and curled up on Antenn's stomach.

Mitch.e.l.la sighed and dropped down beside him, took his hand. "You've been doing so well since you went to the mind-Healer."

"So have you," Antenn said.

She winced. He'd insisted that if a mind-Healer treated him, she should go, too. Mitch.e.l.la stroked his head. "We're looking forward instead of past, which is healthy. But you don't need to stay with people who believe you're flawed because of your brother's crimes."

He lifted a shoulder. "I usually ignore the CZs' att.i.tude. They aren't so bad, and they're excellent architects. That's what matters-learning from them. They won't ever offer me a position with their firm, and I don't want one."

"All right."

"T'Blackthorn will always think of me as Shade's brother." Antenn slanted her a look. "He's stuck in the past."

"In a way, Straif had a worse experience. He was older than we were when we lost our family-my future family, your brother. He'd had everything, then everything destroyed."

"Yes, Fasha's stuff was unbelievable. Everything top-of-the-pyramid."

"We don't need to stay here, if you don't want to."