'The embryos are not people, she crooned. 'Not at the stage where their gender becomes apparent. There isn't even any discomfort for me. Don't think of this any more.

'What? No!

'Relax, my beautiful strong Waterwalker. Do what you do best.

'No, Edeard shouted. He felt smothered, fighting for breath against a torrent of horror. 'No no no. He pushed. Pushed hard. Pushed with his third hand. Pushed himself away from such evil.

Ranalee wailed in shock as she flew through the air. Edeard was panting hard, trying to shake the miasma from his thoughts. He felt as if he was shaking off a nightmare. His heart was yammering in his chest. He searched round frantically to see Ranalee sprawled across the rug at the foot of the bed. She looked dangerous, her hair wild, a snarl on her lips as she stood up and faced him.

'What happened? he gasped, still fearful. He could barely resist the urge to continue, to bend her over the bed and take her — and from that to rule Makkathran through his offspring.

'I set you free, she growled.

Her voice seemed to clang around the inside of his head. He groaned at the intensity, jamming his hands over his ears.

'I showed you your real desires. Follow them. Liberate yourself.

'Stop it, he begged. He was curling up, struggling against his own treachery, the yearning to follow her path into the future.

'Inhibitions aren't for people like us. You have strength in your blood, as do I. Think what we can achieve together. Believe in us— That last she caterwauled at him.

The force behind the command almost sent Edeard tumbling from the mattress. Her mind was bright and hot. It finally made him realize it wasn't her voice he was battling. Somehow she was speaking directly into his mind. Insidiously potent longtalk had corrupted his own thoughts, forcing him to bend to her will as if he were no more than a genistar being ordered to clear up manure. He clenched his teeth, and concentrated, willing his third hand to contract around him, becoming hard enough to deflect longtalk. Pleading to the Lady to make him strong enough.

'Listen to me! Ranalee demanded.

Edeard could see her lips still moving, as her voice faded away. Every trick he'd learned in the city about shielding his emotions was woven together and reinforced by his telekinesis. He crouched on the mattress, hearing nothing, sensing nothing. Isolated.

Ranalee glared at him. Once his nerves had steadied, he glared back. His hands were trembling from shock and fear.

'You, he gulped down a breath. 'You tried… You wanted me to… Oh sweet Lady. The thought of what he'd only just managed to elude sent another shiver along his spine.

Ranalee regarded him contemptuously. She said something.

Edeard cautiously allowed her voice through the shield his third hand had created. But not her longtalk. Lady no! That he kept perfectly blocked. 'What?

'You stupid pitiful country peasant.

'Bitch, he spat back.

Her contempt matured into utter scorn. 'You think that isn't you? You believe you are noble and kind? Do you know how the dominance works? It plucks at the true strings of the heart. And I am a master of those passionate tunes; I play men for the simpletons they are. I recognize what lurks within, Waterwalker. You are all ruled by your ego and your lust, the real traits flowing in the blood. Everything I offered is a seed inside you. I simply give you the chance to let your true nature grow.

'I am not like that.

'How many family girls have you already bedded? You gave in to yourself on that quickly enough, didn't you? How many months have you and your pitiful squadmates spent in a lowlife tavern plotting and scheming to overthrow the gangs and make you Chief Constable? That is exactly what I offer you. Not in the way your childish daydreams imagine, I can give you all that for real, Grow up, Waterwalker. Your supposed virtue cannot bring you to power by itself, for that power is ultimately what you crave. The power to shape the city in your vision. That's right, is it not?

'Yes, he murmured. 'An honest city. One where people are not bred for advantage and profit.

'Sometimes you have to do what's wrong in order to do what's right.

He stared at her, stunned.

'Oh. A phrase even you've heard, then? Do you know who said it? Rah himself, as he forced his way through Makkathran's walls. He knew that only inside would his people have sanctuary from the chaos spilling out from the ships which brought us here. So he gave us the city. He took the city, and by doing so gave us order and stability that has stood for two thousand years.

'No, Edeard shook his head. 'I'm not… children shouldn't be born for that. They should be loved for themselves.

'They would be. And ours would be destined for greatness, too.

'It's not right'

'Really? And what if you only marry one girl, a nice sweet little thing who loves you dearly the way it is out in your backward villages? What do you think awaits those children of the Waterwalker? Me. That's what. Me, and all the others like me. The fewer children you have, the more valuable they become. The boys will be seduced by family daughters, the girls will be taken as trophy wives by our first sons. It will make most excellent sport. We will have the strength of your blood, one way or the other.

'Not like that you won't.

She tossed her head, regarding him with true aristocratic derision. 'You can achieve so much, Waterwalker. If Makkathran is to be remade as you would wish it, then it must change almost beyond recognition. I have no quarrel with that, for I would be atop that change. But radical change must come from within. You know how that has to happen now, your blood must spread wide, carrying with it your will.

'I can change things from where I am.

'No, she said harshly. 'Change imposed by an outsider is an external threat, the one thing that would pull all of Makkathran together. The families, the common man, even the gangs; they would unite to defeat you.

'Those groups, they want me to win, to get rid of the gangs and the corruption that allows them to thrive.

'They want you to get rid of the gangs, that's all. You can't do that, not without help from the established order, they're woven too tightly into our streets and canals for you to root out. The Councils and the Guilds won't help you unless you're committed wholeheartedly to supporting them. You don't have a choice. Your subconscious knows that. I saw your every feeble thought tonight.

'So you're the easy way?

Ranalee ran her gaze lecherously along his naked body. 'Lust for power wasn't the only craving you exposed. All men are the same in the end. I enjoyed that part as much as you did.

'I refuse to play this game with you.

'Idiot, she sighed in disgust, and held out an arm. Her third hand fished a long robe from the closet, which glided through the air to her. 'But then our children were never going to inherit their intelligence from you, were they?

Edeard clambered off the bed, feeling intolerably weary. He was also disgusted with himself, because he knew that part of the night had been true. Her insidious power had unleashed what lay within him.

'It might already be too late for you, she taunted.

He recovered his underwear. 'What do you mean?

She patted her stomach. 'I'm at the right time in my cycle, and you certainly delivered adequately. I'll be such a good mother. I'll even keep it if it's a boy. He can start breeding in a little over a decade. A rival to you. She smiled to deliver maximum hurt.

Edeard's heart fluttered. There was a phial of vinak juice in his luggage. He'd been so desperate to get her into the bedroom he'd never taken it. She hadn't given him time. All deliberate, he knew now.

Fool! She's right, you really are nothing but a backward peasant!