"It's the law," the scientist agreed.

"Be reasonable," the financier begged. "Stop this before it's too late. Don't force us to do it."

Merlin stiffened, his gaze again flying to the head of the table. There was a long silence, and then the judge sighed.

"According to the newspaper article, she's lived with you for years. How many?"

"Nine."

"Then she's barely into the training?"

Merlin hesitated, then shrugged. "I accelerated in several areas because of her innate power." Again there was that odd ripple through the room, and this time the men sat back in their chairs or moved restlessly.

"But her control is imperfect?" the judge demanded.

"Yes. But she's young and she did begin the training later than usual. I have every reason to believe she can one day achieve the level of Master."

If Merlin had hoped that his clear vote of confidence in Serena's potential might persuade the Council, he knew instantly that he'd been wrong. To a man, the faces across the table actually paled, and even the judge, normally impassive, was clearly appalled.

"It must stop," the diplomat whispered.

"There's no time to be lost," the actor said nervously.

Quietly the judge asked, "We're agreed, then?"

Without exception, the Council members nodded, looking away from Merlin. The judge nodded, as well, then stared down the table at his son and spoke heavily.

"The Council has decided. This woman must be rendered powerless. Because she is female and not yet in full control of her abilities, it will be possible for you to strip her of all levels of power."

"What?" Merlin whispered.

The judge went on as if nothing extraordinary had been said. "The process is an ancient one, not commonly known, requiring several weeks to complete. I'll give you the reference material before you return to Seattle. The woman will not be harmed by this, merely rendered powerless."

"Merely." Merlin's voice was still hardly louder than a whisper. "Merely rendered powerless."

"It's the only way," the senator told Merlin. "The law must be obeyed. We have no choice. Don't you see that?"

The judge again waved a hand for silence. "The decision of the Council is final. Your punishment for breaking the law will be determined at a later time; the severity of that penalty will depend on your obedience now. You will render this woman powerless."

"Or?" Merlin asked flatly. They were all staring at him with shuttered eyes and impassive faces, and in that moment he thought he could hate them.

"Or we will do it," the judge replied calmly. "And you'll pay a very high price for disobeying the Council."

Ironically, Merlin was the most powerful wizard in the room in terms of raw force, and all of them knew it. But the simple fact was that he was under their control-not because he wanted to be, but because he had to be. No society of powerful beings could exist without a governing body; for wizards that body was the Council, and their decisions were final.

If he disobeyed, the punishment could be anything from the curtailing of his freedom to the reduction or even total removal of his powers.

That last would literally kill him, but it had been done more than once in the history of wizards when an individual had committed an unpardonable offense. It was not something he could fight with any possibility of success; power against power simply canceled itself out. So if the Council voted to take his powers and he struggled against it, there would be two dead wizards instead of one. Himself… and the Elder closest to him in raw force, the natural choice to be the one to seize his powers: his father.

They had him in a neat, bitterly effective vise, and he knew it. If he obeyed the Council, Serena would be stripped of her powers, and no matter how little the process harmed her physically, Merlin knew she would be destroyed by it. If he disobeyed the Council and they voted on the ultimate punishment for him-which was highly likely-he would be destroyed, and Serena's powers would be stolen from her anyway.

Merlin didn't realize the meeting was over until he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the judge standing beside his chair. The others had gone.

"Come into the den," the judge said.

Merlin rose and followed the older man across the hall to a smaller and much more intimate room of the big house. The fireplace in here boasted a roaring fire, and Merlin was drawn to it instantly. He felt cold. He stood at the hearth, watching the leaping flames.

"Have you slept with her?"

Merlin stirred impatiently but didn't answer.

"Have you slept with her?"

"No, of course not." He turned then and stared at the still handsome, white-haired man who was sitting a few feet away from him. "She was a child when she came to me-and that's the way I saw her."

"What about now?"

Merlin hesitated, images from recent years flashing through his mind. Serena in a clingy evening gown dancing gracefully; her long legs bared by shorts as she worked in the garden in summer; regal and beautiful in her Apprentice's robe, green eyes flashing with humor and challenge…

Almost inaudibly Eric Merlin said, "I see she's no child to you now."

"Isn't that my business?"

His father shook his head. "It would be bad enough if you had told any woman what you are-but a woman of power?"

"I didn't have to tell her what I was. She recognized me the way I recognized her." Merlin kept his voice calm. "The way beings of power have always known each other. She knew what I was, and she knew I could teach her. She was drawn across three thousand miles to find me."

The judge frowned. "Then her instincts are strong. But it makes no difference. There is no place in your life for a woman of power, you know that. There's no place in our world for her."

"I can't take her powers away from her."

"You must."

"I can't!" Merlin turned back to the fire, and his voice was as fierce as the flames when he went on. "Can't you see what you're asking me to do? It would destroy her. A wizard isn't something Serena wants to become, it's what she is, as much a part of her as the blood in her veins. Taking her powers would be like… like taking the wings of a bird or the fins of a fish. She'll die."

"If the process is successful, she won't remember that she ever possessed any power out of the ordinary."

"I don't believe that. It will kill her as surely as the loss of my powers would kill me, or the loss of yours would kill you. But suppose it's true-what happens if the process isn't successful? You don't have to tell me. She'll die. I say she'll die no matter what."

"You're being unnecessarily pessimistic."

Merlin laughed harshly. "Am I? Well, let's examine this from a more general viewpoint, shall we? How many wizards are born in this modern world? How many never realize what they're meant to be?"

"Richard-"

"You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones who take photographs with their minds, and bend spoons on television talk shows, and are studied in laboratories, wasting their powers because we didn't notice they were there until too late and now no one can tell them what they really are."

"There have always been some who didn't recognize their abilities, but-"

Merlin turned back toward his father, and another bleak laugh escaped him. "Some? And what of the ones who'll never be born, Dad, what about them?"

The elder Merlin shifted a bit in his chair. "Wizards are born in every generation. You know that."

"Fewer and fewer of us. Especially since we're all discouraged from producing offspring of our own. I must say, I'm glad you disobeyed that particular law."

"It isn't a law," his father said instantly. "And I had the permission of the Council to marry." He hadn't been a member of the Council then, nearly forty years before.