Choices Read Online Free Page A

Matilda up on her
invitation and ate with the adults, returning to “high school” only
for the lessons.
    Besides Tomasz Liang, there was another young
man, Paolo di Battista. Paolo was slim and dark-haired, with a
sarcastic, sometimes intimidating manner. Like Dominic, he called
himself
vir
, but without even a slight sexual interest in
women, and he was not as immediately forthcoming as Tomasz. As time
went on he opened up, revealing a sharp mind with which he observed
us all, and a depth of feeling hidden beneath his cool exterior.
The third man, Julian Vazquez, was close to sixty, reserved and
aloof. He was a
seer
, the male equivalent to Edwige’s
position of
sibyl
, and was her second in command.
    Of the women, Matilda and another young one,
Alicia Molyneux, were the friendliest. Alicia and Tomasz were
betrothed, and they were clearly in love, often sitting together
apart from the rest of us, whispering and laughing, or simply
communing in silence. The others, women my age and older, were
career academicians who had spent all their adult lives here or in
another seminary. They were not unfriendly, simply absorbed in
their chosen field, and they made few efforts at conversation
either with me or the other young scholars.
    Matilda explained to me that, although women
tend to be stronger telepaths, their power is connected to their
bodies’ ability to bear children, declining with age and menopause.
A generation or two back it had been thought that a sibyl must be
celibate her entire life, to preserve all this psychosexual energy
for the work, but this had turned out to be a myth. When
controlling the amplified radiation in a group of telepaths, called
a
cell
, a sibyl must abstain from sexual activity. But
there was no reason she could not learn the job when young, take
time out to marry and have children, and return to the position
later. The early marriage and childbearing expected of Eclipsian
women made this option convenient.
    Matilda was in line to succeed Edwige, which
was why she was still here, receiving advanced training, into her
early twenties. “But I’ll be married off soon,” she said gaily. Her
parents had arranged a wedding for her with the son of a suitable
family, Petrus Ormonde, Rosalie’s older brother. Incredibly,
Matilda was looking forward to this union, although she had met
Petrus only once, at a formal engagement. “He’s nice enough, and
when I tire of married life I have only to tell him I must go and
be sibyl at La Sapienza. He’ll have nothing to say to that.” This
was a different world, no doubt about it.
    That night, whether from Matilda’s frank
speech, or because it was the first time I had enough strength left
over from the day’s lessons to lie awake, I was bothered by my one
lack. Dominic, Margrave Aranyi, my “lover,” the man who had, in a
way, set me on this strange path, had not been with me since I left
for La Sapienza. During my few weeks in Eclipsia City he had come
to me at least once a day, often at night—not in body, but in my
mind, through the gift we shared and our unusual love. Yet here at
La Sapienza, where our gift was the sole purpose of existence, I
was alone.
    And suddenly, as I had this thought, I was no
longer alone.
Did you think I had forgotten you, cherie?
Dominic’s thought was in my mind. His voice was tender, amorous.
Although he was projecting over a long distance, I could hear his
words as if he were speaking in the deep, resonant voice that was
as attractive to me as his hawk-like profile and lean, muscular
body.
    I was unsure how to answer his question. In a
way I was the one who had forgotten him, too tired and busy to use
my gift in one more strenuous task. Yet now that he had resumed
mental contact I felt as if a vital piece of me, cut out for days,
had been restored, allowing me to become whole again.
I missed
you
, I thought to him, not lying, merely expressing a
subconscious truth.
I missed you dreadfully
.
    My love
, he thought,