Samuel nodded. «Yes.» He looked at me like What's wrong with that?
«It wouldn't be fair. I can't experiment on them, run the risk of binding them to me, if they don't know what the risks are.»
«But they have come hoping to be your new pomme de sang» Samuel said. «They have come hoping to bind themselves to you.»
«Jason has been Jean-Claude's pomme de sang for years, but if he decided to go back to college, or change jobs, or fell in love, and didn't want to keep being a pomme de sang, he could do that. We'd miss him, and I think he'd miss Jean-Claude, but he has choices. He isn't trapped into being Jean-Claude's pomme forever.» I moved away from Jean-Claude and faced Samuel. «What you're suggesting takes away their options. It's like making them a slave without asking first if that's what they want.»
Samuel smiled at me. «Freedom and fairness are very important to you, aren't they?»
I nodded, and frowned. «They're important to everybody.»
He laughed. «Oh, no, Anita, you would be amazed at the number of people who try to give away their freedom at every opportunity. They much prefer that someone else make their decisions. As for fairness, you said it earlier, life isn't fair.»
«No, life isn't fair, but I try to be.»
He nodded, and stood, clapping his hands together. «She is a rare find, Jean-Claude.»
«Thank you,» he said, as if the compliment were all for him, and none for me.
«To make these experiments with their knowledge, Anita,» Samuel said, «needs Jean-Claude to admit to the other masters that you, all of you, have no idea what the extent of your powers are. You would have to admit weakness, and confusion, when what you must have this weekend is strength, surety, and unassailable power.»
«No one's power is unassailable,» I said.
He gave a small bow. «Touché, but my point is still valid. To expose that much of your uncertainty to some of the masters would be nearly suicidal.» He came to stand in front of me. «Think upon this, Anita: if you are with child, then it is no longer just your life you risk. Is your sense of fair play worth the risk of letting the other Masters of the City see your weaknesses? For what will they think, if you admit to this being a new power? Might they think that they should destroy you before you enslave us all?»
Jean-Claude moved to my side. Micah came to my other side. I just stared at Samuel.
«I mean you no harm, Anita, but I am not as insecure as some. The insecure ones will be your danger.»
«If we can't tell the truth, what do you propose?» I asked.
«You couldn't simply lie?» he asked.
«I'm not very good at it,» I said.
He smiled and looked at Jean-Claude. «How have you managed with her and the Ulfric? They are both most unwieldy.»
«You have no idea,» Jean-Claude said.
Samuel laughed again, then his face stilled, as if the laughter had been a trick of the eye. «Tell the masters that you wish to see how powerful their candidates are, and whether they can withstand your full powers. Tell them that if their candidates are too weak, they may be enslaved as any servant, for Jean-Claude is so powerful that that has happened with some lesser vampires of the Church of Eternal Life.»
«That actually did happen with some of the church members,» I said.
He smiled again, but it never reached his eyes. «So I had heard.»
I glanced at Jean-Claude. «Did you tell him?»
«No.»
«You have spies in your lands, Anita. You are too great a power not to have spies from all the masters that agreed to come here. None of us would have come to your lands without some intelligence of our own finding. None of us trust any of us that much.»
«Great,» I said.
«But it sets up the situation perfectly, Anita. You can tell the truth, that you wish to see if the candidates are strong enough to withstand your powers, for a true pomme de sang, as you so accurately stated, is not so closely bound to you metaphysically. To eat only from those who are already bound to you is like eating your own arm. It may fill your stomach, but it takes more energy from you then it gives to you.»
«It took us a little while to figure that out,» I said.
He gave another small bow. «Your new pomme de sang must be independent, and strong enough to play his part. It is a reasonable request.»
«It is a good plan,» Jean-Claude said.
«And what if they all fall under my, whatever, spell? What if I'm too much necromancer for any of them?»
«Then the ball is canceled,» Samuel said. «You cannot play Cinderella if all the princes will want you.»