Enders In Exile

you."
    "So you're trying to
get me to attack you by goading me exactly the way Virlomi did," said
Achilles. "Well it won't work." Yet as he said it, it was working; and
he was willing to have the wrath rise within him. Because he had to
make it believable, that Ender goaded him into attacking, so that when
Ender killed him everyone who saw the vids would know that it wasn't
really self-defense at all. They'd realize it had never been
self-defense.
    "I knew your father
best of all the kids in Battle School. He was better than I
was—did you know that? All of the jeesh knew it—he
was quicker and smarter. But he always was loyal to
me. At the last moment, when it all looked so hopeless, he knew what to
do. He virtually
told
me what to do. And yet he
left it to me. He was generous. He was truly great. It broke my heart
to learn how his body betrayed him. The way it's betraying you."
    "Suriyawong betrayed
him," said Achilles. "Julian Delphiki killed him."
    "And your mother," said
Ender. "She was my protector. When I got put into an army whose
commander hated me, she was the one who took me under her wing. I
relied on her, I trusted her, and within the limitations of a human
body, she never let me down. When I heard that she and your father had
married, it made me so happy. But then your father died, and eventually
she married my brother."
    Comprehension almost
blinded him with fury. "Petra Arkanian? You're saying Petra Arkanian is
my mother? Are you insane? She was the one that first set the traps for
my father, luring him—"
    "Come now, Achilles,"
said Ender. "Surely by the age of sixteen you've recognized that your
surrogate mother is insane."
    "She's my mother!"
cried Achilles. And then, only as an afterthought, and weakly, he said,
"And she's not insane."
    This is not going
right. What is he saying? What kind of game is this?
    "You look exactly like
them. More like your father than like your mother. When I see you, I
see my dear friend Bean."
    "Julian Delphiki is not
my father!" Achilles could hardly see for rage. His heart was pounding.
This was exactly how it was supposed to go.
    Except for one thing.
His feet were rooted to the ground. He wasn't attacking Ender Wiggin.
He was just standing there and taking it.
    It was in that moment
that Valentine Wiggin jogged into the clearing behind the compost bins.
"What are you doing? Are you insane?"
    "There's a lot of that
going around," said Ender.
    "Get away from here,"
she said. "He's not worth it."
    "Valentine," he said,
"you don't know what you're doing. If you interfere in any way, you'll
destroy me. Do you understand me? Have I ever lied to you?"
    "Constantly."
    "Neglecting to tell you
things is not lying," said Ender.
    "I'm not going to let
this happen. I know what you're planning."
    "With all due respect,
Val, you don't know anything."
    "I know you, Ender,
better than you know yourself."
    "But you don't know
this boy who calls himself by the name of a monster because he thinks
the madman was his father."
    For a few moments
Achilles' anger had dissipated, but now it was coming back. "My father
was a genius."
    "Not incompatible
concepts," said Valentine dismissively. To Ender, she said, "It won't
bring them back."
    "Right now," said
Ender, "if you love me, you'll stop talking."
    His voice was like a
lash—not loud, but sharp and with true aim. She recoiled as
if he had struck her. Yet she opened her mouth to answer.
    "If you love me," he
said.
    "I think what your
brother is trying to tell you," said Achilles, "is that he has a plan."
    "My plan," said Ender,
"is to tell you who you are. Julian Delphiki and Petra Arkanian lived
in hiding because Achilles Flandres had agents seeking them, wanting to
kill them—especially because he had once desired Petra, after
his sick fashion."
    The rage was rising in
Achilles again. And he welcomed it. Valentine's coming had almost
ruined everything.
    "They had nine
fertilized eggs that they entrusted to a doctor who promised he could
purge them of the genetic condition that you have—the
giantism. But he was a fraud—as your present condition
indicates. He was really working for Achilles, and he stole the
embryos. Your mother gave birth to one; we found seven others that were
implanted in surrogate mothers. But Hyrum Graff always suspected that
they found those seven because Achilles meant them to be found, so that
the searchers would think their methods were working. Knowing Achilles,
Graff was sure the ninth baby would not