"Briggs, Patricia - Sianim 2 - Steal the Dragon.text" - читать интересную книгу автора (Briggs Patricia)

"Do you think I'd risk coming here if I weren't certain you were in danger?"
continued Marri sharply. "Don't be any stupider than you must. There is someone
here who is deliberately setting you up to be Karsten's murdererЧthere is no reason
suspicion of you would be that strong otherwise."

Her voice softened. "Karsten knows that someone is trying to kill him, and we
have taken every precaution against his assassination. You are not needed here. He
may think that you are here for his birthday, but I know you better. Nothing less than
the attempt on his life last month would have induced you to return."

Laeth raised an eyebrow and sauntered back to his bed, where he sat down and


began to tug off his boots. "Every precaution? It didn't seem to help him much
tonight, did it?"

"Neither did you!" she replied hotly. Rialla noticed a hint of moisture in her eyes.
"I can't stand worrying about both of you."

"Tears, Marri?" asked Laeth in a biting voice.

"Yes, plague take you." Marri wiped her eyes quickly. "I'm sorry for what
happened before, but it wasn't solely my fault. You left me for a year without any
word of how to reach you. My parents were in debt and losing the manor, and your
brother proposed marriage to me. I have a younger brother and three younger
sisters; do you think I should have let them be reduced to poverty when I could
stop it? You hadn't even made a firm offer to me, let alone my parents. Should I
have told them not to accept Karsten's offer because his brother had flirted with
me?"

Midway through her speech Laeth had lost his cold manner. Instead he clenched
his fists and stared at the floor. When he spoke, it was in a voice very close to a
whisper. "It was more than flirtation, Marri."

Her anger left her abruptly, and there was only sadness in her face. "I know that,
but how could I have explained it to my father? I'm not sure that I believed it all the
time myself. When you left, you didn't tell me where you were going or what you
were going to do."

"You knew that I'd be back."

"Did I?" she questioned, and then sighed. "I suppose that I did, but you didn't
say so."

She paced the room, ignoring Rialla's presence. After a while Marri said, "I really
do care for him, you know. The chances that he'll survive until the princess marries
King Myr are not very good. He explained it to me, as if I were a child, and then
patted me on the head and said that you'd look after me." She bowed her head and
clenched her arms around her midriff. "Gods," she said bleakly.