"David,.Peter.-.Sir.Apropos.3.-.Tong.Lashing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

And what had Sharee done to deserve that fate as well?
Nothing.
I realized it at that moment with one of those flashes of clarity that one has
from time to time. Sharee wasn't going to remain with me. Her eyes were filled
with Rex Reggis. He was a hero type, a sort I knew all too well, and they had a
disgustingly consistent impact on females. Which normally wouldn't interest
Sharee, but he was obviously an old love and a mage to boot, and that made him
irresistible. But more to the point, if Sharee remained with me, there was every
reason to assume that eventually she would join the teeming masses of people who
had tried to kill me or wound up dead or both.
Why wish that on her?
Except...
...I wanted her to say she wanted to remain with me.
To this day, I'm not sure why it was so important to me at that moment. More
important to me than anything. Perhaps it was because, since I was long departed
from my native Isteria, Sharee represented the last tie I had to my homeland.
Or maybe I just wanted to be loved. Maybe what I was experiencing was the
beginnings of being frustrated with the way I was, but having no clue how to
change, or even if I wanted to.
She was still waiting for me to finish my earlier sentence. "You whatЧ?" she
prompted again.
Why waste the time. It would all end badly, and besides... she didn't love me.
Didn't want to be with me. Not really. Who would? What did I have to offer?
Cynicism and lameness and a deep abiding conviction that I was the only sane man
in an insane world, a belief which brought me comfort but oddly was seen as less
than flattering by just about everyone else.
Tell her you love her or at least like her, tell her you enjoy her company, tell
her you want time, tell her that if she leaves you now you'll likely never see
her again and that's unacceptable, tell her anything
"Go to hell" were the words that came out of my mouth.
Anything but that.
I looked right through her to the drabit on her arm. "Mordant? Coming with me or
staying with Sharee?"
Mordant cocked his head slightly, and then wrapped his tail around her arm.
That was my answer.
I shrugged.
"Fine," I said, and something that I hadn't even known was living within me
until moments earlier was crushed and died. I turned and walked away without
another word to her. Feeling sorry for myself, in an endeavor to look even more
pathetic than I felt, I accentuated my limp as I headed back into the pub.
I made my way to Captain Stout. He looked up at me quizzically.
"Just me," I said.
"I see it's just you. Who else would you be?"
"I mean," I sighed, "that I won't have a lady with me on your boat. It'll just
be me booking passage."
His face brightened. "Ah! Excellent," he said, and stuck out a hand, which was
thick and greasy. I shook it reluctantly and then quietly rubbed it clean on a
napkin. "Don't get me wrong," he added hurriedly. "I like the ladies. I do. They
certainly have their uses, especially if you need somewhere to dock your dinghy,
if you get my drift," and he laughed a raucous laugh.