"Peter David - Sir Apropos 03 - Tong Lashing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

And I want to meet those challenges with you. It's taken me this long to realize that the reason you
make me so crazy, so infuriated, is because I have incredibly strong feelings for you. Because lately
you've been all I think about, which is incredibly amazing considering that for as far back as I can
remember, I've been all I think about. And even a life of supposed boredom would be devoutly to be
desired, because no life with you could ever be boring. You're everything I need, everything I could
want. I feel as if I'd suffocate without you, I...

"Sharee!" It was Rex's voice. He looked hopeful, but also slightly impatient. "The tide will be heading
out soon, and we need to be upon it. Are you with us or no?"

I saw the look in her eyes when she glanced in the direction of this fellow magic user who apparently
was a great factor in her young life and had never truly been left behind in her growth or imaginings. And
in that look I saw, just for a heartbeat, a spark. A gentle, ineffable spark that I instantly, selfishly, wanted
for myself. And which I knew, without the slightest doubt, would never be given me.

I realized what a fool I'd been. I was positive that, if I said anything of the absurdly impassioned spew
that was rattling around in my head, I would not only sound like a complete idiot, but I would lose
whatever shred of respect she might have had for me.

What would have been the point of it? Really? She was still going to go off with Rex Reggis, I knew
that with certainty.

She wanted him. I could tell.

And let's face it: It wasn't all that long ago she'd tried to kill me. And not much longer than that that
she'd pretty much cursed my name whenever she'd heard it mentioned. There was no reason to think
that, sooner or later, she wouldn't want to kill me again. Why shouldn't she, really? Everyone else in my
life tried to, sooner or later. Really. Truly. No matter whom I encountered, eventually one or both of two
things would happen. Either that person would die, or that person would try to kill me.

What had I done to deserve this fate? Nothing. Be born. That was pretty much it.

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