"Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - Mageworlds 03 - By Honor Betray'd" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

тАЬOnly the cards,тАЭ he told her. тАЬMy acquaintances back home considered me a shamefully
unaccomplished fellow.тАЭ
тАЬFoolish of them.тАЭ She took a step closer, and rested one hand on his chest where the shirt fell
open. тАЬDidnтАЩt you learn anything else on Khesat?тАЭ
 He slipped his hands around her waist under the open jacket, and bent his head to lick gently at
the hollow of her throat. тАЬOne or two things, before I left.тАЭ
Beka laughed again, and pressed harder against him. тАЬI thought so,тАЭ she said. тАЬTell me.тАЭ
тАЬOh, flute-playing, flower arrangement . . . тАЭ His mouth traveled further downward. тАЬ . . .
frivolous versification . . . and the finer points of . . . тАЭ
The comm link on the bedside table sounded-a piercing squeal, far different from its usual
restrained beeping. Jessan didnтАЩt look up. The comm link sounded again.
тАЬHell.тАЭ Beka pulled a hand free and picked up the link. тАЬThatтАЩs WarhammerтАЩs private signal.
SomethingтАЩs wrong at the spacedocks.тАЭ She keyed on the link. тАЬRosselin-Metadi here.тАЭ
тАЬLeSoit here, Captain.тАЭ WarhammerтАЩs number-two gunner sounded agitated about something.
тАЬI think youтАЩd better come out to the ship.тАЭ
By now Jessan had worked his way down past her collarbone. She mastered her breathing with
some difficulty and said over the link, тАЬCan it wait?тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt really think it can, Captain.тАЭ
She bit her lip. тАЬAll right. IтАЩll be there in a few minutes. Rosselin-Metadi, out.тАЭ
Beka keyed off the link. Jessan stopped his downward explorations and stood for a moment with
his head pressed against her neck.
Then he sighed and stepped away. тАЬDuty calls.тАЭ
тАЬDuty has a rotten sense of humor.тАЭ Beka was already buttoning up the quilted jacket. That
done, she pulled a fastener out of one pocket and gathered her hair into a loose tail down her back.
Redoing the formal braids would take more time than she wanted to spare. тАЬHand me that damned tiara,
and letтАЩs go see whatтАЩs got IgnacтАЩ buzzing us on the private code.тАЭ

In Namport, in a windowless room above FrelingтАЩs Bar, a young woman slept with her back
against a locked door. She moved restlessly in her sleep, then lay still for a few seconds, opened her
eyes, and sat up.
Klea Santreny was thin and small-boned, with a tangle of curly, light brown hair; she would have
seemed more girl than woman still, at twenty Standard years, except that working for Freling was no way
to stay young. Her grey eyes had shadows under them like bruises, and cheap bangle bracelets on her
left wrist hid the old, pale scars beneath.
She had fallen asleep on the coarse-piled carpet, with her day-pack tucked underneath her head
for a pillow. Her AdeptтАЩs staff, a piece of iron-hard grrch wood that had begun its career as a
broomstick, lay on the floor beside her. A few feet away, in the center of the room, a tawny-haired
young man in a beige coverall was moving through the sequences of what looked at first sight to be a
slow, graceful dance. He held a plain staff of blond wood in both hands.
Klea drew her knees up and sat for a while watching him. The last time sheтАЩd seen Owen-that
was all the name she had for him, though she knew he had a family somewhere on Mage-occupied
Galcen-heтАЩd been lying on the roomтАЩs only bed. His body had been bruised and swollen, and there had
been blood on his face and his clothes. But now the marks of ill-usage were gone, and he moved easily,
without flinching.
She wondered where heтАЩd been and what heтАЩd done. And how heтАЩd done it; he hadnтАЩt brought
the staff into the locked room with him, any more than heтАЩd brought those transitory bruises. тАЬGoing out
of body,тАЭ Owen had called it, when he first told her what he needed to do. As far as she could tell, he
hadnтАЩt left the room to do it.
He finished the sequence and turned toward her, his attention seeming to come back from
concentration on something not visible in the here-and-now. Hazel eyes regarded Klea with a thoughtful,