"Kerr, Katharine - Deverry 03 - Bristling Wood v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

Although Rhodda whined, begged, and finally howled, Lovyan held
firm and scooped her up bodily to give her to her nurse, who was
hovering by the chamber door. Nevyn hadnТt truly noticed her
before, but he saw now that she was a striking woman of about
thirty, with dark hair, dark eyes, and almost severely regular
features. Once she and her small charge were gone, Nevyn asked
about her.

УTevva?Ф Lovyan said. УA charming woman, and with a will of steel,
which she needs around Rhodda, I assure you. SheТs a widow,
actually, with a son of her own, whoТsЧoh ye gods, I donТt
remember his age, but old enough for Cullyn to be training him for
the warband. Her man was a blacksmith down in my town, but he
died suddenly of a fever two winters ago. Since she had no kin, the
priests recommended her to my charity, and I needed a woman for
Rhodda. That child is a worse handful than even her father was.Ф
She sighed, and since they were alone, she could be honest. УI
suppose itТs the Elven blood in their veins.Ф

УIТd say so, for all that Rhodda doesnТt have much of it.Ф

УA full quarter, let us not forget. DonТt fall for your own lies about a
trace of Elven blood in the Maelwaedds.Ф

УWell, itТs not a lie, because there is one, but of course it doesnТt
apply here. I take it you plan to make the child a good marriage
someday?Ф

УAn influential marriage, certainly, and I plan to teach her how to
make any marriage suit her own purposes. If she can learn to
channel all that willfulness, sheТll be a woman to reckon with in
Eldidd, illegitimate or not.Ф

Although Nevyn agreed with vague words rather than burden her
further, he privately wondered if the child could ever be tamed and
forced into the narrow mold of a noble-born woman. Sooner or
later, her wild blood was going to show.

Before he left Dun Bruddlyn, Nevyn made a point of scrying out
Rhodry and, when he found him well, telling Lovyan so. As he rode
out, leading his pack mule behind him, he felt a dread that was as
much logic as it was dweomer warning. The summer before, he
and those others who studied the dweomer of light had won a
series of victories over those who followed the dweomer of
darkness. They had not only disrupted an elaborate plot of the dark
masters but had also ruined one of their main sources of income,
the importing of opium and various poisons into the kingdom. The
dark ones would want revenge; they always did, and he eminded
himself to stay on guard in his travels. Of course, it was likely that
theyТd scheme for years, trying to lay a plan so clever and