"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 03 - Skybowl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

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Melanie Rawn
"Lord Andry?" She could have killed him then and there for giving her such a fright.
He stepped out from behind a cistern and bowed. "The same. You brandish fire as if you were a Sunrunner to command it, Lady Sionell. And I don't doubt you're capable of making at least a dozen good-sized holes in my hide with that knife. Can you do something else with it, please, besides pointing it at me?"
"How did you get in here?" She knew it was a stupid question the instant it left her lips, and answered it herself before he could do more than raise an amused brow. "Of course. Serin shared the plans with you. But why have you come?" Another idiotic inquiry; how could he assert his power tucked away at Goddess Keep?
Andry sauntered forward, and now that he was fully in the light she saw his travel-stained riding leathers, the glinting of his rings and wrist cuffs. A dark stubble of beard shadowed his jaw and cheeks. New lines at the corners of his eyes were filled in with dirt, and there was a bruise on his left cheekbone.
"Well, for one thing, I came to see my daughter."
"And for the rest of it?"
"I'm not your enemy, my lady," he said softly.
"Not mine, no," she said just as sweetly.
His head jerked up a fraction. "You forget yourself, Lady Sionell. And you forget who I am."
Blue eyes met blue eyes squarely. "Not for a moment, my Lord. And because you are who and what you are, why all this sneaking around in the cellar? Why not ride up to the front gates? Unsure of your welcome, perhaps?"
"You don't like me, do you, Sionell?"
"No more than you like me, Andry." Her hand clenched on the knife hilt, thumb rubbing the amber chunk at its tip. It had been a gift from Tobin, who had taught her how to use it.
"Ah, well," Andry sighed. "At least you're not afraid of me anymore. You were when you were a little girl."
"Afraid of you? No. But I used to feel sorry for you."
That found its mark. "You pitied me? Why?"
Because you lost Alasen, and I came to understand how much that must have hurt. But you could have gone on from that, as I did, as hundreds of people do. Instead it made you bitter, and I have no patience for that.
SKYBOWL
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"Oh, don't worry," she replied, "I don't pity you anymore, so you don't have to resent me." She put away her knife and retrieved the spice bowl. "When you're ready to come out of the cellar, you'll find Maarken with your father and PolЧif you dare face any of them."
"You don't fear me, and you don't pity me," Andry said. "You hate me."
"Wrong again," she told him. "What I feel for youЧto be perfectly honest, I rather despise you."
Andry nodded, as if he had expected nothing less. The torchlight played over his coolly handsome face, revealing nothing of his thoughts. So his next words startled her badly.
"I was sorry to hear about your husband," he murmured. "He was a good man."
Sionell headed for the stairs, unwilling to let him see the tears that sprang to her eyes. Her husband, a good man whose memory she had betrayed. What had gone so wrong with the world that she could do such a thing?
"Shall I tell them you've arrived, or do you want to slink around down here a while longer?" she tossed over her shoulder.
"Actually, you might send someone with a litter. I left my Master Physician in the little chamber where this passage lets out. He wasn't up to the walk."
Sionell turned, gazing down at him from the steps. "You did want to sneak in, didn't you? Why?"
Andry shrugged. "The truths one overhears when one is not recognized are occasionally interesting."
"Oh, and here I've spoiled it-for you."
"You're not sorry. Not that I expect you to be."
"In fact, I am. You'll hear the truth either wayЧit's just that now there'll be at least an attempt to polish it a bit. I'm sorry everyone will have to make the effort."
Andry smiled up at her. "Pol won't."
"For your sake? Certainly not. For Maarken's and Chay's."
She continued up the stairs. By the time she reached the main cellar door, she was shaking so hard the torch quaked in her hand. She did despise him, for being smug and powerful and for what his presence would do to a group of people already strung taut as the fine wire strings of a fenath.
Dousing the torch and leaving it on its shelf, she entered
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Melanie Rawn
the kitchens. "Whitespice," she said to Hollis, setting the bowl on the table.
"Thank you. You didn't have to bring so much, butЧ Sionell?" The older woman frowned, searching her face. "What is it?"
"Nothing. I'll tell you later," she evaded, turning for the dor-'
- -h. Goddess, is it Chayla? Have you heardЧ"
ХХХХ would I learn anything down in the cellar? . Hollis." Sionell replied, trying to smile.
IL - .-mui*. she blurted. "He's here. Downstairs."
Hollis closed her eyes briefly, nodding. "Yes, he would come here," she murmured at last.
"He brought the Master Physician with him. I have to go warn Pol."
"Warn?" Hollis frowned. "As usual, Andry is condemned before he even says a word."
"He condemns himself," Sionell told her. "I know he's Maarken's only living brother, and I know you both love him. But he'll be nothing but trouble, Hollis."
"If everyone takes that view, we can be sure of it." Reaching for a towel, she wiped her hands meticulously clean. "Even if he were not my husband's brother and my own friend, I welcome the Lord of Goddess Keep because he can help find my daughter. And that's how I intend to present it to Pol. You can go tell Sioned and Tobin. Leave Pol to me."