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

Melanie Ratvn
scare, but not now. Not after what had happened to her mother and twin sister.
"Don't do that again," Pol said, not gently, but not as severely as he might have. "Give me your word."
"But, PapaЧ"
"Your word as an athri of the High Prince."
Jihan cast a quick glance at TobrenЧalmost defiant, almost sty. "I promise, my lord."
He nodded acceptance. "Well, then. Into bed with all of you." He scooped up Meig, who squirmed and snuggled against him. "Sionell, does anything short of a trumpet in his ear wake this child?"
"He'd sleep through thunderstorms. Hand him over."
She felt his forehead with her own cheek, relieved to find it cool. Four years oldЧand already identified as a Sunrunner? She held him more tightly to her breast, wondering dismally why her immediate instinct was to protect him from what he could become.
The three girls shared the bed. Once they were all settled, and Sionell had reassured herself of Antalya's well-being, Pol retrieved the scorched cloak and beckoned a maidservant down the hall to come keep watch over the children.
As the door closed, Pol murmured, "I brought the other children in to keep Jihan company. She's having nightmares. She's always slept with Rislyn in the room, you see."
"It's all right. I understand."
He touched Meig's tousled dark head and gave a rueful smile. "He insisted on joining usЧand I think I bored him right to sleep."
"He's like that. Wide awake one moment, oblivious the next."
Pol sighed wearily as they started down the corridor. "I envy him. I thought it would work with the girls, too, butЧit seems I can't even tell a simple bedtime story anymore without something outrageous happening."
"Did you know Jihan could call Fire?"
"Alasen mentioned it this evening when we spoke."
"And it doesn't worry you?" Sionell asked carefully.
Pol shrugged. "Jihan is what she is. She was bound to pick it up on her own one day. My mother did when she was only a little older than Jihan is now. There's power in her. I don't want her to be afraid of it like Alasen is." He paused before his own chamber door. "Ell...."
SKYBOWL
21
Swiftly, she said, "Your mother is looking for you. Kazander's turned up missing, and you know where he's goneЧor at least what he plans to do."
"KazanderЧ? Oh, good Goddess, that fool!"
"I'll go tell her you're on your way, shall I?"
He caught her arm. She froze. He let her go and looked anywhere but at her. "We have to talk."
They were at her door; she opened it blindly. "There is nothing to discuss. Nothing happened."
Eyes bruised beneath with exhaustion widened with shock. Not because of her denial; it was Meiglan in his eyes, not her,
"Ell, I didn't mean talk aboutЧabout that."
"No, of course not," she said mindlessly. "I'm sorry, I should've knownЧ"
"I need you."
His quiet plea hit her all wrong. She held Meig defensively against her shoulder. "I have three children who need me. You don't."
"You don't understand. I have to know that youЧ"
"I don't want to hear this," she snapped, turning from him, furious. He had no right to claim anything from her. No right to start hurting her again. No, she told herself, I'm the one who hurt me, all those years ago. It was never his fault. He was what he was.
But what is he now?
This time his fingers shackled her forearm hard enough to bruise the bones. "I need you more than Tallain ever did."
And this time she gasped. "Don't you dare say his name tome!"
Meig grumbled in his sleep. She rocked him, glaring at Pol. There was no quick response of temper in his eyes. Bleak, vulnerable, his face almost broke her heart.
Almost. She would not allow it.
"I don't know what to do, what to say," he whispered. "If you want to pretend that it neverЧit would be best, you're right. But don't do this to me, Sionell. Not now, when I needЧ"
"Do this to you?" she echoed incredulously. "You selfish bastard! What could I ever do to you that you haven't already repaid me a hundredfold in advance? Damn you, let me go!"
To her surprise, he did. "I'm sorry," he told her, and in the next instant vanished down the hallway.
22
Melanie Rawn
Composure shattered, Sionell sagged back against the wall. Her son curled against her; she buried her lips in his silky hair and closed her eyes.
Pol had been cruel, trying to claim her. She had nothing for him. Her children needed her. Their father was dead, their world forever changed. Jahnev was Lord of Tiglath nowЧat barely seven winters old. Antalya would be a Sunrunner one dayЧbut who would teach her? Not Andry! And not Pol, either. Maarken? Sioned?
And what of Meig? Grubby, bright-eyed, full of mischief, secretly her favoriteЧwas Jihan right? Was he gifted, too?
She thought of another child then. Two children, really. Meiglan was as gentle and innocent as Rislyn. She thought of them held captive by the Vellant'im, and wondered why Pol was not a shrieking madman.
Selfish, she'd called him. They were two of a kind.
Goddess help us, she thought wearily, and went to put her youngest to bed.
Pol stood in the middle of his bedchamber, wondering numbly how and why he was there. Certainly not to sleep. Restlessness had seized him as surely as exhaustion, fevered brain and tired body at constant war, with him as the battlefield and the casualty.