"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 2 - Dragon Token" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

"You heard what happened?"

"I heard."

He went forward a few paces, then stopped. From this angle, her body no longer concealed what was on the table before her: two large crystal pitchers of near-black Gribain wine. One was empty, the other nearly so.

His mother, the High Princess Sioned, was engaged in getting very, very drunk.

She sipped slowly, staring out at the night, or at her own face amid the pinpoint candle flames in the windows.

"Haven't you had enough?"

"Probably. If you want some, best hurry."

Pol advanced another step. "I needed you at dinner tonight."

"Did you?" Disinterestedly.

"Yes. I made a total fool of myself."

"You don't need my help for that." She poured another cupful.

"Damn it, Mother! Don't you understand? You're no use to me like this!" He strode to her and grasped one shoulder, and was appalled to feel the bones starting through the silk and lace.

She looked up at him then, wide green eyes perfectly clear, perfectly sober. "Use?" she repeated almost gently. "How do you mean, my dearest?"

"I need your help," he said, striving for calm. "I need your wits and your cunning. I need you."

Shaking her head, the silver in her hair catching the light, she told him, "No, I don't think so."

"I need you," he repeated. "As much or more than Father ever did."

"Damn you." Only a whisper, it shrieked her pain.

"Please. We've lost him. We're going to lose everything ifЧ"

"I've already lost everything!"

He drew back involuntarily from the look in her eyes. "MotherЧ"

She laughed. "Do you think I care? I don't give a damn about castles or princedomsЧ"

"Or lives? We'll all be just as dead as he is if we don't use everything we've got!"

"And I'm one of your most useful possessions, is that it? Oh, you're of Andrade's blood, right enough! Everyone has a function, everyone is useful in the grand game. Why not use your wife?" She snorted. "Poor, delicate darlingЧshe's about as useful as a book to a blind man!"

"I don't expect strength from her!" Pol cried. "But I expect everything from you!"

"So I'm to be strong for you and her and everyone, am I?" She gave him a small, vicious smile. "Sweet son, try to listen carefully. I don't happen to feel like it." She drank again, then cradled the empty cup between her hands, as if cherishing the memory of it. "Find someone else. I've no more strength to give."