"David Drake - RCN 04 - Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

of it he chose, any share, simply by stretching out his hand.

He grinned: which he'd likely do before long. He was a healthy young man, and the voyage back

from the Galactic North with Admiral Keith's dispatches had been a long one.

"Leary!" called a saturnine man in a red velvet suit; his waistcoat flashed with metallic gold.

Mawhire of Rondolet, recalled a rarely visited portion of Daniel's mind; an acquaintance of Daniel's

father. Mawhire's clothing had made an impression on a child who even at seven was more comfortable

hunting on the family estate than he was with the much crueler games that politicians got up to. "Daniel

Leary! Come over here, boy, and let me introduce you to some friends of mine. My but you've grown

since I last saw you!"

Which would've been about seventeen years ago, when Speaker Corder Leary broke the Three

Circles Conspiracy and drowned it in blood. Daniel vaguely recalled that Mawhire had lost a cousin in

the Proscriptions....

"Daniel Leary, may I present Senator Russell--that's Russell of Walsingham, you know...,"

Mawhire said. Daniel bowed--nodded deeply--to a man with vacant eyes and more facets glittering on

his fingers than there were in the crystal chandeliers above.

"... and Tomas Bayard of Bayard and Sons." Daniel bowed again, this time to an ancient

man--he supposed Bayard was male--supporting himself in a walker. Stone-faced servants stood at

either elbow just in case they were needed.

"Surprised to see you here, Leary," Bayard said in a cracked voice. "Given how your father and

Bruno Kearnes get along. Don't get along."

He turned his head toward Mawhire, a quick motion that reminded Daniel of an ancient,
poisonous, lizard casting for prey.. "You know that story, Mawhire?" he demanded.

"I recall rumors," Senator Mawhire said, having the decency to look uncomfortable. "But it's not

really a matter--"

"Speaker Leary and young Kearnes there don't get along because Leary and Lira Kearnes got