"Dave Duncan - A Man Of His Word 1 - Magic Casement" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

was something wrong, and she could not place it.
Well! Setting her teeth firmly, she faced the room. Forcing oddly reluctant feet
to move, she began to walk very slowly all around the chamber, looking
suspiciously at everything, in everything, and even under everything. This was
her father's bedroom and she was a princess and there could not possibly be
anything dangerous to explain this curious apprehension she--The high dresser at
the far side had been pulled forward, away from the wall.
No, that could not be important...
WHY?
Why had the dresser been moved? And why had she not noticed it at once? With
goose bumps crawling over her arms, she forced herself to peer around behind
this errant dresser. The door there was ajar. The shivery feeling vanished,
leaving a sense of disapproval. Why had Inos never known that there was a door
there? She glanced up at the horizontal beams and the planked ceiling. In all
the other towers, the top room had a pointed roof, as her own chamber did. So
there was another room above this one! She had never realized.
How very curious!
Procrastination was not one of her failings. Carefully holding her precious silk
away from the cobwebby back of the dresser, Inos moved to that diabolically
tempting door.
She saw steps, of course, as she had expected-another flight curved around
inside the wall, just like all the other stairs. These were very dusty. The tiny
windows set every few paces were exactly as she would have expected, also, but
gray with grime and draped in cobwebs. The musty air was rank with the odor of
mold. A secret room? How very, very interesting! Now she did hesitate, but only
for a couple of seconds. Curiosity overcame caution and even the silk was
forgotten as she slipped through the narrow gap and started to climb.
Quietly, though.
Probably there was nothing up above here at all, and her father would welcome
her just as happily as he would do anywhere else. On the other hand, it was very
peculiar that she had never heard anyone ever mention this unknown room. It
could not be any of her business. She was trying to be on her best behavior. She
was holding a packet of silk that had cost three and half imperials.
She...
" . . is much too young!" said her father's voice.
Inos froze against the icy stones of the wall. She was almost at the top and
obviously the door was open. The voice had echoed as if the unseen chamber were
bare and unfurnished.
"She's not as young as all that," another voice replied. "You take a good look
at her. She's very nearly a young lady now. " Her father muttered something she



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did not catch.
"In the Impire they would regard her as old enough already," said the other. Who
could that be? She did not recognize the voice, yet it must be someone who knew
her, for there could be no doubt who was being discussed.