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

The great hall was almost deserted. Even before the fine weather had arrived,
the king's servants had driven the livestock over the causeway to the mainland.
Others would now be outside attending to the wagons and the harbor, cleaning up
the winter's leavings, and preparing for the hectic work of summer. Inos's
tutor, Master Poraganu, was conveniently indisposed with his customary
springtime rheumatics; there would be no objections from him, and she could head
for the stables as soon as she had grabbed a quick bite.
Aunt Kade sat at the high table in solitary splendor.
Momentarily Inos debated the wisdom of making a fast retreat and finding
something to eat in the kitchens, but she had already been noticed. She
continued her approach, therefore, practicing poise and trusting that a regal
grace would compensate for shabby attire.
"Good morning, Aunt," she said cheerfully. "Beautiful morning."


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"Good morning, my dear."
"You're earlier than-ooof!" Inos had not intended to make that last remark, but
her breeches tried to bite her in half as she sat down. She smiled uneasily, and
her sleeves slid quietly up her wrists.
Aunt Kade pursed her lips. Aunts could be expected to disaprove of princesses
arriving at meals in dirty old riding habits. "You appear to have outgrown those
clothes, my dear. "
Kade herself, of course, was dressed as if for a wedding or a state function.
Not one silver hair was out of place, and even for breakfast she had sprinkled
jewelry around her neck and over her fingers. In honor of the arrival of summer,
she had donned her pale-blue linen with the tiny pleats. Inos restrained an
unkind impulse to remark that Kade appeared to have outgrown the pale-blue
linen. Kade was short,
Kade was plump, and Kade was growing plumper. The wardrobe she had brought back
with her two years ago was barely adequate now, and the local seamstresses were
all at least two generations out of date in fashioning attire for ladies of
quality.
"Oh, they'll do," Inos said airily. "I'm only going along the beach, not leading
a parade. "
Aunt Kade dabbed at her lips with a snowy napkin. "That will be nice, my dear.
Who is going with you?"
"Kel, I hope. Or Ido... or Fan..." Rap, of course, had long since departed for
the mainland. So had many, many others.
"Kel will be helping me." Kade frowned. "Ido? Not the chambermaid?"
Inos's heart sank. It would not help to mention that Ido was an excellent rider
and that the two of them had been out six or eight times already recently in
much worse weather than this. "There'll be somebody. " She smiled thanks at old
Nok as he brought her a dish of porridge.
"Yes, but who?" Kade's china-blue eyes assumed the tortured look they always did
in these confrontations with her willful niece.
"Everyone is very busy just now. I shall need to know who is going with you, my
dear. "