"Duncan, Dave - A Man Of His Word 02 - Faery Lands Forlorn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

Musk and flower scent hung in the air like syrup.
Despite her worry over Rap and the others, despite her bonedeep weariness, Inos
was intrigued by these exotic, alien rooms. They were like nothing she had ever
seen, not even in the Duke of Kinvale's collection of lithographs; a collection
that he had amassed from all over the Impire, and had inflicted on her during
several mind-numbing afternoons. Neither in art nor reality had she ever seen
decor so alien. Double doors vast enough to admit a coach and four stood shut;
against the opposite wall was an absurdly huge bed, the largest four-poster in
the world, wide and high, draped in filmy gauze. Then her eyes had adjusted to
the gloom and the nature of some of the statuary penetrated her fog-shrouded
mind. She took an incredulous second look at the illustrations on the walls and
was suddenly very glad that such obscenities were so poorly lighted. Kade would
have an apoplectic fit.
Hastily Inos turned her attention back to the sorceress. Surely the legionaries
would be breaking down the door by now? "You must save them!"
Rasha spun around. "Must? You say must to me, child?"
"I'm sorry, your Majesty! But I beg of you please save them!"
"Why should I?" inquired the sorceress, smirking. "Because they'll be killed!"
"Better than what you'd have got, dearie, if I'd left you there! You know what
gangs of men do to pretty girls?"
"No!" Inos had never even considered such a thing. Imperial legionaries? A band
of raiding jotnar, certainly, but not the imperor's army! It had been Rap who
had been in danger, and the goblin, also-not her! "Not that!"
"Yes, that! " the sorceress said, her mouth twisting in an expression Inos could
not read. "I know more about men than you'll ever guess at it, sweetie girl.
Believe me, I know!"
Inos was still a couple of steps up, staring down at her in horror. Possibly the
sorceress thought she was not being believed, because she suddenly discarded
about twenty years, to become again the gem-bedecked, sylphlike maiden who had
so bewitched Rap, her flesh glowing hot and tantalizing through garments of
mist.
She smiled mockingly up at Inos. "All men have to do is die, and they have to do
that eventually, don't they? That's nothing compared to what a woman might get.
What do I owe them? What does any woman owe a man, ever?" She glanced past Inos,
apparently at Azak. "Well, Wonderstud?"
Receiving no answer, she chuckled and turned away, sauntering toward the great
bed with her hips swinging, ruddy flesh and ox-blood hair shining through
garments that seemed to have become flimsier than ever, over a body even more
voluptuous.
Inos had heard of women who dressed like that and behaved like that-had heard of
them mostly in whispered tales in the castle kitchens. She had never expected to
see a queen do such things.
Shakily she descended the last couple of steps, fighting back tears, trying to
scrape some last trace of strength from the bottom of her personal barrel. Her
knees trembled with exhaustion. Her head told her that the sultana's palace was
rocking gently, like a ship, and that was not very likely. Soon she would simply
fall over. Oh, Rap! Rasha must be a very powerful sorceress, but she might be
crazy, also. Was her hatred of men genuine? Had she endured the sort of
experience she had hinted at?
Could anyone ever believe anything said around here?