"Jennifer Fallon - Demon Child 03 - Harshini" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fallon Jennifer)

familiar face was really her enemy? Whose eyes hid treachery and whose were genuine in their
friendship? She escaped the tent with relief, glad finally to be alone. Brak seemed to sense what
bothered her and made no attempt to follow.

She paced the large Defender camp, too restless to seek her bed. Since returning from Sanctuary, R'shiel
found she didn't need sleep the way she once had. While a useful trait at times, in the darkest hours of
the night, when the human spirit was at its lowest ebb, she felt the burden of her destiny keenly. With
Brak's caution about potential enemies ringing in her ears, tonight it seemed harder than usual.


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 Harshini


But she was not unhappy. In fact, it was frightening to discover how much she was enjoying herself. She
had told Brak she did not believe in destiny, but Joyhinia had unwittingly raised her for this. Every
lesson she learnt at Joyhinia's knee was aimed at educating her in the art of survival in the cutthroat
politics of the Sisters of the Blade.

R'shiel had rebelled against it as a child. Now she found it not only useful, but almost exhilarating. She
frequently told Brak that she hated being the demon child, but there were times when it was intoxicating
to have princes and princesses deferring to her. Even the Defenders, who had never treated her as much
more than the annoying little sister of one of their officers, now treated her with cautious awe.

For the first time in her life she understood the attraction of power, but was still idealistic enough to
hope that it would not corrupt her. R'shiel had not yet reached the point where she was willing to
sacrifice anything to achieve her goals. But she was prepared to do a great deal. As Brak had said, she
had chosen which side she would be on. All that remained now was for her to do what the Primal Gods
had created her for - a destiny she had absolutely no idea how she was going to fulfil.

Her thoughts turned to Hythria, and the reason she had agreed to accompany Damin and Adrina south.
Originally, she agreed to go with them to aid Damin's cause and to avert potential trouble now that he
was married to the daughter of Hythria's most despised enemy. But in the past few days R'shiel had
realised she had to go south because that was where the Sorcerers' Collective was located. If anybody
left alive in this world had the knowledge of how to kill a god, the last human practitioners of magic
would. R'shiel had already tasted Xaphista's lure and although she would never admit it to Brak, she
doubted she could hold out against him a second time. She needed knowledge that even the Harshini did
not possess. They had no idea how to kill a god. They couldn't even squash a flea.

Several turns around the large camp in the chilly starlight did nothing to ease her turmoil, so she decided
to sit with Tarja for a time. In the darkness of the infirmary tent, the smell of lye soap sharp in her nose,
she cooled his fevered forehead with a damp rag as he literally fought the demons that possessed him.
Tarja drifted in and out of consciousness, but he never displayed even a hint of recognition. He would lie
quietly at times, and then jerk against the bonds that restrained him so hard R'shiel wondered that the
pallet did not break under the pressure. There was nothing she could do for him but hope. She did not
have enough faith in the gods to waste her time praying.

As she watched him, she wondered if Xaphista would choose Tarja as the instrument of her destruction.
It would be the cruellest jest he could play on her. She loved him; had loved him since she was a child.
But Kalianah, the Goddess of Love, had imposed Tarja's love for her on him. Xaphista had told her that