"Theodora Goss - The Rose in Twelve Petals" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goss Theodora)

Alice thinks with relief: I'm not going to cry after all. тАЬHe
went away, after his sister died. She had consumption, you
know, for years and years. He was always sending her money
for medicine. He wrote to me once after he left, from Berlin,
to say that he had bought his old master's house. But I never
heard from him again.тАЭ
The Witch wipes her cheeks with the back of one hand. тАЬI
didn't know about his sister. I spoke to him once. He was a
kind man.тАЭ
Alice takes the book from her, then says, carefully, as
though each word has to be placed in the correct order, тАЬDo
you think his spell will work? I mean, do you think I'll really
sleep for a hundred years, rather thanтАФyou know?тАЭ
The Witch looks up, her cheeks still damp, but her face
composed. тАЬI can't answer that for you. You may simply beтАФ
preserved. In a pocket of time, as it were.тАЭ
Alice tugs at the ribbon that binds the book together. тАЬIt
doesn't matter, really. I don't think I care either way.тАЭ She
18 The Rose in Twelve Petals
by Theodora Goss
strokes the spinning wheel, which turns as she touches it.
тАЬHow beautiful, as though it had been made just for me.тАЭ
The Witch raises a hand, to stop her perhaps, or arrest
time itself, but Alice places her finger on the spindle and
presses until a drop of blood blossoms, as dark as the petal of
a Cardinal de Richelieu, and runs into her palm.
Before she falls, she sees the Witch with her head bowed
and her shoulders shaking. She thinks, for no reason she can
remember, Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable...
19 The Rose in Twelve Petals
by Theodora Goss
VIII. The Gardener
Long after, when the gardener has grown into an old man,
he will tell his grandchildren about that day: skittish horses
being harnessed by panicked grooms, nobles struggling with
boxes while their valets carry armchairs and even bedsteads
through the palace halls, the King in a pair of black velvet
slippers shouting directions. The cooks leave the kettles
whistling in the kitchen, the Queen Dowager leaves her jewels
lying where she has dropped them while tripping over the
hem of her nightgown. Everyone runs to escape the spreading
lethargy that has already caught a canary in his cage, who
makes soft noises as he settles into his feathers. The flowers
are closing in the garden, and even the lobsters that the chef
was planning to serve with melted butter for lunch have lain
down in a corner of their tank.
In a few hours, the palace is left to the canary, and the
lobsters, and the Princess lying on the floor of the tower.
He will say, тАЬI was pruning a rosebush at the bottom of the
tower that day. Look what I took away with me!тАЭ Then he will