"Sharon Green - Lady Blade, Lord Fighter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

unmarried but pregnant. The Duke's temper was unlikely to register the fact that his courier was scarcely
apt to be the one responsible. . . .

The lady Sofaltis of the Duchy of Gensea, involved with a Blade of a Sword Company!

Trmper's shudder reached through to his mount, causing the patient, steady beast to raise its head in
momentary distraction. The gelding was hardly the sort of horse to grow skittish, for which Timper was
profoundly grateful. He was skittish enough for the two of them, especially after being sent by the
Company clerk to the barracks, and from the barracks to a house in the city itseif. His demanding the
whereabouts of the lady Sofaltis had gotten him no more than grinning silence, and he'd actually had to
pay those oversized mercenaries for what he needed to know: where the lady was, and nothing more. The
least they could have done was tell

LADY BLADE, LORD FIGHTER 7

him which of the Blades she was involved with, of high rank or low, so that he would have some idea of
the amount of difficulty he would face when the man found he was to lose the lady's company. Possibly
he should have hired his return escort before continuing his search, but mercenaries were so unreasonably
expensive, and he had no idea how long it would take the lady to have her gowns and possessions packed.

Timper sighed again as he automatically counted streets, then guided his horse right into one whose name
post was conspicuously absent. It was the third or fourth he'd passed that had been rendered anonymous in
just that way, the expected fruits of having carousing mercenaries rollicking through a city. Duke Rilfe
would never have allowed that to happen in their city, but what else was to be expected of those of the
north? Even the nobility there seemed touched with the same tainted outlook, looseness of morals, little or
no sense of duty, a scandalous lack of pietyтАФwhy, when he'd asked the Countess if he might have a
moment or two with her house priest for the easing of his soul, she'd actually informed him that her house
had only a priest of Evon, no priest of Grail! The courier was sure he'd successfully hidden his shock at
that, but the Countess hadn't been equally successful at masking her unexplained amusement.

There, almost exactly mid-block on the left, was certainly the house he'd been directed to look for!
Timper took in the three torches burning calmly on the front of the large, setback, freely-standing house,
the modest metal spear-fence that stood invitingly open, the demurely draped windows that nevertheless
showed a hint of lamplight behind them, and guided his mount through the fence and toward the high-
pillared front door. He still had no idea whose house he was about to peremptorily enter, but that made
little difference to him. He was a courier, empowered to enter anywhere and everywhere to deliver his
message, and that would be known to whomever resided in that house. If he hadn't been so cold he would
have straightened his shoulders and raised his chin, but gestures like that would have to wait until he was
indoors and warm again.

As he drew rein and began to dismount in front of the wide steps of the residence, the front door opened
unexpectedly


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8 Sharon Green