"Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake 15 - The Harlequin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

"Nathaniel didn't buy it."

"It is not like you to speak in riddles, ma petite."

"Ask me what it is," I said.

"What is it?" and his voice was sliding into that blankness he did so well.

"A mask."

"What color is it?"

"You don't sound surprised," I said.

"What color is it, ma petite?"

"What does that matter?"

"It matters."

"White, why?"

He let out a breath I hadn't known he was holding, and spoke softly and heatedly in French for several
minutes, until I could get him calmed down enough to speak English to me.

"It is good news, and bad, ma petite. White means they have come to observe us, not to harm us."

I moved so that my hand covered my mouth as I talked. I wanted to keep an eye on the drifting crowd,
but I didn't want some human to overhear what promised to be a tricky conversation. But I didn't want to
go outside until I found out how much danger we were in. The crowd was both a danger and a help.
Most bad guys are reluctant to start cutting people up in a crowd. "What color would mean harm?" I
asked.

"Red."

"Okay, who is they, because I assume this means we've been contacted by the mystery whoever."

"It does."

"So who are they, what are they? And why the hell this cloak-and-dagger shit with the mask? Why not a
letter or a phone call?"
"I am not certain. They would normally have sent the mask to me, as Master of the City."

"Why send it to me, then?"

"I do not know, ma petite" He sounded angry, and he didn't usually get angry this easily.

"You're scared."

"Very."