"Laurell K. Hamilton - Ravenloft - Death of a Darklord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

gravy-covered tip a fingerтАЩs breadth from his nose. тАЬHarry Fidel, you donтАЩt know your place.тАЭ тАЬMe place
is in this sweet-smelling kitchen as often as I can manage it.тАЭ
 Tereza interrupted, тАЬAre the horses ready, Harry?тАЭ He grinned at her, bringing his nose perilously close
to the spoon. тАЬAye, thatтАЩs what I come to tell ye.тАЭ

тАЬThen we can go,тАЭ Konrad said. They all moved toward the door. The cold air pushed at them like an
invisible wall. Elaine drew her cloak as tight about her as she could, shivering in the frigid air. She glanced
back as Jonathan closed the door. Harry the stableman was sitting in the straight-backed chair, snowy
boots stretched out before the fire.

Mala was dipping out a bowl of stew, her anger apparently gone. She had been widowed for nearly two
years. Elaine said the two would be married before the end of the year. Elaine wasnтАЩt so sure, but then
Blaine was better at guessing about people. He always joked that his hunches were better than her
visions about matters of the heart. Her visions tended to be more violent than romantic. The wind
whistled just outside the door, picking up the crystalline snow, flinging it into the air. The icy crystals stung
ElaineтАЩs face. She jerked away from the wind. The movement threw her hood back, and her hair
streamed across her face, blinding her. The cold wind made her gasp. She struggled to pull her hood
back in place. Strands of hair clung to her suddenly icy skin. What warmth the tea and blanket had put
back into her body the wind stole.

Elaine stood in the snow-swept courtyard, swaying on her feet. Tereza was suddenly beside her, taking
her arm. She didnтАЩt ask if Elaine was all right. She just began to lead her toward the stables. Elaine
stumbled; only TerezaтАЩs hands kept her upright. тАЬYou need to go back inside, Elaine.тАЭ

She tried to say, no, but no sound came out. She finally shook her head. Tereza pulled her inside the
warmth of the stable and leaned her against the wooden wall. тАЬYou canтАЩt go like this.тАЭ

тАЬYou said . . . you could throw me . . . over a horse.тАЭ

Tereza frowned. тАЬI didnтАЩt mean it literally.тАЭ

Elaine just looked at her, too shaky to do much else. тАЬWhatтАЩs wrong with her?тАЭ Konrad asked. He was
already checking the horseтАЩs harness. Konrad always checked the horses, even though Harry was never
careless. Konrad trusted nothing and no one.

Elaine remembered him before the death of his wife. He had smiled, even laughed. He had trusted others
to do their jobs. Now he was a dour man who seemed to believe in nothing. His wife had been killed by
an ambush, by betrayal. They never knew who had betrayed them. Blaine said that was what bothered
Konrad the most, that someone they had trusted had betrayed them. Elaine wasnтАЩt sure, but she knew
something had died in Konrad. Some spark of warmth had gone to the grave with his wife.

ElaineтАЩs mare was a large, broad-hipped gray horse. Blaine said the mare looked like a plow horse, but
Elaine was not the rider her brother was, so she was glad of the docile mare. A horse that would walk
quietly all day, her broad hooves surefooted, her patience endless. It was on her broad back that all the
children first rode.

Tereza helped Elaine mount the mare. She leaned over, hands grasping the stiff mane, cheek pressed
against the smooth hair of the neck. Tereza smoothed back the hood, touching her cheek. тАЬYour skin is
cold.тАЭ Elaine stayed slumped against the horse. She was so cold. The only warm parts were her eyes,
where hot tears were forming. тАЬLead the horse.тАЭ Tereza shook her head but didnтАЩt argue. She slipped the