"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

evening before king and councillor were to ride out, an amazingly strong and heavy yet stunningly
beautiful casket, with double walls, two locking lids, and a secret compartment in the bottom to hide the
actual tablet.

тАЬIтАЩll solder up the compartment, and you put a few spells on it, my lord,тАЭ Otho said cheerfully, тАЬand the
Lord of Hell himself couldnтАЩt get in or out of it.тАЭ

тАЬI believe you. Why, it must weigh close to two stones.тАЭ

тАЬBlasted near, blasted near. And I put all that fancy work round the top, just like you asked, so no one
will wonder why itтАЩs in a ladyтАЩs chamber. I rather fancy the way the roses came out, myself. The ladies
do like a nice floral design.тАЭ

тАЬI like it myself, actually. Name your price, and IтАЩll get it for you.тАЭ

For a long moment Otho hesitated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and back again, and
from the agonized look on his face he was a man sorely torn and troubled. Finally he sighed as if his heart
would break.

тАЬNaught, my lord. Take it as a gift for the one true king arid his grand little queen.тАЭ

тАЬOtho! My humble, humble thanks.тАЭ

тАЬHah! I know what youтАЩre thinking. Never thought youтАЩd see the day when IтАЩd do a bit of work for free,
did you?тАЭ All at once he grinned. тАЬAnd no more did I.тАЭ

That evening Maryn had one last council to hold with his warlords, and Nevyn took that opportunity to
visit Bellyra up in the womenтАЩs hall, which his great age would allow him to enter. He found her sitting in a
high-backed carved chair, with her newly chosen serving women sitting round her and a ginger cat and
four kits lying on a green silk cushion nearby, but even in her red silk dress with a queenly brooch pinned
to her shoulder, she looked so young and lost that he had grave doubts about his plan. Yet he had no
other choice, and when she greeted him, warmly and yet with the right degree of distance between their
stations, he could see in her eyes the strong woman she would become.

тАЬYour Highness, I beg a boonтАФa word alone with you.тАЭ
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тАЬOf course.тАЭ She turned to her women and dismissed them with a gracious wave of one hand. тАЬYou may
rejoin us in a bit, and we can all have a nice goblet of wine or suchlike.тАЭ

Smiling and curtsying, they all withdrew, and he could hear them chattering down the hall on their way to
round up a servant to fetch the refreshments. Without waiting to be asked Nevyn sat down next to her
and launched into his story, though he did omit telling her about the dismembered baby, just to spare her
feelings. As she listened her wide eyes grew even wider, and she became all still attention.

тАЬWill you take this thing and hide it, Your Highness?тАЭ