"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 08 - A Time Of Justice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

At the end of the meal, Slaecca spoke to one of the serving lasses, who trotted off only to return in a few
minutes with another servant, a blonde woman, heavy-breasted yet lithe. If she's the one with the bastard,
Dwaen thought, it's no wonder.

'Now here,тАЩ the dowager was saying. 'How old is your baby?'

'Just a year, my lady.'

'Well, it would be hard for you to tend both your work and him, but when he's two years old, you may
fetch him and bring him to live with you. Let me think on it: mayhap we can find him fosterage closer to
us, so you can visit him more often.'

The lass broke out sobbing and stammered her thanks through a flood of tears. Dwaen noticed Jill
watching with an odd expression, a crafty sort of curiosity, as the lass rose with an awkward curtsey and
fled the great hall. Yet she assumed a small sentimental smile when she noticed the tieryn leaning forward
to speak.

'Now here, Mam, that was kind of you.'

'Well, the poor child!' Slaecca said. 'She looks naught but sixteen, and it was probably some handsome
lout of a rider, pressing her with compliments and little gifts from the day she entered service.'

'And the compliments stopped,тАЩ Jill remarked. 'As soon as her belly began to swell.'

Dwaen had no doubt of that. In a few minutes the women rose to go upstairs and leave the men to their
drinking. Dwaen and Rhodry settled in over flagons of mead and seriously discussed the possible identity
of the traitor in the dun.

'It has to be someone good with a bow,' Dwaen said.

'Well, more like he's just running messages out. If this Lord Beryn hates you so much, he's probably
salting men round the countryside.'

One at a time the tieryn considered the men in his warband and his noble-born servitors, even though the
very wondering ached his heart. That one of his own men, someone who'd pledged his life to him in
return for his shelter would turn against him was worse than a physical blow. Although he wanted to
believe the traitor a servant, there he was at a decided disadvantage, because he barely knew one
servant from another.

'We'll have to question your chamberlain, Your Grace,' Rhodry said at last, 'Can he be trusted?'
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'By the gods, I always thought so! Brocyl served my father for twenty long years.'

тАШThen there's no reason for him to turn against you now.тАЩ