"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 03 - The Silver Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

did not know me; if I could not predict that she would, I did not know her. So...." He shrugged. "Since it
was not long before my sorrow was gone, I suspect my own feelings were not as deep as she would
have liked, nor as I had assumed."
"It's not as if you were lacking in people willing to console you here!" she pointed out recklessly,
with a feeling of breathlessness that she couldn't explain. She laughed to cover it.
"And that is also true." His smile broadened. "And it was not long before I felt no real need of such
consolation, as I had another interest to concentrate on."
Her feeling of breathlessness intensified; this was the nearest he had come to flirting with her, and yet
behind the playfulness, there was more than a hint of seriousness. Did she want that? She didn't know.
And nowтАФshe was very glad that she was going to have three months to think about it.
"Well, I think, on the whole, it will be a good thing for you to have six months to learn what it is that
Blade is made of," he said, in a lighter tone. "And I shall have the benefit of knowing that there will be no
other young men at this outpost that may convince you to turn your attentions elsewhere. So any
decisions you makeтАФconcerning our friendshipтАФwill be decisions made by you, only."
She snorted. "As if any young man could 'make me change my mind' about anything important!" she
replied, just a little sharply.
"Which only proves that I cannot claim to know you any better than any other friend!" he countered.
"You see? This much I do understand; you have a strong sense of duty, and that will always be the first in
your heart. I would like to think that I am the same. So, whatever, we must reconcile ourselves to that
before we make any other commitments."
It was her turn to shrug. "That seems reasonable... but it isn't exactly... romantic." That last came out
much more plaintively than she had expected, or intended.
"Well, if it is a romantic parting that you wishтАФ" He grinned. "I can be both practical and romantic,
as, I suspect, can you." He took one of her hands, but only one, and looked directly into her eyes.
"Silverblade, I crossed an empire, I left my land and all I have ever known. I did not expect to find
someone like you here, and yetтАФI do not follow some of my people's reasoning that all is foredestined,
but it sometimes seems as if I was drawn here because you were here. Now I know something of what I
am. I believe that there is in you a spirit that would make a match for my own. If, in the end, a few
months more will bring us together, such a wait will be no hardship." He patted her hand. "I trust that is
romance enough for your practical soul?"
She laughed giddily. "I think so," she said, feeling as light-headed, as if she had just drunk an entire
bottle of wine. "IтАФI'm not nearly that eloquentтАФ"
"Neither is the falcon," he said, releasing her hand. "But she is admirable for her grace without need
of eloquence. Go become a passage bird, Silverblade. When you return, we shall try out hunting in a cast
of two."

Blade hadn't needed to do all that much packing last night, but she had pretended that she didтАФand
as soon as she was done, she blew out her candle and willed herself to sleep. The need for rest was real,
and if she had not torn herself away from her overly-concerned parents, she would not have gotten any.
They would have kept her up all night with questions, most of which she didn't have any answers to, since
all of them were fairly philosophical rather than practical.
She dressed quickly and quietly, and without relighting her candle. With any luck, only her mother
would be awake; Winterhart, for some reason, seemed to be handling this better than her spouse. Don't
people usually complain that their mothers never see them as grown up? she thought, as she pulled
on a pair of light boots, then fastened the silver gryphon badge to the breast of her tunic.
The Silvers had no regular uniform; Judeth thought it better that they wear the same clothing as those
around them. Uniforms might remind people too much of the regular troops, and war, and even the most
battle-hardened wanted to put warfare far behind them.
NowтАФif I can just walk quietly enough, I might be able to get out of here without another
discussion of my life-view.