"Mercedes Lackey - Brightly Burning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

тАЬIтАЩll send to the herbalist for something better than willow tea for your head. Meanwhile, you lie back
down.тАЭ He obeyed, meekly, and she felt his forehead with a surprisingly gentle expression on her face.
тАЬLavan, youтАЩve been driving me to distraction since we moved to Haven, but I still love you. ItтАЩs not been
easy for the rest of us here in Haven either.тАЭ
A pang of conscience penetrated the pain in his head. тАЬIтАЩm sorry,тАЭ he mumbled, feeling ashamed.
тАЬJust keep on with this school as you have been, and you wonтАЩt have a reason to feel sorry
anymore,тАЭ she said, spoiling his moment of contrition, as she put the hot-bag back on his forehead.
Just keep on with the school-if the Tyrant will let me! he thought in despair, and the headache
returned with a vengeance.
As aromas that should have been savory and only made him feel sick floated up from the kitchen,
he fought down nausea and his pain.
When footsteps came up the stairs again, he thought it was the servant with the promised tray,
and took off the hot-bag to send her away. But it wasnтАЩt; it was the maidservant all right, a vaguely pretty
girl with a round face and red cheeks, but she had a bottle and spoon in one hand, and another hot-bag
wrapped in a new towel dangling from the other.
тАЬThis is from the herbalist for you,тАЭ the maid said, with a sympathetic smile, holding out the bottle
and spoon. тАЬJust take a spoonful; he says itтАЩs mortal strong.тАЭ Lan was surprised and touched by the
sympathy. Evidently, now that it was clear he wasnтАЩt making his illness up, the servants were less inclined
to be critical of him.
She left the hot-bag beside him as he took the medicine from her, leaving him alone in the
darkening room. After a moment of thought, he lit his candles at his fireplace, although bending over
nearly made him pass out.
Strange. I donтАЩt remember anyone coming in to light the fire. It hadnтАЩt been lit when he came
home, had it?
I-I must have forgotten, my head hurt so much. When the room was full of light, he stripped
and got into his nightclothes and got properly into bed, just in case the medicine was as strong as it was
supposed to be. He didnтАЩt have a great deal of faith in the promises of herbalists, but it might very well be
powerful.
His skin felt tender again, that slightly-sunburned feeling. As he stretched out under the
bedclothes with the new hot-bag on his head, he was glad heтАЩd gotten out of his clothing. The wool trews
had been itchy; the soft linen felt much better.
Downstairs, people were starting to arrive home, and the house hummed with conversation and
activity. No one else came near him, though; he experienced the odd sensation of eavesdropping on his
own family.
As if I were a ghost.
It was . . . interesting. The maid had left his door open, so he heard most of what was going on
fairly clearly. No one seemed to notice his absence until dinner, when his motherтАЩs brief explanation
brought an expression of detached sympathy from Sam, and an exclamation of тАЬDonтАЩt let him get near
me!тАЭ from his sister.
But it was just about then that the herbalistтАЩs remedy started to take effect, and Lan couldnтАЩt
have cared if they had all voted to wrap him in a plague banner and chase him out of town.
It began with a dulling of the pain, followed by the oddest sensation of floating. The more the pain
left, the more the euphoria took over. At some point, about midway through dinner downstairs, an
irresistible tug toward sleep took over where the euphoria ended. He didnтАЩt even try to fight it.
When he woke, it was broad daylight, and the headache was still with him, although it wasnтАЩt
nearly as bad as it had been last night. The hot-bag had slipped off his head and onto the floor during the
night; he opened his eyes just long enough to tell that it was, indeed, morning. He thought about taking a
second dose of medicine, but his stomach rumbled and that decided him against it. He wanted something
to eat first; then heтАЩd let the medicine knock him over.
He smelled the frying ham and bacon of breakfast cooking downstairs, and his stomach rumbled