"Mercedes Lackey - Last Herald Mage 3 - Magic's Price" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

:Then why don't you go find Trev? He's probably looking for you.: Van chuckled. Everyone
who knew them knew that the two had been inseparable from the moment Treven stepped onto the
Palace grounds. That pleased most of the Circle and Court - except those young ladies of the Court who
cherished an infatuation with the handsome young Herald. Treven was a finely-honed, blond copy of his
distant cousin Herald Tantras, one with all of Tran's defects - not that there were many - corrected. He
had half the girls of the Court trailing languidly after him.
And he was Jisa's, utterly and completely. His loyalty was without question - and no one among
the Gifted had any doubts as to his love for her.
Sometimes that worried Van; not that they were so strongly attracted to each other, but because
Treven was likely to have to make an alliance-marriage, just the way his grandmother, Queen Elspeth,
had.
It would never be a marriage in more than name, Vanyel was certain of that. There were
conditions in Treven's case that his grandmother and cousin had not ever needed to consider. Elspeth had
not been a Mindspeaker; Randi wasn't much of one. No one but another Herald with that particular Gift
could guess how distasteful it would be for a powerful Mindspeaker like Trev to make love to someone
who was not only mind-blocked, but a total stranger. Probably a frightened, unhappy stranger.
One wonders how any Mindspeaking Monarch could be anything but chaste. . . .
Yet the Monarchs of Valdemar had done their duty before, and likely would do so again.
Probably Trev would have to, as well. Yes, it was heartrending, but it was a fact of life. Heralds did a lot
of things they didn't always like. As far as that went, for the good of Valdemar, Vanyel could and would
have bedded anyone or anything.
In fact, he had done something of the sort, though it hadn't been exactly disagreeable; Van had
fathered Jisa with poor, dear Shavri, when Randale proved to be sterile - even though his preference
was, then and now, for his own sex. . . .
Shaych, they called it now-from the Tayledras word shay'a'chern, though only a handful of
people in all of Valdemar knew that. Though openly shaych, he'd given Shavri a child because Randale
couldn't, and because she'd wanted one so desperately - Randi needed his lifebonded stable and whole,
and the need for a child had been tearing her apart.
And her pregnancy had stilled any rumors that Randale might not be capable of fathering a child,
which kept the channels open for proposals of alliance-marriages to him, at least until his illness became
too severe to hide.
But because Randale had needed to keep those lines open - and because Shavri was terrified of
even the idea of ruling - he'd never married his lifebonded. So when it became evident that Randale was
desperately ill, and that the Companions "inexplicably" were not going to Choose Jisa, Randale's
collateral lines had been searched for a suitable candidate.
Treven was the only possible choice at that point; he'd been Chosen two years ago, he was a
Mindspeaker as powerful as Vanyel. He understood the principles of governing - at least so far as they
applied to his own parents' Border-barony, since he'd been acting as his father's right-hand man since he
was nine.
Jisa had loved him from the moment he'd crossed the threshold of the Palace. It wasn't obligatory
for the King's Own to be in love with her monarch, but Vanyel was of the opinion that it helped. . . .
Except that it makes things awfully complicated.
:She's not a child anymore,: Yfandes reminded him. At that point he really looked at her, and
saw the body of a young woman defining the shape of what had been shapeless before this year.
:Let's not borrow trouble before we have to,: he thought back at his Companion, avoiding the
topic.
Jisa looked back at him with those too-old, too-wise eyes. :Trev's waiting for me; he sent me
to you. Sometimes he knows what I need before I do.:
He released her, and stepped back a pace. :Think you still need me?:
She shook her head, and pulled her hair back over her shoulders. :No, I think I'll be all right,