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

told the truth. The bewilderment as she tried to fathom questions that became mystery. And the love she
had for him. A love she now felt free to offer him, like a gift.
Perhaps it was that last that surprised him the most. :You don't mind?: he asked, incredulously.
He could hardly believe it. Like many youngsters in adolescence, she'd been a little touchy around him of
late. He'd assumed that it was because she felt uncomfortable around him - and in truth, he'd expected it.
Jisa knew what he was, that he was shaych, and what that meant, at least insofar as understanding that he
preferred men as close companions. Neither he nor her parents had seen any point in trying to hide that
from her; she'd always been a precocious child, as evidenced by this little surprise. :You really don't
mind?: he repeated, dazed.
"Why should I mind?" she asked aloud, and hugged him harder. "Just - tell me why? Why isn't
Papa my father - and why is it you?"
So he had, as simply and clearly as he could. She might have been barely over twelve, but she'd
taken in his words with the understanding of someone much older.
She left him amazed.
She'd finally gone off to her bed - but had sent him back to his treaty both - bewildered and
flattered, that she admired him so very much. . . .
And loved him so very much.
She still loved him, admired him, and trusted him; sometimes she trusted him more than her
"parents." Certainly she confided more in him than in Shavri.
He shook his head a little, and continued down the cobbled path that would lead him eventually
to the door out of the garden. Poor Jisa. Shavri leans on her as if she were an adult - depends on
her for so much - it hardly seems fair.
Then again, maybe I should envy the little minx. I still can't get my parents to think of me as an
adult.
All too soon he came to the end of the path. Buried in a tangle of hedges and vines was the
chipped, green-painted door. He opened it, and stepped into the darkened hallway of the Queen's suite.
The rooms were just as neglected as the garden had been; dark, full of dusty furniture, and with a
faint ghost of Elspeth's violet perfume still hanging in the air. Shavri had never felt comfortable here, and
Randale had deemed it politic (after much discussion) to leave this suite empty as a sign that he might
take a Queen.
That "might" had been hard-won from Randi - because although Shavri was both his King's Own
and his lifebonded love, his advisors (Vanyel among them) had managed to convince him that he should
at least appear to be free to make an alliance and seal it with a wedding.
Shavri had seen the need, but Randale had been rebellious, even angry with them. But after hours
of argument, even he could not deny the fact that Valdemar's safety would be ill-served if he acted to
please only himself. It was a lesson Trev was going to have to learn all too soon.
Fortunately Shavri - lovely, quiet Shavri - had backed them with all the will in her slender body.
And that was considerable, for she was a full and powerful Healer as well as being a Herald.
Herald-Mages were rare; before Taver Chose Shavri, Valdemar had never seen a Herald-Healer. Van
hoped the need would never arise for there to be another.
Vanyel eased through the rooms with a sense, as always, that he was disturbing something. Dust
motes hung in the sunbeams that shone through places where the curtains had parted. Despite that hint of
perfume, there was no sense of "presence" - it was rather as though what he was disturbing were the
rooms themselves rather than something inhabiting them. There were several places in the Palace like
that; places where it seemed as if the walls themselves were alive. . . .
Taver had Chosen Shavri when Lancir had died - just before Elspeth herself had passed. The
Heralds had been puzzled; they hadn't known why a Healer should be Chosen, though most assumed it
was for lack of a more suitable candidate, or simply because Shavri and Randale were lifebonded. Only
later, when Shavri couldn't seem to conceive for all her trying, did she suspect that the reason for Taver's
taking her was that something was wrong with Randi.