"Glenda Larke - Heart of the Mirage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Larke Glenda)

I.Tide. (Series : Larke, Glenda. Mirage Makers ; bk. 1). A823.3
Map by Perdita Phillips
Cover illustration by Shane Parker
Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio
Typeset in 1 Opt Minion by Kirby Jones
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press on 50gsm Bulky News
5432 1 06 07 08 09
For Mark and Mads
two people I wish I had known sooner,
with love and thanks
From my early childhood, my life was paved with the mosaics of illusion, each
piece another tale of deceit тАФ or delusion. A history of betrayal...
Betrayal of a child, and of children.
Betrayal of family, by those who thought they knew what was right.
Betrayal of their nation, by those who loved their country.
Betrayal by fathers, of those they fathered.
Betrayal by friends, of those they loved.
Betrayal by rulers, of those they ruled.
This is a story of treachery: my treachery, and the treachery of those who
betrayed me.
It is the story of mirages, and of those who made them.
It is my story.
LIGEA
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
When an emperor laughs about you behind your back, you know you are in
trouble.
When the person speaking to the emperor at the time of his self-satisfied and
smug amusement is the Magister Officii, your immediate superior and a man with
a cruel sense of humour, well, then you know you ought to find a way to melt
into the floor and disappear. If you can't do that, you stride up and down the
anteroom to the royal audience hall instead. The carpet, fifteen paces long,
showed signs of wear down the centre, so I knew I wasn't the first person to
pace while waiting to be called into the august presence of Bator Korbus, Lord
of Tyr, High General of Tyrans and Exaltarch of the Tyranian Empire.
If I concentrated, I could feel the Exaltarch's presence in the next room. If
I focused my concentration, I could determine his emotions, although once I
became aware of them, I wondered if I hadn't been happier ignorant. He exuded
a ruthless confidence, like a wily feral dog delighting in its position as
leader of the pack. And I knew the topic of his conversation with Magister
Rathrox Ligatan was
me: why else would I have been called here to wait while the two men chatted?
Rathrox headed the civil service, everyone knew that. Not so widely known was
his interest in personally directing the Exaltarch's Brotherhood Compeers, of
which I was a female agent.
Although I knew Rathrox well, his emotions were harder to divine through the
walls of the audience hall. I thought I detected a certain watchfulness, and
perhaps an amused tolerance towards his emperor, stopping just short of
lese-majesty. Even a civil servant as powerful as the Magister Officii knew
better than to ridicule a ruler whose power was absolute.