"Jane Lindskold - Firekeeper Saga 2 - Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindskold Jane)

Lying on his back in the darkness of his bedchamber, King Allister of the Pledge listened to his wife's soft
breathing.

Pearl was pretending to be asleep, even as he was.

Twenty-two years of marriage made fairly certain that neither was fooled. Those same twenty-two years
made certain that each would maintain the farce.

He wondered if the same things kept her awake. There had been so much. The warтАФKing Allister's
War, they were calling it now, as if he had started it. And maybe he had. He had certainly done his part
to end it.

The coronation earlier that dayтАФall those people kneeling before him, swearing oaths. Some had been
truly happy, he thought, but othersтАж He thought he'd seen all the faces that men turn on each other, but
he had seen a new one nowтАж the eyes had been flat, holding no expression at all, while lips smiled or
frowned; you could almost taste the calculation going on behind them. He'd never had power before, so
he'd never seen this bland face that ambitious men turn to power.

But why should he fool himself? Ignoring the true reason for his sleeplessness was as ridiculous as this
game of pretending to Pearl that he was asleep. At least that game served some purpose; at least each
could believe the other might be resting.

Valora's letter. Whether his eyes were opened or closed Allister could summon the text of it before him,
seeing it as glowing silver words against velvet black, though the real letter had been neatly written in
prosaic black ink upon fine vellum. He'd first discovered the letterтАФand the queen's treacheryтАФsoon
after their arrival.

Allister Seagleam, king in all but crown, had arrived with his family and retainers at Silver Whale Cove
mid-afternoon the previous day. The castle itselfтАФa massive stone structure along whose walls both
rounded and square-built towers alternatedтАФhad been built close to the water, on a high point jutting
into the cove. Named Revelation Point Castle for some event in Bright Bay's colonial past, it was the
traditional seat for rulers of the area.

They were hardly through the arched stone gateway before they learned that Queen Valora, the former
Queen Gustin IV, had departed on schedule as promised, taking with her rather more of the castle staff
than was polite, and leaving those who remained in an uproar as they prepared for the formal coronation
that was to be held the next afternoon.

The Keeper of the Keys, an elderly Pelican whose family had held the post since the days of Gustin I,
had been the first to hint that all might not be right. He'd knelt in front of Allister, offering his homage as
was his due and duty.

"I'm Ivory Pelican, Your Majesty," he'd said, extending in front of him a square, flat cushion of dark
purple New Kelvinese silk upon which rested a highly polished bunch of keys. "My title is the Keeper of
the Keys."

"I recognize you," Allister had said, "and confirm you in that title and its tasks and honors, unless you
have reason to wish to be relieved of them."