"Alphabet Of Thorn" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

УWhat?Ф

УGo down far enough to hear the sea.Ф


She is utterly exasperating,Ф Vevay told Gavin that night while he laughed. УAnd whatТs so funny? She has no direct heir. If she had fallen into the sea, the Twelve Crowns of Raine would be spending the next century bickering over who should inherit the realm.Ф

УShe didnТt fall.Ф

УSheТs not a child anymore; she canТt just go off looking for seashells whenever Ч Ф

УShe is grieving, too,Ф he reminded her gently. УSheТll learn. I have faith in you.Ф

УI donТt,Ф Vevay said bleakly. УI donТt understand her at all.Ф

УWhat were you like at that age?Ф

УHow should I know? I barely remember the last century.Ф She stiffened then, pulled away from him. УI shouldnТt say such things to you. YouТre still a child.Ф

He dropped an arm over her shoulders, pulled her back. УDonТt be absurd. You enchant me.Ф

УStill?Ф

УAlways.Ф

Content in his hold, she didnТt pursue the matter, though she knew she would never be entirely secure. УYou could help,Ф she suggested. УYou were her fatherТs greatest general; he always looked to you for advice.Ф

УIТm an old man,Ф he reminded her. УI could fight and die for her sake, but I canТt protect her from whatever Crowns might conspire against her.Ф

УShe doesnТt even understand such threats yet. The kingdom of Raine is very old, but she hasnТt learned that it is not immortal. She has no idea what brute forces and subtleties hold a realm together. Maybe you could explain more clearly than I can.Ф

Gavin was silent a moment, savoring some memory of the dead king; Vevay felt him sigh noiselessly. УHer father spent his life eluding rebellion and war precisely because he constantly anticipated them. He understood how precariously this palace sits on the edge of the world. How do I begin to explain that?Ф

УI donТt know,Ф Vevay said tautly. УSomeone must.Ф

УShe needs to study the history of her realm.Ф

УShe needs Ч Ф She shook her head helplessly. УSo much. I donТt even know where to begin.Ф

He drank wine, set his cup down. УTomorrow,Ф he suggested. УYouТre tired now. Begin again tomorrow.Ф

He eased his long body beside her, one arm loosely across her, the other crooked beneath his head. He had held her lightly through the years, she knew, because he had never been entirely secure either, during the long, busy, unpredictable life they had made together. She seemed, he had complained more than once, always at the point of vanishing.

But I am here, she thought. Now. This is what we have now, this moment of peace. Humans die, mages vanishЕ

УYouТve gone somewhere,Ф she heard. УI am holding you in my arms, but you have disappeared.Ф

She came back, glanced up at his strong, craggy face, with its grizzled brows and slackened skin, the faded scar on one cheekbone from when he had turned his head during battle and an arrow had skimmed across his skin instead of striking him. He met her eyes. His own were light blue. She had seen that blue blaze like sun-struck ice; they were mild now, quizzical.

УWhere were you?Ф