"Patricia A. McKillip - In the Forests of Serre" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

unpredictable move, and closed the casement; the wild, urgent voice of the
water receded. тАЬGet dressed. You will not spend another night listening to this.
You will be under guard until your wedding.тАЭ He came very close to Ronan
again, laid a hand on his shoulder. What might have seemed a gesture of
reconciliation weighed like stone on RonanтАЩs shoulder, weighed like the rough,
massive walls of the tower itself, as the king summoned his private strength.
Ronan yielded finally, loosing a cry of despair as he fell to his knees. Hands
clenched, head bowed to hide tears of fury and humiliation, he heard his father
cross the room, open the door, then stop.
Someone spoke a word or two. Ronan raised his head slightly, recognizing
the soft, mourning dove voice. The door closed again; his mother, Calandra,
crossed the room quickly, knelt in front of Ronan.
He felt her hands frame his face, coax him gently until he lifted it finally,
showed her his angry, defeated eyes. He saw the stark relief in hers, and
realized that she had not expected him to return.
But, he thought, getting wearily to his feet, he did not seem to be good at
dying. He had offered himself in battle and, beyond a scratch or two, had been
rejected; a witch had invited him to become her next meal and he had refused.
He began, clumsily, to push buttons into loops down the front of his tunic. His
hands shook. The queen drew them into hers, kissed them as though he were
still a child.
тАЬLet me,тАЭ she said, eyeing the haphazard hang of hem. тАЬYou started wrong.тАЭ
He watched the braids of chestnut and gold crowning her head drop lower,
button by button. Her hair had begun to lighten since he had seen her last, lose
its rich lustre. But the ghost of her fine, delicate beauty still haunted her: the
memory of what she had been before she realized what, in marrying Ferus of
Serre, she would become. When Ronan was very young, she had still known
how to laugh. He remembered her fury more easily, her tears, her cries of
outrage and pain. Those, like her laughter, had become less frequent in later
years, when Ronan grew old enough and strong enough to decide for himself
what he could bear. In his early years, after his father had driven them both to
tears, she would hold him in her arms and tell him stories.
He remembered that now. She turned her face briefly, to look at him, working
at the last of the buttons. He whispered numbly, тАЬHe wants me to marry.тАЭ
тАЬI know.тАЭ
Still his voice would not sound. тАЬHe canтАЩt see тАФ he canтАЩt see that it is
impossible. тАЭ
тАЬNo.тАЭ She reached the hem and straightened. She was quite tall; her gaze was
almost level, grey and still like an autumn sky. тАЬHe canтАЩt see.тАЭ She touched his
face again. тАЬYou came back. I didnтАЩt think you would.тАЭ
тАЬI wish I had known,тАЭ he said more clearly, тАЬwhat I would be coming back
to.тАЭ He glanced around at the tower walls, searching blindly for some way out,
some way around; memory struck him again, and he gave a faint, bitter laugh. тАЬI
have to give the witch her due; she does know a bad day when she sees one
coming.тАЭ
тАЬWitch?тАЭ
тАЬBrume. I met her in the forest this morning. You used to tell me tales of her;
thatтАЩs how I recognized her.тАЭ
The queen raised a slender hand, pushed a knuckle and her wedding ring
against her mouth. The mingling of fear and wonder in her eyes startled Ronan;