"Elizabeth Moon - Gird 02 - Liar's Oath" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

water.
Arranha shrugged again. тАЬItтАЩs likely she couldnтАЩt. She may have been sent far away; she may have died. That I donтАЩt
know. Your problems were not her fault, Luap, any more than they were yours.тАЭ
Too much too soon. His mind ached, overstretched with new and uncomfortable revelations. He had had it all organized,
he thought, his past tidied into a coherent tale of childhood wrongs and struggles flowing logically into the conflicts of his
adult life. He had constructed it of his own pain, his own understanding, and he had become comfortable with it. Now he
must revise it, and found he was unwilling to do so. Tentatively, somewhere in his head, a new version began to take
shape, safely remote from the otherтАж something he could revise, to bring it into conformance. A tragic king, struggling
against destinyтАФan equally tragic peasant victim, a child doomed from the start to be less than anyoneтАЩs hopes, including
his own.
He spent the rest of that day pretending to write, hoping no one would ask what he was doing. He wanted no supper, but
knew that if he did not eat with the others, someone would ask questions. So he forced the food down, complained with
the others of the heat, and spent a restless night by his window, staring at a sky whose stars held no messages for him.



The old lady returned days later, as Arranha had predicted. In those two days, Luap had struggled to regain the balance
she had disrupted. Arranha had told Gird which king had really fathered him; Gird had grunted, scowling, and then given
Luap one of his looks.
тАЬWhat difference dтАЩyou think it makes?тАЭ Gird had asked. Luap felt abraded by the look and the question, as if the mere
fact of stating his real parentage had been an evasion, or a request for something Gird could not approve. He realized heтАЩd
hoped for understanding, for Gird to move toward a more fatherly or brotherly relationship, but now he saw that could not
happen. Anything that reminded Gird of his fatherтАЩs blood and rankтАФeven this, which should have made it
betterтАФaroused the old antagonism.
This day she came early, before the late-morning heat. He heard, again, her voice below, and went down to meet her. Be
gentle, Arranha had said; he wasnтАЩt sure he could be gentle, but he could be courteous. She wore a dress equally costly,
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LiarтАЩs Oath - The Legacy of Gird 02, Elizabeth Moon
but different, from the day before, more blue and less green in its pattern. Lady DorhaniyaтАЩs servant gave him another
warning look, as he led them toward an inner room on the ground floor. He had no idea what it had been, but recently it
had housed scribes copying the Code from his originals. These, at his nod, left their work gladly enough. The room had a
high ceiling and tall narrow windows opening on a court shaded by trees and edged with narrow beds of pink flowers; it
held nightтАЩs coolness and the scent of the flowers as well as the tang of ink and parchment.
тАЬNo need to climb the stairs,тАЭ Luap murmured, offering her a chair. Lady Dorhaniya smiled, but tremulously. Clearly she
had something on her mind.
тАЬThank you, young man. Now let me just catch my breathтАФтАЭ
тАЬA drink of water?тАЭ The scribes kept a jug in their room; he poured her a mug. She took it as if it were finest glass, and
sipped.
тАЬYou should sit down, young man. What I have to say isтАж is very important to you.тАЭ
Luap tried to look surprised. тАЬI thought perhaps youтАЩd come about something in the LordтАЩs Hall.тАЭ
тАЬNo. It wasnтАЩt that.тАЭ She peered at him, then sat back, nodding. тАЬI wasnтАЩt wrong, either. I may not be as young as I was,
but IтАЩve not lost my memory, for faces. Tell me, these men call you Luap, but do you know your real name?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩve always been told it was Selamis,тАЭ Luap said.
тАЬAh. You have reason to wonder?тАЭ
He shrugged. тАЬLady, by what I was told, my mageborn father chose my daily name, and gave me no otherтАФcommon
enough with such children.тАЭ
тАЬYou know that much,тАЭ she said, her eyes bright. тАЬDo you know which lord fathered you?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩve been told it was the king,тАЭ Luap said with more difficulty than heтАЩd expected. тАЬBut many bastards dream of high
birth.тАЭ
She bent her head to him, in so graceful a movement that he did not at first recognize it as a bow. тАЬThen I will confirm