"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 6 - Change of Command" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

"Yes, I spent a lot of time with him after my rejuvenation, because I needed his legal advice to
untangle my affairs. But that's all." She was aware of the heat in her face, mixed anger and
shame.

"Well, a friend, then. But still . . . I was sure you'd be upset, so I came over to check on you."

Disgusting little climber. Yes, he was rich, and yes, his family was Seated, but he was, compared
to her, a minor twig on the very large and ancient Conselline elm . . . her branch of the Aranlake
Sept made up a much greater percentage of the even larger and older Barraclough oak.

Cecelia pushed that back down. She wasn't the sort of person who worshipped a family tree; people
didn't get to choose their parentage. Pedar's mannerisms, more pronounced in old age and despite
several rejuvenations, had been there from the day she first met him, at someone's birthday party.
He wanted to be a protector . . . bad luck for him that she didn't need protecting.

"I'm fine, Pedar. I'll be fineтАФI'll grieve, and then I'll get over it."

"Why don't you let me take you to dinner?"

As so often, the kind impulse that was exactly wrong. "Not tonight, please. I just want to go back
and cry a little. Another time, perhaps."

"I'll hold you to it," Pedar said, and bowed politely. Go away, Cecelia thought, as loudly as she
could while holding a polite smile that made her face ache. He bowed again and left.

She and Bunny had laughed about Pedar, from time to timeтАФtrusting each other not to share that
fact. His stiff little bows; his exaggerated courtesies; his passion for antique clothing and
sports even more useless than foxhunting and eventing.

She would never have Bunny to laugh with again. She would never see that long, foolish face come
alight with intelligence, with his quick wit. She would never warm herself at the glow of the love
between Bunny and Miranda . . . a love she had watched grow and deepen over the many decades she'd
known them both.

Tears ran down her face, and when Dale came back to the office, she was curled into the big chair,
and didn't hear him step in, then quietly close the door behind him when he left again.



CHAPTER TWO
CASTLE ROCK, THE OLD PALACE


The day of Bunny's funeral dawned clear and cold. Miranda woke before dawn, and watched the light
seep into the eastern sky. She lay still beneath the covers, feeling the weight of them, reluctant
to leave that warm nest and face what would be a long and difficult day. Their roomтАФher roomтАФwas
not cold, but she had not felt warm since that first horrible moment when they'd told her Bunny
was dead.

A faint click, then music so soft she could barely hear itтАФthe music she had chosen herself. She