"Andre Norton & Lackey, Mercedes - Elvenbane 1 -The Elvenbane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

even more lustrous and vivid, and painted her lids with purple and violet to
bring out the color of her eyes, and brushed rose across her cheekbones. She
kept up her dancing lessons and exercised in secret, adding tone and strength
to her limbs. And she sought out the teachers of the bed-secrets, and begged
extra lessons. Sooner or later Lord Dyran would tire of pale and ethereal, of
coy and delicate, of dainty and timid. The Lord was not noted for
steadfastness. And when he tired of the cool Zephyr, Serina was determined
to catch him with Flame.

She corrected a smudge of deep violet above her eye with a careful fingertip
and stood up, smoothing the soft panels of her wine-velvet gown. Let
Rowenie keep to her pale pastel silks, all flutters and lace. They made almost
anyone else look like a pale-pink lettuce, or an overblown cabbage rose. It
would not be much longer before the Lord demanded spice instead of sugar.

Serina edged the stool in front of her dressing table back with a careful foot,
so as not to tear or crease her gown. There wasn't much room in this little
cubicle; just her bed, stowage beneath it for undergarments, a hanging rack
for gowns, and her dressing table, mirror, and little stool. But it was more
room than she'd had with her mother; just a little closet hardly large enough
for her bed. And she intended to have more, soon.

She left her little cubicle, keeping to a graceful, swaying walk as though the
Lord himself were watching her. After all, who was to say that he was not?
The elven lords were all-powerful, and it might well be that the Lord would
choose to spy on the unguarded moments of his harem. Her father claimed he
did so with the gladiators.

She glanced at the tall, green-glass water clock in the center of the indoor
courtyard as she pushed aside the curtain to her cubicle to show that she was
gone. Sunlight streamed in through the frosted dome of the skylight above;
by the level in the glass delphin's tail, there was plenty of time before the
Lord made his daily visit to his concubines. In fact, most of the curtains still
hung across the doors of the little swans' cubicles, showing that the younger
concubines were either still asleep or disinclined to leave. Serina was a "little
swan," a girl in her first six months of office. In fact, she had only begun her
post as concubine a week ago. Most girls did not survive the initial six
months; most were ignored, and after a mere six weeks were sent down to
the breeders, to become the living rewards to the Lord's most successful
gladiators.

Serina's own mother was one such; and she had been lucky. Jared Daeth was
the most successful ever of Lord Dyran's hundreds of single-combat fighters.
He had won so many duels for the Lord that he had stopped counting, and
only the odds makers kept track. Ambra had been his reward on his
retirement, still unbeaten, to become a trainer, he had taken to her, and she to
him, and the Lord had indulgently agreed to allow them to pair permanently.

Most of the girls rejected by the harem-master were given to any successful
fighter who wanted a woman, and few of those men were as gentle and kind