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

woman's mind as lightly as she could manage.

With patient sifting, she gleaned a few facts; Serina had been the favorite of
the harem, proud of her position, status, and her ability to ride out her Lord's
arbitrary nature. That is, until a new girl had been given to Lord Dyran by an
underling who specialized the breeding of beautiful human concubines, male
and female. Leyda Shaybrel was just as beautiful as her owner had
advertised, and as ruthless as she was beautiful.
When Leyda failed to oust Serina as favorite, and realized that Lord Dyran
had no intention of replacing Serina, she turned to sabotage.

That had been several months ago, just before Lord Dyran went off to
Council--which, due to the havoc and the feuding caused by Alara's
meddling, would last a record eight months. Lord Dyran left before Serina
realized she was pregnant.

As soon as she knew, she must have been in a panic.

That's death--even if Dyran didn't kill her, he'd cast her off. Alara was
fascinated. This was a glimpse into the humans' world she'd never had
before. I wonder if I can get into her memory? This could be so useful--
Maybe if I just nudge her a little--

Chapter 3

AMAZING, ALARA THOUGHT, pulling delicately out of the memory. She
found it very hard to believe what she had just seen: the greed, the
selfishness, the completely self-centered personality: Even at their worst, the
Kin stood together!

The woman was only interested in her own promotion, not in anything that
happened to any of the other girls. She went to her Lord, not only willingly,
but eagerly. All of them did.

As far as Alara could tell, the concubines were all like her. There wasn't a
single sign of rebellion or unity there.

Alara blinked dazedly. In the past few heartbeats she'd learned more about
humans and elvenkind than she had in years. The woman's memories were
so strong--and the pull of her mind well-nigh irresistible. But the temptation
to allow herself to be pulled back in was too much; there was so much she
was learning about classes of the humans that the Kin had never been able to
approach, like the concubines and the gladiators.

The woman was a treasure trove of information; with what Alara was
gleaning from her, the Kin would be able to infiltrate elven society in the
form, not of other elves, which was chancy and sometimes dangerous, but in
the forms of the invisibles--
Best of all would be if they could learn enough to fit in as guards, fighters,
duelists--