"Andre Norton & Lackey, Mercedes - Elvenbane 2 - Elvenblood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Elvenblood
by

Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey



Chapter 1

SHEYRENA HAD GROWN very weary of coos of admiration over the last
hour or so. Human voices, harsh and heavy by elven standards, did not
normally grate on her ears, but they did today.

"Oh, my lady, there has never been a gown so lovely, I swear!" The
nameless blond slave out of her mother's household shook her head over the
shimmering folds of Sheyrena's gown. She probably spoke the truth, by her
own standards; it was heavy damascene silk, of peacock-blue shot through
with threads of pearly iridescence. The color was far more vivid than
anything ever seen in nature.

And a more wretched color for me could not be imagined. It would, of
course, completely overwhelm her. She would be a ghost in the stolen
costume of the living.

'Truly!" gushed another. "You will ravish the mind of every lord who sees
you!"

Only if they have taste for a maiden who resembles a corpse bedecked for
her funeral. No amount of careful makeup would ever give her the coloring
to match that gown.

It was suitable for the vivid beauty of a human concubine, not an elven
maid, and particularly not one who was pale even by the standards of her
own race. It was typical of her father to have chosen something that would
display, not her, but the power, his power, that made it possible.

Sheyrena an Treves closed her ears to the chattering of her human slaves and
wished she could be anywhere but where she was. The windowless, pale
blue marble walls of her dressing room were far too confining at the best of
times; now, as it was crowded with the bodies of not only her own half-
dozen slaves, but an additional four from her mother's retinue, she was not
entirely certain there was enough air to go around. There was too much
perfume and heat in here; she wished vaguely for an escape from all of it.

If only she could be outside! Sitting watching the butterflies in that meadow
Lorryn discovered--or riding along the wall around the estate--she thought
wistfully. For a long moment she was lost in her dreams of escape, her mind
far from this room and all it contained, as she imagined herself riding
Lorryn's spirited gelding in a headlong chase along the sandstone wall, the
wind in her face, and Lorryn only a pace or two ahead of her--