"Andre Norton & Rosemary Edghill - Carolus Rex 1 - The Shadow of Albion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Lady Roxbury was a notable whispter, audacious to the point of suicide. Her
cattle were prime blood-and-bone, the best to be had н by money or favor н in all of
Europe.
Yet such a race with the sun as Dame Alecto proposed was a wager even she
would have hesitated to accept. Miles of narrow country lanes separated her from
the Sarcen Stones, and the day was far advanced.
,,I could н did I have the strength to hold the ribbons." The admission of
weakness was made with bitter reluctance. ,,If that is what you wish, madame, then
you have come too late."
,,Would you have listened had I come earlier?" Dame Alecto said.
Lady Roxbury did not answer, but she knew Dame Alecto's accusation was just;
until Dr. Falconer's visit this morning she had still believed, deep in her heart, that
some special providence would allow her to escape her death sentence. She watched
as Dame Alecto turned away and undid the strings of the hatbox she had brought
with her. From among its contents Dame Alecto selected a small silver flask. It
glittered in the pale afternoon sunlight.
,,This will give you your health again for sufficient time to do what must be done.
There is a price, as for all such tampering; the drink will consume all the hours left to
you and distill them into this brief span. When it is over, there will be nothing left. Do
you understand?"
,,Give it to me." Lady Roxbury's voice was steady as she held out her hand. She
closed her fingers about the flask's fluted body, and seemed to feel the power of
what it contained burning against her palm. She closed her eyes again, fighting the
veils of darkness that danced across her sight.
,,I will leave you now. And I trust Your Ladyship will pass a pleasant afternoon."
Alecto Kennet's voice was neutral.
Lady Roxbury did not answer. From behind closed eyes she listened to the
sounds of fabric upon fabric as Dame Alecto donned cloak and cape. After a
moment Lady Roxbury heard the door to her room open, then close, as the woman
took her leave. Whatever came next, Dame Alecto had no part in it.
 She does not care for me at all. The unexpected revelation gave Lady Roxbury
momentary pause. The Marchioness of Roxbury was not one used to considering
the feelings of others, and never had been in all the brief quarter-century of her life.
But soon she would be Roxbury no longer, and the title would pass, not to her child,
nor even to the Grown, but to a stranger snatched from Might-Have-Been н or so
Dame Alecto said.
And I am fool enough to believe her.
To believe н or simply to snatch at anything that offered escape.
Lady Roxbury lifted the brandy decanter from the side table and splashed a
half-inch of dark amber liquid into the glass in her hand. Before she could change her
mind, she uncapped the flask and upended it, discharging its contents into her glass.
The fluid was dark and syrupy. It swirled slowly through the brandy, turning the
liquor blood-red and faintly iridescent. With only a moment's hesitation, Lady
Roxbury raised the glass and gulped its contents down.
It was as though she had drunk the flames of the hearth. A hot bright fire beat
through her blood, driving out the heavy giddiness and fever-chill of her illness. She
gasped at the strangeness of it, and then drew a deep breath for the first time in a
fortnight. Her chesj; was clear. Her lungs were whole.
,,The drink will consume all the hours left to you and distill them into this brief
span. When it is over, there will be nothing left."