"H. Beam Piper - The Space Viking" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

"Great Satan, are you against me, too?" he demanded.

Ormm caught his arm. "You fool, do you want to ruin everything, now?" He
lowered his voice; the rest was inaudible.

"No, curse you, I won't go till I've spoken to her, face to face!"

There was another stir among the spectators; the crowd parted, and Elaine was
coming through, followed by her mother and Lady Sandrasan and five or six
other matrons. They all had their shawls over their heads, right ends over
left shoulders; they all stopped except Elaine, who took a few steps forward
and confronted Andray Dunnan. He had never seen her look more beautiful, but
it was the icy beauty of a honed dagger.


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"Lord Dunnan, what do you wish to say to me?" she asked. "Say it quickly and
then go; you are not welcome here."

"Elaine!" Dunnan cried, taking a step forward. "Why do you cover your head;
why do you speak to me as a stranger? I am Andray, who loves you. Why are you
letting them force you into this wicked marriage?"

"No one is forcing me; I am marrying Lord Trask willingly and happily, because
I love him. Now, please, go and make no more trouble at my wedding."

"That's a lie! They're making you say that! You don't have to marry him; they
can't force you. Come with me now. They won't dare stop you. I'll take you
away from all these cruel, greedy people. You love me, you've always loved me.
You've told me you loved me, again and again."

Yes in his own private dream world, a world of fantasy that had now become
Andray Dunnan's reality, an Elaine Karvall whom his imagination had created
existed only to love him. Confronted by the real Elaine, he simply rejected
the reality.

"I never loved you, Lord Dunnan and I never told you so. I never hated you,
either, but you are making it very

17

hard for me not to. Now go and never let me see you again."

With that, she turned and started back through the crowd, which parted in
front of her. Her mother and her aunt and the other ladies followed. "You lied
to me!" Dunnan shrieked after her.