"Irene Radford - Draconis Ex Machina" - читать интересную книгу автора (Radford Irene)

to me. I bent and placed my dominant left hand atop a clear print. It was nearly as broad a
palm. Stray leaves and twigs as well as dust had blown across it. It was not fresh. St
needed to keep up the pretense of ignorance and wits dulled by cold, if Krej were eve
reveal his plans to me. He loved to boast, but would not take unreasonable chances with
equal to him in strength and intelligence.
In a fight I had the advantage of longer reach and greater agility, as well as youth.
left-handed dominance often proved awkward to right-handed men. Krej had brute streng
his broad shoulders and sturdy legs.
He flung a cloak made from the pelt of a spotted saber cat around his shoulders. A
cloak I had not seen before. A cloak that would earn admiration and gasps of awe from
court. A man as vain as Krej could not resist wearing the garment before the audienc
craved.
The fog-hazed colors glistened in the weak sunlight, nearly rippling with life and mena
Every portion of my being froze. Krej did not need to hunt a cat that preyed upon
villages. He had already killed the beast.
Surreptitiously, I fished a talisman from my pack and stuffed it into my pock
remembered clearly my friends warning me that the magic in the amulet would not acti
until I kissed it and placed it in a pouch around my neck. I had kept the thing only to please
friends. At the time I had scoffed. I did not need magical protection. I was a prince a
trained warrior.
Now I was not so certain.
Krej's cloak covered most of his magician-red hair.
Another rumor I needed to verify. Krej reputedly used magic to ensure the cooperatio
the twelve lords on the Council of Provinces, and to coerce wealthy merchants to guarante
debts. Debts he rarely, if ever, repaid.
Kings and their families were not allowed to possess magic in Coronnan.
In his youth Krej had studied at the University of Magicians. He'd inherited his talent
his outland mother. Neither of his two older brothers showed signs of magic.
Five strong men had stood between Krej and the throneтАФmy father, myself, Krej's fath
and his two older brothers. He'd been allowed his magic.
But then, quite unexpectedly, all within the space of a few months, Krej's father and
older brothers had died of disease or accident.
Only two lives, mine and my father's, now stood between Krej and the throne.
Krej had renounced his magic and assumed his new responsibilities as lord of Fa
cousin to the king, and leader of the Council of Provinces.
My magician friends questioned the accidents and suggested poison instead of diseas
the death of Krej's relatives. I had not the courage to question until I saw what Krej did to
deer, and heard what he'd done to one of his peasants.
Had he really forsaken the practice of magic? I knew he could not get rid of
talentтАФeven if bedding his new bride before he achieved master magician status was supp
to rob him of his powers.
I left my own cloak of wolf fur and oiled wool open across my left shoulder, keeping
sword arm free.
We stepped off the caravan road onto a steep trail leading up the mountain. The l
charm bounced reassuringly in my pocket.
Not once did Krej pause to inspect the tracks I discerned occasionally along the trail
did not bend to sniff the spoor. I knew he no longer hunted.
I worried that he no longer pretended to hunt.
But I had to know what he was up to. For my father's safety and that of our kingdom.
Two days before we began the hunt, word had reached me that one of Krej's villagers