"Melanie Rawn - Dragon Prince 1 - Dragon Prince" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

perfectly beautiful and IтАФ"
"And a perfect virgin?"
Milar shrugged. "Zehava says you can tell a woman from a maiden just by the
way she walks, but I've never heard of a similar test for boys. But what does
it matter? It's the prince's bride who should come virgin to the marriage bed,
not the prince himself."
"I only wanted to know if he's heart-whole. He's not the type to spread every
pair of female thighs he can find just for the fun of it. Rohan's the romantic
kind, poor thing." She mused on this for a moment, then sighed. "In any case,
an offer will be made regarding one of the legitimate princesses, because a
bastard would be an insult to your house, andтАФ"
"But that's wonderful!" Milar's blue eyes shone beneath the sunsilk of her
hair. "The honor of itтАФand the dowry! We must be sure to ask for Feruche
Castle. Rohan couldn't do better than a daughter of the High Prince!"
"Mila, think. You'll be allied to Roelstra by marriageтАФ"
"I have thought! He would hardly attack his daughter's husband!"
"Listen to me! Rohan and his princess will have sons who will one day rule the
Desert. What would be more natural than for the grandson of the High Prince to
annex his holdings to his beloved grandsire's?"
"Never! The Treaty of Linse gives the Desert to Zehava's family for as long as
the sands spawn fire."
"Very pretty. A direct quote, I take it? But the Desert will continue to
belong to Zehava's family through Rohan. It will also belong to Roelstra's,
through the daughter he sends as Rohan's bride. The High Prince is only forty-
five this year, Mila. Let me conjure a vision for you."
тАвThe princess' eyes went wide. "No! Andrade, you mustn't! Not here!"
"With words only, sister. Say Rohan marries this girl, whichever one it is. I
can never keep them all straight. Say they have a child within two years.
Roelstra will be forty-seven. Say he lives to be eighty. It's not unlikely.
His grandfather was ninety-three when he diedтАФ"
"And his father barely twenty-eight."
"Pathetic age. I've always had my suspicions about that bottle of bad brandy
said to have caused his death. But where was I? Ah, yes. Zehava is sixty this
year and doesn't come of a long-lived clan. Oh, don't go all teary-eyed on me,
Mila. He'll probably prove me a liar just for-spite and live to be a hundred
and thirty-five. But,say something happens to him before the grandsons are
grown. Rohan becomes prince. Say further that something happens to RohanтАФand
believe me, my dear, when his sons are past the usual childhood illnesses,
Rohan will be expendable. This leaves us the widowed princess, her sons of ten
or twelve wintersтАФand Roelstra hale and hearty, not even the age Zehava is
right now."
"A ridiculous fantasy!" Milar exclaimed, but shadows were in her eyes.
"If you like. Another conjuring with words. Rohan really becomes unnecessary
once he's fathered a son or two on this girl. With him out of the way and
Zehava as caretaker for the boys until they come of age, Roelstra could let
your husband die in his bed and still do anything he likes once the grandson
inherits."
Lady Andrade applied herself to the grapes and waited for her twin to absorb
the implications. Truly, Andrade had no idea why she bothered with this lovely
lackwit sister of hers. Milar had inherited all the looks in the family,