"Melanie Rawn - Dragon Prince 2 - The Star Scroll" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

Pol made a face halfway between a grin and a grimace. "Then we can be sick
together!"

"I'm convinced it's the Goddess' way of keeping you faradh'im humble! Why
don't you go upstairs now and start packing?''

"I will, my lady. And tomorrowтАФ" He hesitated, then went on, "Could I go down
to the harbor and find presents for my mother and Aunt Tobin? I've saved
almost

everything Father's sent me since I got here, so I've money enough."

He had the right instincts; he was already generous and thoughtful about
pleasing ladies. That face and those eyes would be breaking hearts before he
was too much older, Audrite reflected, and relished the notion that she would
be around to watch. "You and Meath may be excused tomorrow for the day. But I
seem to recall you have a certain project to complete for me first. How many
lines was it?"

"Fifty?" he asked hopefully, then sighed. "One hundred. I'll have them done by
tonight, my lady."

"If they're not in my hands until tomorrow evening, I'll understand," she
suggested, winning another of his wide smiles and a bow of thanks. Then he ran
back up the terraces to the palace.

Audrite spent a few more moments enjoying the shade before she, too, left the
gardens. Her steps were lithe and energetic as she climbed; a passion for
riding had kept her slim and supple for all her forty-nine winters. She
unlatched the gate that led into the private enclave and paused to admire the
oratory that rose like a shining gem from the formal gardens. It was said that
the one at Castle Crag, a crystal dome built into the side of the cliffs
there, was the most splendid in all the thirteen princedoms, but she could
imagine nothing more beautiful than this oratory at GraypearlтАФand not only
because she had had a great deal to do with its construction.

Carved stone columns had been taken from an abandoned keep on the other side
of the island to support walls of pale wood and brilliant stained glass. The
painted wooden ceiling rose far above, punctuated with small, clear windows in
an uneven pattern that looked random but was not. It could be said that the
oratory was in reality a temple: lit by the Fire of sun and moons, open to the
Air, built of the things of the Earth, and circled by a stream of Water that
irrigated the gardens below. Audrite crossed the little footbridge and stepped
between the columns, catching her breath as always at the beauty of the place.
It was like walking into a rainbow. And if standing here embraced by all the
colors in the world was

a moving experience for her, it must be near ecstacy for faradh 'im.

The ceiling had been the hardest to reconstruct. Some of its supports had been