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

their small retinue behind and slept in the open, hunted or hawked as fancy
dictated, and forgotten for days at a time that there were titles and
responsibilities attached to their names.
But having escaped the summer heat, they returned after the Rialla to find
their princedom had taken on all the soothing qualities of a smelting furnace.
The sun blazed, the dunes burned with shimmer-visions, and heat clung to every
stone. Rohan shrugged off the brutal climate, being Desert born and bred, but
even though she'd spent two-thirds of her life here, Sioned felt the heat more
as she grew older.
She settled on a mossy rock and hauled off her t>oots. Gasping with the shock
as she plunged her feet into cool water, she closed her eyes and tried to
dream herself back at River Run. No use. If Avaly hadn't arrived yesterday
with her foredoomed plea, she could have been at Radzyn by now, enjoying its
crisp sea breezes, visiting Maarken and Hollis at WhitecliffтАФ
"Don't get too comfortable," advised Rohan from behind her. "We've just been
graced with an emissary from Prince Velden of Grib."
"Damn it, what's wrong with these people? Why couldn't they have talked to us
at the Rialla?"
"Doubtless they had their reasons."
"Whatever they are, I don't like them."
"Come on, High PrincessтАФwe played all summer. Time to get back to work."
She kicked water at him across the little pool. "I don't want to."
"Now you sound like Jihan."
"Well, you have to admit people make things difficult. You can hardly pretend
to be reluctant with your power when they're always handing you chances to use
it."
"Pretend?" He frowned.
"Demanding that you use it, actually. At least Pol's honest about it. He loves
to fix things and makes no pretense ofтАФ"
"Just be grateful that someone still finds it worthwhile to consult us old
folks," he drawled.
That silenced her. She followed him back through the gardens and upstairs,
gnawing over his implication. It was amusing to tease each other about
oncoming old ageтАФ especially when neither believed the other had aged at allтАФ
but at times they were forcibly reminded that the years were indeed
accumulating.
The knowledge had sneaked up on them at first. Perhaps it had started at the
Rialla of 731, Pol's first as husband and father as well as prince. He had
spoken for Princemarch before, of course, but with his new family had come new
awarenesses. The terms he gained, independent of anything Rohan won for the
Desert, were highly advantageous and gave subtle hints about his plans for his
daughters' future. Rohan and Sioned had congratulated themselves on their
successтАФafter all, they had taught Pol everything he knew.
But more leisurely reflection, and repetition of the experience in 734 and
again this very summer, had shown them a hard truth. While the princes still
looked to them, they also looked to Pol. The next High Prince.
Rohan and Sioned had given him the world in which he exercised his share of
the family cunning. The peace they'd established had lasted with only minor
lapses since 704.
14 Melanie Rawn