"Jennifer Roberson - CotC 6 - Daughter of the Lion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberson Jennifer)

for that magic."
"Magic," Aileen repeated. "Aye, I was forgetting
thatтАФbut so, I'm thinking, are you. Because with the
magic that makes you a shapechanger comes the
price you'll be having to pay. And someday, you'll be
paying it. Your tahlmorra will see to that."
I frowned. "What price?"
"Marriage," she said succinctly. "Marriage and moth-
erhood; how else to forge the link the prophecy
requires?"
I grinned at her. "Ah, but you have done that; you
and my oldest rujholli. Aidan is the one. Aidan is the
link. Aidan will be Mujhar."
Evenly, she said, "Aidan may die by nightfall."
It stopped me cold, as she meant it to. "AileenтАФ"
Her tone lacked expression. Like me, she masks
herself rather than show her concern for things of
great importance. "He is not well, Keely. Aidan has
never been well, ever since the birth. He may die
tonight. He may die next year." She clasped her
hands over her belly, swelling gently beneath her
skirts. "And so you see, it becomes imperative that I
bear Brennan another son." She paused, holding me
quite still with the power of her eyes and the knowl-
edge of her duty, of her value, by which men too
often judge women, especially those they marry. "Two
would be even better, I'm thinking, in case they are
sickly also."
I thought of Aileen in potentially deadly labor,
bringing forth two babies at once, for the sake of her
husband's throne. I recalled it from before, with
Aidan's birth; how she had bled and bled and nearly
died, recovering so very slowly. And now she faced it
again, but this time the threat was compounded.
Fear lurched out of my belly and found its way to
my mouth. "Aileen, you could die."
Her fingers tightened rigidly, clasping the unborn
souls. "Men go to war. Women bear the bairns."
I unlatched the door and shoved it open. But I did
not leave at once. "Do you know," I told her, "if I
could, I would trade."
"Would you?" Aileen asked. "Could you, do you
think?"
I paused on the threshold, one shoulder against
the wood. "If you are asking me if I could kill a man,
then I say aye."
Her face spasmed briefly. "So glib," she said. "I'm
thinking too glib; that you're not knowing what you
canтАФor cannotтАФdo, and it irritates you. It frightens
youтАФ"