"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Black Throne 01 - The Black Queen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

It was empty. There was no furniture or built-in benches. The far wall had been
scorched as if a fire had burned against it, and another wall bore the imprints of hangings
long gone. Madot walked across the room and disappeared through an interior doorway.
Gift followed.
The door led to a long hallway, again perfectly formed. Other doorways lined the walls,
and some of these had the remains of wooden doors still hanging in them. But there were
no decorations or furnishings, or anything to indicate whoтАФor whatтАФhad lived here.
The air was surprisingly fresh and very warm. Even though the floor was covered with
a thin layer of dirt, there was no dust. Madot walked as if she had seen all of this before.
Gift wanted to stop and look, but knew he could not.
The hallway gradually widened until both of them could walk side by side. Several
branches broke off the hallway here, and a flight of stairs went both up and down,
indicating other floors.
At the end of the wide hallway was a set of double doors, made of stone and decorated
with highly polished brass. Madot stopped outside of it and passed her hands over the
knobs as if performing a ritual to open them.
Gift raised his Fey lamp to help her, and in doing so, something caught his eye. Above
the double doors was a crest. It had been carved into the stone, and then covered with a
paint that had somehow lasted through the years.
For a moment, he thought he had seen the crest before: in his fatherтАЩs palace on Blue
Isle. His familyтАЩs crest had stood above the throne there: two swords crossed over a
heart. But this image was different. Here he saw two hearts pierced by a single sword. He
didnтАЩt know what it meant, but he knew it wasnтАЩt a coincidence.
Madot glanced at him, saw where he was looking, and then smiled. She pushed the
double doors open, and stood aside.
The room beyond the doors glowed red. The entire floor was alive with the veins he
had seen in the mountainside. The walls were decorated with jewels: large emeralds,
sapphires, and diamonds were mixed with shiny black stones and shiny gray stones. They
pebbled the wall in a repeating pattern that reflected and at the same time held the red
light.
Madot nodded at Gift. He stepped inside. He was shaking, and he wasnтАЩt sure why.
The place had a vibration to it, a feeling that made him conscious of how small and frail he
was. He could almost feel that place inside his head where the Visions lived. It seemed to
lift up, to float, as if joining with the red light.
тАЬIs it safe in here?тАЭ he asked.
Madot did not answer him. She remained in the doorway.
He took another step inside. She would stop him if it wasnтАЩt safe, wouldnтАЩt she? He
could see his own image reflected in the shiny red floor. As he walked, streaks of gold and
silver flowed through the red, like hairline cracks in glass.
He turned. Madot stood in the open doorway, hands clasped behind her back.
Watching. She looked like no one he had ever known. A stranger, judging him.
He swallowed and went forward. The gold was taking over the red, brightening the
room. The diamonds refracted it into a hundred colors. Across the far wall, a large image
slowly appeared. The two hearts again, pierced by the single sword. They rose above a
blackness that seemed complete, corporeal.
That blackness was a live thing. He could feel it, drawing and repelling him at the same
time.
He glanced over his shoulder. Madot had come into the room. She was walking behind
him. No streaks of color appeared on the floor beneath her feet. The light remained dim
where she was. He realized, suddenly, that some of the light came from above him.