"Nancy Springer - Isle 03 - The Sable Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

"He kept his head low, but Alan saw the tears that streaked his face. The ship started from its place like
a hound unleashed, churned away from the shore. Alan put his arm around LysseтАФto give comfort or to
receive? He raised his hand in salute to his son. Gwern stood like a stump.

"All good come to you, Beloved!" Lysse called.
Trevyn straightened and waved to them. They watched after him until the ship turned the headland and
was lost to view, vanishing like spook lamps into the dusk.

"A wolf is an animal that roams the night and sings to the moon," Lysse said softly. "There is no great
harm to it."

"East!" Alan muttered. "The wolf-boat goes east. No good lies that way."



It was not until weeks later that the goodwife found Trevyn's brooch among Meg's belongings.
Fluttering, she summoned her husband. They hated to scold Megan, for she had turned silent and moody
since the Prince had gone away. But the brooch was valuable, and they were frightened.

"Ye cannot keep this, Meg!" the goodman cried. "Likely 'tis solid gold!"

'"Tis mine. He gave it to me."

"He only lent it t'ye! Did he say for ye to keep it?"

"If he wanted it back, he could have come for it."

"Who are ye to say where he must come or go? He is the Prince! Why would he give ye such a thing?
Folk will say ye stole it!"

Meg had looked sullenly down, but now she straightened and flared back at her father. "What was I to
do? Run to his castle, peradventure, and beg an audience?"

"Ay, daughter, 'twas a hard spot, that I'll not deny." Brock's voice was softer. "Still, ye should not have
hid it away. We must take it to the lord; 'twill be safer with him."

Rafe regarded Meg with compassion while Brock told the tale. He had last seen her in a dress fit for a
princess, glowing with the beauty that only love gives. Now she silently stared at the floor, and Rafe
could see that her cheeks were pale. The pallor of love withheld, he judged.

Goodman Brock could not be less than honest. "And there is the cloak, my lord, as well," he concluded.
The girl's eyes flashed up, and Rafe quickly hid the pity in his own, for he knew she would not welcome
it.

"I think there is no need to say anything of the cloak." Rafe saw, without appearing to see, Meg's relief;
this remembrance at least would be left to her. "I know my liege, and I am certain he would not begrudge
it to you. But this brooch"тАФRafe turned it delicately in his handsтАФ"bears the emblem of the Sun
Crowns. The King must know of its whereabouts." Rafe climbed down from his audience chair and
headed toward a table where lay parchment, pen and ink, sand, and sealing wax. "Come, Meg, let us