"Paul Thompson - [Elven Nations Trilogy 1] - Firstborn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thompson Paul B)

gem under his heel, but Kith-Kanan couldn't bring himself to destroy the
beautiful scarlet gem. Without knowing exactly why, he slipped it into the
fisher's bag.
From the rack by the door he took three items: a short but powerful
recurved bow, a full quiver of arrows, and his favorite boar spear.
Kith-Kanan's scabbard hung empty at his side. His sword, forged by the
priests of Kiri Jolith, he'd left in the Tower of the Stars.
The prince put the arrows and the unstrung bow in the sack and tied it
to the boar spear. The whole bundle he slung from his shoulder. Now for
the door.
The latch whispered backward in its slot. Kith-Kanan pulled the door
open. Directly across from his room was Sithas's sleeping chamber. A
strip of light showed under his brother's door. Kith-Kanan lowered his
bundle to the floor and reached out for the door handle.
Sithas's door opened silently. Inside, his white-robed twin was
kneeling before a small table, on which a single cut rose lay. A candle
burned on the fireplace mantle.
Sithas looked up. "Come in, Kith," he said gently, "I was expecting
you." He stood, looking hollow-eyed and gaunt in the candlelight. "I felt
your presence when you returned. Please, sit down."
"I'm not staying," Kith-Kanan replied bitterly.
"You need not leave, Kith. Beg Father for forgiveness. He will grant
it."
Kith-Kanan spread his hands. "I can't, Sith. It wouldn't matter if he
did forgive me, I can't stay here any longer."
"Because of Hermathya?" asked Sithas. His twin nodded. "I don't love
her, Kith, but she was chosen. I must marry her."
"But what about me? Do you care at all how I feel?"
Sithas's face showed that he did. "But what would you have me do?"
"Tell them you won't have her. Refuse to marry Hermathya."
Sithas sighed. "It would be a grave insult to Clan Oakleaf, to our
father, and to Hermathya herself. She was chosen because she will be the
best wife for the future speaker."
Kith-Kanan passed a hand over his fevered eyes. "This is like a
terrible dream. I can't believe Thya consented to all this."
"Then you can go upstairs and ask her. She is sleeping in the room
just above yours," Sithas said evenly. Kith-Kanan turned to go. "Wait,"
Sithas said. "Where will you go from here?"
"I will go far," Kith-Kanan replied defiantly.
Sithas leaped to his feet. "How far will you get on your own? You are
throwing away your heritage, Kith! Throwing it away like a gnawed apple
core!"
Kith-Kanan stood still in the open doorway. "I'm doing the only
honorable thing I can. Do you think I could continue to live here with you,
knowing Hermathya was your wife? Do you think I could stand to see her
each day and have to call her 'Sister?' I know I have shamed Father and
myself. I can live with shame, but I cannot live in sight of Hermathya and
not love her!"
He went out in the hall and stooped to get his bundle. Sithas raised the
lid of a plain, dark, oak chest sitting at the foot of his bed.