"Night Lost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Viehl Lynn)

That, at least, silenced her.

"I destroyed their laboratory and their research before I regained control of myself." He turned, removing one of his gloves as he did so, and displayed his distorted hand, allowing his claws to emerge and extend to their full length. "What is left of my humanity will go rather quickly now, too, I think. What will happen, Doctor, when I next lose my temper?"

She stared at the black talons for a moment before turning her head away. "I won't help you."

"I think you will." Richard called in his men and instructed Stefan to lock her in one of the safe rooms. "Korvel, remain." He waited until the guard had escorted Alexandra out of the library before he said, "She likely bespelled Jamison; none of the human staff will be safe now. Station a Kyn guard by her door at all times."

"As you command, my lord." His seneschal looked as if he meant to add more, but fell silent.

"Try as I will, I cannot read your thoughts, Captain."

"Words do not come easily to me, my lord. Not when I bear such news as this." Korvel shifted his weight. "None of Cyprien's suzerains have replied to your summons or will speak to me. I am handed excuses right and left by their human servants."

"Michael has always inspired loyalty among his men," Richard said. "It is why I chose him to be the American seigneur."

"His tax agents have frozen our American accounts and properties," Korvel continued. "All of our usual means and avenues of transportation to theUnited States have been temporarily shut down. He has, in effect, closed his borders to us."

Richard chuckled. "I taught him well."

"Hissygkenis causes almost as much trouble," Korvel stated flatly. "I fear she will be more dangerous than her master."

"How so?"

"She has no modesty, no regard for proper behavior. Her insolence toward you is open and appalling. She is also very resourceful." His seneschal gestured toward the grappling hook Alexandra had fashioned. "Yet she is utterly charming. She makes the men laugh with her antics, and seduces them with her smiles. You saw Stefan. Twice I have had to discourage him from handling her more than is necessary."

Richard refused to believe this half-human, half-Kyn leech could wield so much power over his men. "It is being parted from Cyprien, nothing more."

"That is the other danger. Her scent is persuasive, and she sheds more of it by the hour. How long her control will last, I cannot say, but the men are growing more restless by the hour." Korvel nodded toward the garrison's quarters. "Soon I will not be able to keep them from her, or her from them."

Giving Alexandra to Korvel might tire her outЧhis seneschal regularly plowed through human and Kyn females with methodical indifferenceЧbut Richard had not brought her to Dundellan to subjugate her, or to provide physical relief for his household. He had enraptured humans for that. Also, in a few weeks it would make no difference. "What may be done about her?"

"I cannot advise you, my lord." The captain rested a hand on his sword hilt. "The only solution I know is slightly too permanent."

Richard considered sealing her in her room, but that would not motivate her to begin testing. "I will think on it."

"Cannot Korvel seduce her before she has the entire garrison under her spell?" a fair and coolly beautiful woman asked as she stepped inside.

"My lady." Korvel sketched a respectful bow. To Richard, he said, "My lord, I must see to the prisoner." Without another word he departed the room.

"How easily your captain takes offense,"Elizabeth said as she swept her full silk skirts back in a superb curtsy. "My maid told me of the leech attempting to again escape. She seems most determined to leave us."

All of Richard's cats silently fled the room.

"She has yet to adjust to her new situation here," Richard said, tugging the glove back over his hand. "When she does, she will serve me."

"Undoubtedly." Lady Elizabeth rarely frowned or smiled, preferring to maintain the serene faчade of highborn indifference. Now, however, a definite line appeared between her fair brows. "But must you wait upon her leisure, my husband? Given this increasing lack of self-control, can you yet afford to?"

Richard had not marriedElizabeth for her arctic beauty and winsome form, breathtaking as they were. She had been born to an ancient, noble house, and taught how to scheme and plot in the manner of royals nearly from the moment she had been weaned. Seven centuries after taking her to wife and making her Kyn, Richard regarded her talent for design and manipulation as one of the chief assets in his arsenal.