"Joan D. Vinge - The Storm King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

everything you wanted. Why have you come back, and come like a beggar?тАЭ

His mouth thinned. But this once he stopped the arrogant response that came
too easily to his lipsтАФremembering that he had come here the way he had to remind
himself that he must ask, and not demand. тАЬI came because I need your help again.тАЭ

тАЬWhat could I possibly have to offer our great ruler? My spells are nothing
compared to the stormтАЩs wrath. And you have no use for my poor bodyтАФтАЭ

He jerked at the mocking echo of his own thoughts. тАЬOnce I had, on that night
we both rememberтАФthat night you gave me back the use of mine.тАЭ He gambled with
the words His eyes sought the curve of her breasts, not quite hidden beneath her
loose outer robe.

тАЬIt was a dream, a wish; no more. It never happened.тАЭ She shook her head,
her face still expressionless. But in the silence that fell between them he heard a
small, uncanny sound that chilled him. Somewhere in the woods a baby was crying.
 Fallatha glanced unthinkingly over her shoulder, toward the hut, and he knew
then that it was her child. She made a move to stop him as he started past her; let
him go, and followed resignedly. He found the child inside, an infant squalling in a
blanket on a bed of fragrant pine boughs. Its hair was mid-night black, its eyes were
dark, its skin dusky; his own child, he knew with a certainty that went beyond simply
what his eyes showed him. He knelt, unwrapping the blanketтАФlet it drop back as he
saw the babyтАЩs form. тАЬA girl-child.тАЭ His voice was dull with disappointment.

FallathaтАЩs eyes said that she understood the implications. тАЬOf course. I have
no more use for a boy-child than you have for that one. Had it been a male child, I
would have left it in the woods.тАЭ

His head came up angrily, and her gaze slapped him with his own scorn. He
looked down again at his infant daughter, feeling ashamed. тАЬThen it did happen. . . .тАЭ
His hands tightened by his knees. тАЬWhy?тАЭ Looking up at her again.

тАЬMany reasons, and many you couldnтАЩt understand. . . . But one was to win
my freedom from the Old One. She stole my soul, and hid it in a tree to keep me her
slave. She might have died without telling me where it was. Without a soul I had no
center, no strength, no reality. So I brought a new soul into myselfтАФthis oneтАЩs,тАЭ
smiling suddenly at the wailing baby, тАЬand used its focus to make her give me back
my own. And then with two souls,тАЭ the smile hardened, тАЬI took hers away. She
wanders the forest now searching for it. But she wonтАЩt find it.тАЭ Fallatha touched the
pendant of rock crystal that hung against her breast; what had been ice-clear before
was now a deep, smoky gray color.

Lassan-din suppressed a shudder. тАЬBut why my child?тАЭ My child. His own
gaze would not stay away from the baby for long. тАЬSurely any village lout would
have been glad to do you the service.тАЭ

тАЬBecause you have royal blood, you were a kingтАЩs sonтАФ you are a king.тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs not necessarily proof of good breeding.тАЭ He sur-prised himself with