"Paula Volsky - Illusion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Volksky Paula)

Illusion
by
Paula Volsky

Published by Victor Gollancz ltd.

ISBN: 0 575 05138 8

Chapter One.

When one of the serfs was caught with a bundle of seditious pamphlets
in his pocket, the Marquis vo Derrivalle was understandably infuriated.
Bad enough that a serf should be reading at all, for literacy
overburdened the menial mind, resulting in mental and moral injury.
That the pamphleteer in question should prove none other than the
execrable republican Shorvi Nirienne, whose writings the Marquis had
specifically proscribed, was doubly offensive; and it was more than
certain that the culprit, a featherheadedyoung dreamer by the name
ofZhen Suboson, was in serious trouble. Even now, Zhen was locked up
in the stable, awaiting interrogation and the inevitable punishment.

If he escaped with less than a dozen stripes, he'd be lucky. Before
sunset, the lad's fate would be decided. In the meantime, crazed
speculation ran rife among the field workers and house servants.

The Marquis vo Derrivalle's daughter Eliste might never have troubled
her head over such a matter, had it not been for the extraordinary
attitude of her maidservant Stelli Zeenosgirl. Sullen and
lackadaisical, with an expressionless nonchalance sometimes skirting
the edge of insolence, Stelli at the best of times was no prize; and
now, since the news of Zhen's arrest reached the chfiteau, she'd waxed
utterly incompetent. Within the space of two hours she had broken a
vial of perfume, overturned a jar of powder on the dressing table, torn
the lace on a morning negligee, and botched her mistress's coiffure so
abominably that Eliste, in despair, was forced to liberate the glinting
mass of fair curls, which now hung loose and unfettered as a child's.
It was really too tiresome. And yet Eliste, regarding herself in the
gold-flamed mirror on the dressing table, was forced to admit that the
juvenile style suited her very well. Her hair was certainly one of her
chief beauties, and what better way than this to display its enviable
sheen and extravagant length? Moreover, the curly tendrils spilling
over a clear white forehead somehow emphasised the changeable lustre of
the largest pair of thick-lashed grey eyes in the entire province, if
not in all the land of Vonahr. At seventeen, passionately loath to
play the ingenue, she aimed for sophistication.

For all of that, there could be no denying the effect of that great
honey cloud framing her heart-shaped face was delightful. She would
let it stay that way, at least for the rest of the day. Perhaps that
sulky jade Stelli had done her a good turn, if only by accident.