"Martha Wells - City of Bones" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells Martha)

Khat leaned on the back of her chair and said, тАЬTraded, traded to Arnot. It wouldnтАЩt be legal for me
to participate in a sale.тАЭ
Some of the men wore upper-tier veils, but of much cheaper gauze than real Patricians wore. Most
were already drunk, and one laughed so hard at this that he rolled off his couch.
DanilтАЩs seductive smile became strained. She didnтАЩt like the others interrupting her probing. тАЬWhy are
you here tonight?тАЭ she asked, a little too sharply. тАЬAnother buyer?тАЭ
She was too far off the mark for Khat to worry. He grinned down at her. тАЬJust came to see the show,
love.тАЭ
He left them laughing at one anotherтАЩs jokes and made his way to the back wall, where an alcove hid
a spiral stair used to reach the private balconies. At the top there was a service passage inside the wall,
which gave the private servants and those the theater employed access to the balconies without venturing
out on the open gallery reserved for wealthy patrons.
The passage was cramped and lit by oil lamps, which stunk and made it hot. Khat passed a variety of
people on various errands, none of whom paid him any attention. This corridor was used by many who
wanted their business kept inconspicuous. He found LushanтАЩs balcony without difficulty, since there were
two private vigils armed with iron-tipped staves standing outside the servantsтАЩ door. They let him in
without a word.
The round balcony was protected by a high copper-mesh screen, and the noise of the crowd rose up
around it. The floor was covered by woven matting dyed brilliant colors, and a clockwork-driven fan
moved back and forth on an ornate metal rack overhead, stirring the sluggish air and the incense that was
thick enough to drown in. Lushan lay on a low couch, a servant girl wearing a plain undyed kaftan in
kneeling attendance on him. He had thin light hair, and was dressed in a gold-embroidered mantle of dark
blue that didnтАЩt hide his impressive corpulence. One of his eyes was small, alert, and greedy; the other
was unfocused, staring at nothing in particular. He never wore a veil around his servants, and he never
wore it in meetings with Khat. It was not a good sign.
Watching Khat thoughtfully, Lushan took a cup of delicately painted translucent ceramic from the
wine set on a low alabaster table and said, тАЬYou came promptly for once, my boy. I hadnтАЩt thought you
had much sense of the passage of time.тАЭ
тАЬI didnтАЩt come for your job. You know I donтАЩt do that anymore.тАЭ Khat leaned back against the wall
beside the door, because Lushan would go gormless if he touched anything anyway, and though he liked
heights, the place gave him the unpleasant sensation of hanging in a cage over a great unfriendly mass of
people. тАЬIтАЩve got the coin you think I owe you.тАЭ
LushanтАЩs mouth set in a thin line. He put the delicate cup down on the table with an audible click.
Khat winced for its sake. People who had no concern for beautiful things had no right to have-them.
тАЬAnd how did you manage that?тАЭ
тАЬThatтАЩs not your business, is it?тАЭ
 The servant refilled the wine carafe and replaced it on the table, carefully wiping it with a cloth to
prevent any sweat from her fingers being transferred to Lushan. The upper-tier Patricians of Charisat
were insane about touching anyone in public, as insane as they were about wearing veils or covering their
hair or looking at theater through a metal screen to prevent the lower-tier crowd from accidentally seeing
them. This was particularly alien to Khat, who had been a child in the kris Enclave on the Waste, where
there was even less privacy than in the lower-tier courts, and you could get a thick ear for refusing to kiss
the most wrinkled granny-matriarch. As if anyone in their right mind wanted to get within touching
distance of Lushan. Khat had long known that while the wealthy broker might have as much minted
gold as a Patrician, he hadnтАЩt been born one, and was only mimicking their manners. After all was said
and done, Lushan was only a thief with clean hands, whose special talent was getting other people to
dirty theirs for him.
тАЬYou are my business,тАЭ Lushan said, his good eye cold and contemptuous. тАЬWhile I found the buyers
for the relics you ... liberated from their current owners, it is you the Trade Inspectors would be most
interested in. YouтАЩve been very profitable to me in the past, and if you think IтАЩll let you go so easily...тАЭ