"Michelle West - The Sun Sword 1 - The Broken Crown" - читать интересную книгу автора (West Michelle)

You, on the other hand, are far too approachable. I tell you, Askeyia, youтАЩre the softest free
towner IтАЩve ever met.

Words meant to sting, and they did.

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 The Broken Crown.htm




Because he was right, and she hated it.

As proof of this, as proof that his words held both sting and truthтАФas if words with no truth
could sting at allтАФ she looked up from her reverie and saw a woman standing in the cobbled
streets of the Common. The bowers of the RingsтАФthe ancient stands of trees that were famous
throughout the EmpireтАФcaught the height of the midday sun and made of it shadow, short and
dark, that pooled around the womanтАЩs feet. Her eyes were wide, her skin unnaturally pale, and the
collar that framed her neck was worn to threads; LeveeтАЩs second youngest healer thought that the
shift she wore had once been a deep blue by the edge of color near seams that were splitting with
age; it was pale now, whatever its color had once been.

Askeyia started to lower her face againтАФshe found it easier to walk through the Common with
her eyes cast groundwardтАФbut she stopped as she saw that the womanтАЩs arms were rigidly
curved on either side of a bundle of cloth. A still bundle.

People were always in a hurry in the Common; they glared at the woman as they shoved their
way past her, flowing to either side like a sluggish river. The woman swayed as shoulders and
elbows brushed her to either side, but she stayed her ground as if rooted to it. Raising her glance
from the bundle to the womanтАЩs face, Askeyia made her first mistake: she met the eyes, dark-
ringed, horrified.

You couldnтАЩt meet eyes like that and turn away. You couldnтАЩt do it; youтАЩd have to leave shreds of
soul behind just to tear yourself free.

Swallowing, she glanced over her shoulder once, but there were no other healers in sight; Jonas
had run ahead, and MercyтАФAristide, really, but everyone called him Mercy, for reasons which
were clearly lost on AskeyiaтАФ had disappeared into a stall full of people with too many elbows
for AskeyiaтАЩs less prepossessing size. Neither one could see her, and what they couldnтАЩt see, they
couldnтАЩt report.

Besides, it wasnтАЩt as if she was going to heal the babe. She was justтАФshe was just going to see if
the babe needed help. That was all. She was just going to take a small look; just touch the child.
Nothing too dangerous. And childrenтАФwell, if they were the most compelling, they were also by
far the easiest to heal all across the spectrum; their ies helped.

Taking a deep breath, Askeyia aтАЩNarin reached into her shirt and pulled out the medallion of the
healer-born. It

She did not look over her shoulder again. She did not wonder where Jonas and Mercy were. She