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A Stroke Of Midnight :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 141 из 293I ask you, as his daughter, do not leave mehere. Now that the queen has opened the way for me to ask, I ask, I beg.” Her eyes glittered with tears and when she could not keep them from falling, she bent her head down so I would not see.
It was Galen who reached for her first, but I was only moments behind. She collapsed into us both. Her shoulders shook with the emotion of her sobs, but she was absolutely silent. How many years had it taken for her to learn to cry silently? To hide away this much pain.
I stroked her yellow hair, and said the only thing I could say, “Yes.”
CHAPTER 21
ADAIR STUMBLED AS HE ROSE FROM BESIDE US, CATCHING HIMSELF against the wall. Blood was seeping out from underneath his breastplate. “You are hurt,” I said.
“Innis’s warriors are as skilled as ever,” he said, in a voice that was a little tight with pain.
I felt a little spurt of surprise. Innis had always been among the most neutral of nobles. He hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other who ruled, as long as he and his clan were left alone. They specialized in necromancy of one kind or another. Once upon a time, some of them could raise true armies of the dead. Innis’s skill had always been to raise phantom armies that could bleed you, kill you. You could cut them, but they could not die. I understood now why he was the one on the ground. They had had to hurt him badly enough to stop him doing magic.
Hafwyn raised her head from Galen’s chest. Tears still traced the pale gold of her skin. “I have some healing left to me tonight. I could not bring another back from so close to the veil, but I can look at your wound.” She looked at me. “I can be of use to you, Princess Meredith, I swear that I can.”
“I believe you, Hafwyn. Attend to Adair’s wounds, unless someone else is hurt worse.” I looked at Crystall, who was still standing with a weapon pointed at Kieran. After Adair’s show of bravado, I thought I’d better simply ask. “Is anyone else wounded?”
Kanna, the only one of the prisoners without a sword at her throat, spoke up, “Lord Innis, Conjuror of Phantoms, is badly injured.” Her voice was very neutral as she said it. Her long brown hair was coming loose from its ponytail, beginning to show the heavy fall of it around her pale face. Her eyes were wide, as if she might be in shock, but her voice gave none of that away.
“Why should I care if he is injured?” I asked.
“He is a free lord of the court you seek to rule,” she said.
“He is merely one lord among many, Kanna.
It was Galen who reached for her first, but I was only moments behind. She collapsed into us both. Her shoulders shook with the emotion of her sobs, but she was absolutely silent. How many years had it taken for her to learn to cry silently? To hide away this much pain.
I stroked her yellow hair, and said the only thing I could say, “Yes.”
CHAPTER 21
ADAIR STUMBLED AS HE ROSE FROM BESIDE US, CATCHING HIMSELF against the wall. Blood was seeping out from underneath his breastplate. “You are hurt,” I said.
“Innis’s warriors are as skilled as ever,” he said, in a voice that was a little tight with pain.
I felt a little spurt of surprise. Innis had always been among the most neutral of nobles. He hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other who ruled, as long as he and his clan were left alone. They specialized in necromancy of one kind or another. Once upon a time, some of them could raise true armies of the dead. Innis’s skill had always been to raise phantom armies that could bleed you, kill you. You could cut them, but they could not die. I understood now why he was the one on the ground. They had had to hurt him badly enough to stop him doing magic.
Hafwyn raised her head from Galen’s chest. Tears still traced the pale gold of her skin. “I have some healing left to me tonight. I could not bring another back from so close to the veil, but I can look at your wound.” She looked at me. “I can be of use to you, Princess Meredith, I swear that I can.”
“I believe you, Hafwyn. Attend to Adair’s wounds, unless someone else is hurt worse.” I looked at Crystall, who was still standing with a weapon pointed at Kieran. After Adair’s show of bravado, I thought I’d better simply ask. “Is anyone else wounded?”
Kanna, the only one of the prisoners without a sword at her throat, spoke up, “Lord Innis, Conjuror of Phantoms, is badly injured.” Her voice was very neutral as she said it. Her long brown hair was coming loose from its ponytail, beginning to show the heavy fall of it around her pale face. Her eyes were wide, as if she might be in shock, but her voice gave none of that away.
“Why should I care if he is injured?” I asked.
“He is a free lord of the court you seek to rule,” she said.
“He is merely one lord among many, Kanna.