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A Kiss Of Shadows :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 207 из 338"I know you have been treated like a poor relation, Merry, but you are a part of them. Their blood flows in your veins, and they… " She hung her head, dropping her hand from my mouth, but gripped my hands all the tighter. "You are a member of the club, Merry. You're inside the great house, while we wait outside in the cold and the snow with our faces pressed to the glass."
I looked away from those tender brown eyes. "You're using my own metaphor against me."
She touched my face with her left upper hand, her dominant hand. "I heard you use it often enough as we were growing up."
"If I had asked, would you have come with me?"
She smiled, but even by moonlight it was bitter. "Unless you could be with me every hour of the day or night, you couldn't use your glamour to protect me." She shook her head. "I am far too hideous for human eyes."
"You are not—"
She stopped me this time with only a glance. "I am like you, Merry. I am neither durig nor brownie."
"What of Kurag? He cared for you."
She lowered her face. "It is true that among a certain type of goblin I am considered quite striking. Having extra limbs, especially extra breasts is a mark of great beauty among them."
I smiled. "I remember the year you took me to the Goblin's Ball. They considered me plain."
Keelin smiled but shook her head. "But they all tried to dance with you, ugly or not." She looked up, gathering my gaze into hers. "They all wanted to touch the skin of a blooded royal princess, because they knew that short of rape it was as close as they would ever get to that sweet body of yours."
I didn't know how to react to the bitterness in her voice.
"It's not your fault that you look as you do, and I look as I do. It's no one's fault. We are what we are. Through you I saw the court and all the gleaming throng. I couldn't go back to Kurag and his goblins after the life you'd shown me. I would have been content to stand behind your chair at banquets for the rest of my days, but to have it suddenly gone… " She dropped my hands and moved back from me. "I could not bear to lose everything when you left." She laughed; the laughter was still birdlike, but it was mocking now, and I heard Cel's echo in it. "Besides, Cel likes a four-breasted woman and says he's never slept with anyone that could wrap two sets of legs around his white body."
Keelin made a small dry sobbing sound, and I knew that she was crying. Simply because she had no tears didn't mean she could not weep.
She turned and walked back toward Cel. I let her go.
I looked away from those tender brown eyes. "You're using my own metaphor against me."
She touched my face with her left upper hand, her dominant hand. "I heard you use it often enough as we were growing up."
"If I had asked, would you have come with me?"
She smiled, but even by moonlight it was bitter. "Unless you could be with me every hour of the day or night, you couldn't use your glamour to protect me." She shook her head. "I am far too hideous for human eyes."
"You are not—"
She stopped me this time with only a glance. "I am like you, Merry. I am neither durig nor brownie."
"What of Kurag? He cared for you."
She lowered her face. "It is true that among a certain type of goblin I am considered quite striking. Having extra limbs, especially extra breasts is a mark of great beauty among them."
I smiled. "I remember the year you took me to the Goblin's Ball. They considered me plain."
Keelin smiled but shook her head. "But they all tried to dance with you, ugly or not." She looked up, gathering my gaze into hers. "They all wanted to touch the skin of a blooded royal princess, because they knew that short of rape it was as close as they would ever get to that sweet body of yours."
I didn't know how to react to the bitterness in her voice.
"It's not your fault that you look as you do, and I look as I do. It's no one's fault. We are what we are. Through you I saw the court and all the gleaming throng. I couldn't go back to Kurag and his goblins after the life you'd shown me. I would have been content to stand behind your chair at banquets for the rest of my days, but to have it suddenly gone… " She dropped my hands and moved back from me. "I could not bear to lose everything when you left." She laughed; the laughter was still birdlike, but it was mocking now, and I heard Cel's echo in it. "Besides, Cel likes a four-breasted woman and says he's never slept with anyone that could wrap two sets of legs around his white body."
Keelin made a small dry sobbing sound, and I knew that she was crying. Simply because she had no tears didn't mean she could not weep.
She turned and walked back toward Cel. I let her go.